A week ago the national tourist board, Fáilte Ireland, announced that €60,175 in funding is to be made available to Castle Saunderson, County Cavan. Seemingly this money is part of the organisation’s ‘New ideas in Ancient Spaces’ Capital Grants Scheme for attractions within the Ireland’s Ancient East initiative. The latter scheme was launched by Fáilte Ireland’s last April and ‘seeks to build on the wealth of historical and cultural assets in the east and south of Ireland.’ Leaving aside the fact that Castle Saunderson could never be described as being located in either the east or south of the country (north-midlands might be the simplest summary) one wonders what will be the result of this expenditure. According to Fáilte Ireland, the money ‘will be used to enhance the “on the ground” visitor experience and present the story of Castle Saunderson through the ages. This will be achieved through the development of a new “easy to explore” heritage trail – The Castle Trail. Through interpretative displays, visual art and written interpretation, the story will imaginatively portray the dramatic history and transition of this place as part of Ireland’s Ancient East from free land, through conflict, plantation and the divisive advent of Unionism and the Orange Order to the peaceful coexistence of the present day.’ In other words, the money doesn’t appear to be going towards the restoration of a building on the site which has only fallen into dereliction in the past twenty years and which, with a hint more creativity and resourcefulness, could be restored to serve as a splendid base for the aforementioned ‘on the ground’ visitor experience.
Around the middle of the 17th century the land on which Castle Saunderson stands passed into the hands of one Robert Sanderson whose father, Alexander Sanderson, had come to Ireland as a soldier and settled in County Tyrone. Robert Sanderson had been a Colonel in the army of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and in 1657 served as High Sheriff of County Cavan. On his death in 1675, the estate passed to his eldest son, another Colonel Robert who sat in the Irish House of Commons and married Jane Leslie, a daughter of the Right Rev John Leslie, Bishop of Clogher. The couple had no children and so Castle Saunderson passed to a nephew, Alexander Sanderson. It was the latter’s grandson, another Alexander, who changed the spelling of the family name to Saunderson as part of an ultimately fruitless effort to claim the Castleton peerage of the Saundersons of Saxby, Lincolnshire (the first and last Earl Castleton having died unmarried in 1723). It is his son Francis who is credited with having built the core of the present house. Staunchly anti-Catholic, he is said to have disinherited his eldest son for marrying a member of that faith (or it could have been because she was the daughter of a lodge keeper at Castle Saunderson). So the estate of over 12,000 acres went to a younger son, Alexander. He likewise disinherited his first-born son because he was crippled, and another son who proved rebellious, instead leaving Castle Saunderson to the fourth son, Colonel Edward James Saunderson who, like his forbears, was a Whig politician, and in Ireland leader of the Liberal Unionist opposition to Gladstone’s efforts to introduce some measure of home rule. It appears to have been after the death of his eldest son Somerset Saunderson in 1927 that the family moved out of the house, although they did not sell the property until half a century later.
As has been mentioned, at the core of Castle Saunderson is a classical house built by Francis Saunderson probably around the time of his marriage to Anne White in 1779. In the mid-1830s the building was extensively remodeled in a version of Elizabethan gothic for his son Alexander Saunderson. In December 1835 Nathaniel Clements wrote to Lady Leitrim that he had called by Castle Saunderson where the owner was ‘altering and castellating his house, so I was quite in my element’ The architect responsible for this work is now considered to be George Sudden, who was employed elsewhere in the area, at Lough Fea, County Monaghan and Crom Castle, County Fermanagh, Castle Saunderson displaying certain similarities with the latter (where the original design had been by Edward Blore). This intervention resulted in a bit of a mongrel, the east-facing, two-storey former entrance front retaining long sash windows to either side of a central three-storey castellated tower, its octagonal turrets echoed by lower, square ones at either end of the facade. The north and south fronts are asymmetric, the former having an octagonal entrance tower placed off-centre, the latter featuring a four-bay loggia between two further towers, as well as a substantial service wing at right angles that once incorporated a single-storey orangery. Although unoccupied by the Saundersons, the property was not sold by the family until 1977 when it was bought by a businessman who undertook restoration work. For a period it then became an hotel before being sold again in the 1990s after which fire gutted the house. In 1997 Castle Saunderson and its grounds were acquired by what is now called Scouting Ireland which initially appeared to show interest in restoring the building but eventually chose to construct a new centre elsewhere in the grounds at a cost of some €3.7 million. Meanwhile the old castle has continued to deteriorate: it looks unlikely Fáilte Ireland’s recently-trumpeted initiative will change this situation.
