Sigginstown Castle

Doing the tower roof and floors in green oak was Ed Byrne's idea.  He had done this for a castle in Slieve Rue about 20 years ago. At first we resisted, telling he we could not afford oak. Ed gently insisted that if we had it cut from trees at nearly the cost of firewood and worked it ourselves, it would be appropriate and cost-effective. We roped in a few more people into the journey of green oak, which will be documented separately.

We decided to tackle most of the archeology up front so that we could continue building as needed with periodic monitoring. The floor above the vault had been tested in 2016 with nothing found. David Sweetman monitored the clearing of dirt above the vault. The earlier clay floor was found in the corner where Larry is kneeling. We used it to determine the level beyond which we did not clear. We had to be careful not to disturb the remaining mortar in the vault as we did not want more water to come through to below! The floor was covered with multiple plastic tarps to protect it from the weather. See more about 2019 Archeology here.

In order to safely work on the tower and get a roof on, we purchased galvanized scaffolding that would not rust in the sea air. Since we knew we would need it for several areas of the castle over a few years, this was the most cost effective approach. David Dwyer of Summit Scaffolding took on our project as an interesting diversion from normal modern construction. The combination of internal and external scaffolding allows us to haul up materials first to the upper level above the vault and then to the top of the tower.

Before sod removal could occur, there was some concern about the stability of the uppermost embrasures, or arches.  In our test patch of sod removal, we found more dirt than mortar on top. That combined with a difficult view from below made us take the more conservative route of bracing the upper embrasures plus one below. This required more scaffolding, as we had not planned to put a platform at each level, rather work our way down after the roof was on.  David Dwyer of Summit Scaffolding came back and gave use a platform to the next level. 

The steps have now been repaired using stones reclaimed from outside the tower. We found a couple of useful pieces from cleaning the ditch. The stones were fixed with St. Astier NHL 3.5 lime mortar with Inish sand from Wexford.  This photo shows all the mortar in very bright lighting. You can see the layers of rubble stone carefully laid under the larger stone on top of each stair.

The floor is primarily insulation and prevents the damp from rising. Since we were going to be away from the set for a couple of months we had time to let it dry undisturbed. In this photo Paddy is tamping down the lime and LECA mix which looks a lot like grey popcorn! The floor is the subfloor layer upon which a finished floor of either tile or slate will be laid. We would like to use some underfloor heating mats to help raise the temperature one or two degrees and drive out the damp.  We will do the same on the upper floor.

Before the roof was installed we had a last meeting on top to check measurements and do any last minute prep. We had to figure out how to deal with the scaffolding - we needed safe access to the roof level, but needed to remove the scaffolding down below the corbels. We ended up taking it down a full level, and then building a temporary work platform for installation.  Here is a great photo of Dylan (our young architect friend from US), Gordon, Ed Byrne, James Grace and Mick Carroll - a meeting of the minds!

This work started in late August when Ed Byrne brought down the remaining green oak beams that would be the floors. We only wanted to put in two floors, so the top level would have the height open to the lovely roof.  This was a challenging exercise since we had to remove the scaffolding entirely out of the tower, but still get the beams up onto the corbels. There was a lot of cursing, especially since we had a pile of stone still in the vault to work around! Our friends Gari and son Aidan got to visit and help with a long cold day.  

This was the last bit of work to be in in 2019 and means that we can now safely access the upper floors to fix any stonework and clean walls in 2020.  Here you see Mod, JP and Holly being the first visitors to stand on them. Hurrah!