Sigginstown Castle

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  • John O' Meara
    Oil Painter
  • John O'Meara
    Oil Painter
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We were contacted by John Patrick O'Meara (In Irish, Sean Ua Meadhra) who lives in New Zealand! He has made a hobby of painting Irish Castles and wanted to paint Sigginstown. After sending him some photos new and old, a few months later he sent on a lovely image of the castle as imagined circa 1840s.  The painting arrived in September, nicely packaged from New Zealand. It is about 10 x 20 inches and has amazing details - we cannot imagine painting this small without a magnifier but he has no trouble

John Patrick O'Meara - Sean Ua Meadhra

Born in the UK, but now he lives in Wellington, New Zealand. John spent a considerable amount of time with the British Army of the Rhein. His family resided for over 40 years in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 

His father's side of the family are from Kilmaganny, County Kilkenny. Now retired, John enjoys painting in oil, mostly of heritage buildings.

He is now interested in painting Lingstown Castle, nearby and further along Tacumshin Lake. Like Sigginstown it is a ruin, whose tower unfortunately fell in the 1980s. With John's help the castle can live again in memory.

In December 2017, John notified us that he had completed another painting of Lingstown Castle - also near to Tacumshin Lake and also in ruins. We had visited the castle which is similar in many ways to Sigginstown, except that sadly the  tower had fallen in the 1980s. There are many outbuildings still there, and we sent John the photos to work from. He also used OSI maps and other information to create a beautiful companion piece!

The oil paintings are about 10" x 20".  He paints with aid of glasses or magnification! Take a look at these details of Lingstown Castle...

We were so thrilled with John's image of Sigginstown Castle, even before we received the actual painting, that we used it for our banner during Heritage Week. It hung on the gate (thank goodness for modern vinyl, relatively impervious to weather), and was admired by many people who came to visit. John enjoyed hearing that his work had been put to good use.