I don’t understand why Scouting Ireland is getting this money. I am a lowly leader myself, one of the idiots who stood out in the wind and rain fundraising for our National Campsites. My understanding is that this site is only open to scouts and guides albeit from all over the world. (Can’t imagine that age group bringing much to the economy)
Fascinating, though discomforting. Current state of affairs is a bit pathetic.
Yes, isn’t it just unsatisfactory: a perfectly good building, ripe for restoration, being left to moulder while money provided for this supposedly ‘new “easy to explore” heritage trail’… Is a house too hard to explore one wonders?
I gather that Waterways Ireland have started to restore the Ulster Canal which linked Upper Lough Erne to Lough Neagh. This restoration was part of the Good Friday Agreement. The section presently under restoration passes right in front of Castle Saunderson and will go as far as Wattlebridge
I so appreciate your information-filled blog. The life stories of buildings are every bit as fascinating as those of people.
Thank you for getting in touch. It is always a delight to hear from readers who enjoy this site.
I am haunting your posts about Cavan, especially. We have a family mystery that began there in 1822, and I hope for serendipity to solve it. If not, I am still getting a feel for the place.
I am sure one of the family married a daughter of Noah Webb of Cavan.
Thanks for this, I am not sure but will try to check in due course…
Fantastic write up! Lovely photographs definitely need to photograph this location! Such a pity its being let to go to ruin like this. Hope this is okay to ask but I understand that the castle is part of Scout Ireland, I would love to photograph this place are you able to just walk up to photograph it or would you need to get permission via scout Ireland?
Thank you for getting in touch. It would be best for you to receive permission from Scout Ireland which has its new centre nearby on the property: otherwise you might get into trouble by wandering onto the site.
Crom Castle which is a few miles way by boat or road, could be the sister of Castle Saunderson. Thankfully it remains in good condition, looked after by the original family. The estate, rich in ancient woodland and wildlife, is managed by the National Trust. It is a fantastic tourism resource which brings in many visitors to Fermanagh. Castle Saunderson could be even more successful economically, as the Caslte could open to the public, or be a hotel or museum of some sort.
Thank you for your comments: indeed, the example of Crom Castle indicates how such places can be made into a viable and dynamic resource benefitting the surrounding area and populace. Sadly such a vision for Castle Saunderson is lacking.
Your blog is extremely interesting and well arranged, and I really enjoy reading it. I also agree with your post that it’s sad that there is no plan on the horizon for stabilizing the Castle Saunderson building. However, I visited the grounds last year before the paths and interpretive placards were laid out, and I just visited there today. I must say that they’ve done a good job with their project, and I encourage others to visit the site.
Thank you for getting in touch – and for your kind comments. I am delighted to hear that some improvement has been made to the site at Castle Saunderson: still, it is a shame that the fine building remains unused and falling ever-further into decay…
Happy New Year! I have been holding onto a photo that I want to send you of the main entrance to the original estate along the road into Co. Monaghan. The Saundersons would be mortified to see that the estate entrance is now occupied by a petrol station. The original posts and wrought iron fencing is still behind the building. If you’d like me to send you the photo, just e-mail me at michael.d.mcauley@comcast.net.
Thank you so much for your blog! As an ancestor of the Sanderson’s I was both thrilled and saddened to find your post. I would love to be able to visit the site one day. Hopefully it will fair better by then.
Do you have any information on a son who may have moved to America?
Thank you for getting in touch. Unfortunately I don’t have any information on a member of the family who moved to America, but given the extensive interest now in genealogy, it ought to be easy to track him down?
Hi i have a book here The saundersons of castle saunderson Lewellyn Saunderson fought in the american civil war gen Lee appointed him one of his gallopers,after Lee surendered Lewellyn reached new orleans managed to get back to Dublin
Thank you for your blog and the photos
I have drone photography available of this building which shows some of the internal structure from an aerial perspective. I have the same for a numbe rof properties that have sadly fallen into dereliction in the surrounding area’s. I would glady share any of these with you if you were interested. Email me at aerialeire@gmail.com
I was fortunate enough to visit the estate a few years ago and sad to see it so derelict. However, the family chapel still appeared to be intact and the graveyard unmolested. I was given to understand that renovation at that time was difficult as all Services had to be laid across the National Border and nobody was willing to do it. My father stayed there as a child in the early 1900s.
I was recently at Sanderson Castle. In February 2020. This building really impressed me. It is unfortunate that everything is collapsing. But, obviously, the restoration work will begin. All windows and doors are closed with tight shields and the building itself is all fenced. The territory is well-groomed. If you need a photo, write to amaranta7@bigmir.net.