The last fragments of its masonry were removed...

SIGOURI CASTLE

"From Kouklia a main high road leads to Prastion on the railway line, passing the site of the famous castle of Sigouri, of which now hardly the outlines of its walls and moat survive. The last fragments of its masonry were removed within recent years to repair the high road in its vincinity."

These lines were written around 1918 (Jeffery) and things have changed for the worst. (Almost) nothing at all survives today. See the modest and rather disappointing photobook...

HISTORY - Sigouri Castle was built on level ground to defend a purely political frontier. King James I constructed it in 1391 (1) to protect the Nicosia plain against raids by the Genoese who had been in possession of Famagusta since 1373.

It looks as though the name of this castle ought to be the same as the Provençal Segur from the Latin securum, expressing the idea of security; it was a name given to a large number of castles, as was la Ferté which derives from the Latin firmitatem and suggests resistance. The fact is however that the name of Sigouri or Sivouri is a great deal earlier than James I's castle; it occurs already in 1196 in a Bull of Pope Celestine III enumerating the possessions of the Archbishopric of Cyprus (2). Before the castle was built the Archbishop had a 'lodge' at Sivouri, presumably some sort of small manor or country house; it appears in a passage of Machaeras (3) in which he refers to an ambush which was laid there by the Constable James of Lusignan for the Genoese in 1374. So when, after he became king, he had the castle of Sigouri built there he already knew from experience the advantages of the position.

The oldest form of the name appears to be Casal de Sivorie. Father Lusignan calls it the castle of Sigur (4); the Genoese called it Castel Franco (5).

In 1461 James the Bastard removed a piece of artillery from Sigourl Castle for the purpose of the siege of Kyrenia (6). in the same year he brought to Nicosia the prisoners who were being kept at Sigouri (7). Finally, when he retook Famagusta from the Genoese in 1464, Sigouri Castle lost its value. In 1491 the Famagustans demanded that they should provide the commander of the castle (8). In 1518 Le Saige who uses the name Sivore remarks that there is still 'a large village with a great castle' (9). The village disappeared a long time ago. As for the castle Florio Bustron was present when the Venetians began to demolish it (10) but although dismantled (11) there were some fairly important remains which were noted by the late Count de Mas Latrie in 1846.

Camille Enlart in 1899: "The present government of Cyprus has been guilty of a gross act of vandalism although with the laudable intention of creating a good road and some bridges; the stones from the ruins of Sigouri have been removed practically to the very last one for these purposes. This is the less excusable since there is plenty of stone in the neighbourhood and since labour is cheap, particularly for the government which employs convicts on public works."

DESCRIPTION - Florio Bustron gives the following description of the castle whose demolition he witnessed and which he calls Castel Franco. It was situated at the manor of Syvori on level ground. In shape it was rectangular with four towers at the four corners and a gateway with a drawbridge. It was surrounded by broad and deep ditches which used to be full of water from the river Pedieos. It was built by King James I and the process of dismantling it had recently begun (12).

This is an accurate description. Sigouri Castle was built a few metres to the south of the Pedieos river and to the east of a road which runs from Larnaca to the Karpas peninsula. It was in the shape of a perfect rectangle (see ground plan) measuring 60 metres by 50 metres; the longer axis is parallel to the river. At each corner there was a square tower measuring on the inside 4.4 to 4.5 metres by 3.5 to 4.10 metres. The walls were apparently 1.2 metres thick.

(Fig. 341, Enlart): A cistern (here from Famagusta)

There were barrel-vaulted basements in each of the four towers, in one of the southern towers a water conduit is still extant, showing that this basement was used as a cistern.

The conduit is of terra-cotta made out of bottomless jars wedged one into the other. All round the outside of the walls there was a glacis 7 metres broad and about 3 metres high. A ditch 35 metres broad ran round the whole of the castle; it drew water through a drainage ditch from the neighbouring river.

This is all that can be made out today of the layout of the castle of Sigouri.

Sources : (1) Amadi, p. 495; Bustron, p. 352 (2) Cartulary of St. Sophia, No. VIII. (3) pp. 252-3. (4) Descr. de Cypre, vol. 35, vo. (5) Bustron, p. 352. In 1418 Nompar of Caumont (p. 77) describes Sigouri Castle as follows; 'A castle built on level ground, known as Chasteau Franc, four leagues from Famagusta, which the King of Cyprus had built not long since and it seemed to me to be well constructed and strong, considering that it is situated in a flat plan.' (6) Bustron, p. 396. (7) ib., p. 399. (8) Petition to Doge Barbarigo, Bibl. Nat., MS. ital. 895. (9) p. 137. The text as printed gives Sinore, an obvious misreading. (10) ib., p. 24. (11) Descr. de Cypre, fol. 210. (12) 'Il Castel Franco era al casal Syvori, qual e sito in terren piano, et e quadro con quarto torre en li quatro cantoni, e la sua porta con ponte levador; e intorno d'esso fosse profonde et larghe, le quali se impivano d'acqua dalla fiumara di Pedea, fabricato per il re Giacomo primo, et è poco tempo che s'ha cominciato a ruinare;' Bustron, p. 24.