Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

References to the Siggins family at Sigginshaggard date from mid-16th century (Jeffrey 1979, 128) and references to the castle date only from 1641, when the Civil Survey (1654-6) records that the ruined castle and 300 acres at Sigginshaggard in Custuffe (Coolstuffe) parish was the inheritance of Philip Siggins (Simington 1953, 99), but the tower house probably dates to mid 16th century. It is located on a slight W-facing slope.
This is a rectangular tower (ext. dims. 6.6m NW-SE; 6.1m NE-SW) of five floors with battered walls, dressed quoins and a base-batter, surviving almost to the wall walk (H c. 11m). A pointed doorway (Wth 0.98m; H 2..15m) of dressed granite is at the S end of the SW wall. It is protected by a yett and machicolation on the parapet, while a possible murder hole, operated from an ante-chamber of the first floor, is now destroyed. The lobby (destroyed) gave access to the ground floor (int. dims 4.7m NW-SE; 2.95m NE-SW) which has double-splayed loops in embrasures in each wall except the SW, and ten long, narrow gun-loops or spy-holes penetrate the walls to the outside. A mural stairs in the SW wall gives access through a destroyed doorway at the W end of the SW wall to the first floor under the NW-SE vault with wicker-centring, which has rectangular windows in the NW and SE walls, an antechamber with two gun-loops over main entrance, and three gun-loops at the centre of the NE wall. The floor was supported on corbels in the NE and SW walls.
A newel stairs at the W angle, with two slit windows and two gun-loops leads to the second floor (int. dims 4.93m NW-SE: 4.35m NE-SW) over the vault which has a fireplace in the NE wall, with a small window to its N and a slit window to the S, which is in a destroyed garderobe at the E angle. There is a small robbed window on each of the other walls and a total of five gun-loops. The newel stairs (now destroyed) continue at the W angle to the third storey, the floor of which was supported on corbels in the NE and SW walls. The doorway is destroyed and there are small windows in the NW, NE and SE walls with a single gun-loop in the NE and SW walls. The fourth storey has a destroyed doorway from the newel stairs at the W angle, and the floor was supported on corbels in the NE and SW walls. There is an embrasure in each wall, those on the NW and SE walls have slit-windows while the others have single gun-loops. The battlements are destroyed.
The tower house stands at the E corner of a square grass-covered enclosure or bawn (dims. 28m x 28m) defined by a slight bank and outer fosse (Wth c. 9m).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007

References

Jeffrey, W.H. 1979 The castles of County Wexford. Typescript prepared by the Old Wexford Society, Ed. E. Culleton.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1953 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. IX: county of Wexford. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.