{"id":613030,"date":"2026-09-03T08:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613030\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T08:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:30:21","slug":"patrick-bergin-co-star-of-julia-roberts-in-sleeping-with-the-enemy-seeks-buyer-for-offaly-castle-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613030\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Bergin, co-star of Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy, seeks buyer for Offaly castle \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Address: Emmel Castle, Emmel, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly<\/p>\n

Price: \u20ac995,000 <\/p>\n

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes<\/p>\n

View this property on MyHome.ie <\/a><\/p>\n

Back in 1991, the Irish actor Patrick Bergin<\/a> scared the bejaysus out of cinema audiences when he co-starred with Julia Roberts<\/a> in Sleeping with the Enemy. His role as the coercive and creepy stalker husband to Roberts, then on the cusp of her megawatt fame, deservedly remains a classic. Very shortly after, he bought Emmel Castle in Co Offaly<\/a>, which he and his wife, Helen Goldin, are now putting on the market 35 years later. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big place for two of us, and we are not getting younger,\u201d Goldin says. \u201cWe would like to be able to walk to a shop. Everything is a drive here. The nearest restaurant is in Nenagh. We have been very happy here, but it needs young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emmel is indeed a large property, although if you wanted a quick snack, the Barack Obama Plaza is much closer to it than Nenagh. For a start, Emmel Castle is set on 20 acres, with a number of outbuildings with slate roofs. There is also a courtyard, a bellcote and a walled garden. <\/p>\n

A flight of stone steps leads up to the front door, which Bergin throws open to welcome us in suitably dramatic manner. There is a big fire roaring in the drawingroom where we enter, with some of Bergin\u2019s many awards and pieces of his acting memorabilia on display. At one point in the visit he shows us a toy bow and arrow, still with its original packaging, with a picture featuring himself. It was merchandise that tied in with the 1991 movie Robin Hood, directed by John Irvin<\/a>, which starred Bergin and Uma Thurman. <\/p>\n

\"EmmelEmmel Castle, Emmel, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly \"PatrickPatrick Bergin and Helen Goldin in ‘the green room’ at home. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien \"EmmelEmmel Castle, Emmel, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly \"PatrickPatrick Bergin with toy bow and arrow, merchandise from the film Robin Hood. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

\u201cWatch out!\u201d Bergin quips, mock-aiming the arrow in my direction. <\/p>\n

The living quarters at Emmel are divided between a 15th-century tower house and an adjoining 17th-century period house. The tower house was originally built by a member of the O\u2019Carroll clan. \u201cIt was certainly here when Cromwell came, in 1640,\u201d Bergin says. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a well-worn oak spiral staircase that winds up to the battlements, nearly 30m above. We climb to the top, grasping the rope railing as the stairs get ever narrower and steeper. From up there, you can reportedly see five counties: Offaly, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and Galway. Robin Hood would definitely be able to see his enemies coming from all directions.<\/p>\n

The tower house part of the property has several enormous rooms, some with beams and rafters. One is called the music room; it contains some of Bergin\u2019s extensive guitar collection, a piano and several other instruments, and is where they sometimes invite musician friends for a session. \u201cWe love having people over,\u201d Goldin says. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a statue of C\u00fachulainn in another room, which Bergin draws our attention to. \u201cIt was the day Shane MacGowan died and Ray D\u2019Arcy was on the radio talking about him, and playing some of his songs.\u201d Bergin was in his car, listening to the radio at the time. \u201cAnd one of the songs he played was about C\u00fachulainn [The Sickbed of C\u00fachulainn by The Pogues]. And I came up the steps and came in the door and I heard something fall, and it was that statue of C\u00fachulainn, the day Shane MacGowan died.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0An unreliable history of Robin Hood, from Errol Flynn to Andrew GarfieldOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There is also a light-filled room used as an art studio. Both Bergin and Goldin use this room. They both like to paint. They also have plans to co-write a book of poetry together and hope to develop a line of jewellery. Goldin shows me two small paintings of angels she did, dressed in gold and green respectively, after seeing them in a kind of vision while in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cI totally believe in angels,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I saw these two angels in Malibu. One is called Harmony. She was dressed in gold, and the other angel was Hope, and she was dressed in green. I talk to them every night. For 45 years I had been talking to the four archangels, before these two came along into my life. And I haven\u2019t missed one night since. Just before I go to sleep, I talk to them. There are six of them now. You never feel alone when you believe in angels.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are six bedrooms, but they only use three of them. A favourite room for the couple is what Bergin refers to as the green room, in a nod to the name given to the backstage relaxation space actors spend time in when not performing. It\u2019s a formal room with red velvet curtains, green walls and several couches and armchairs. \u201cThis is my favourite room,\u201d Goldin says, sinking into one of the sofas. \u201cLike any green room around the world, it\u2019s a place to relax,\u201d Bergin says. <\/p>\n

\"PatrickPatrick Bergin holds the sword from his movie Robin Hood in the guard room. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien \"TheThe guard room \"EmmelEmmel Castle, Emmel, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly \"TheThe art studio. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien \"TheThe prayer room. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

There is what Bergin calls the prayer room, which looks like a kind of miniature chapel, and is full of religious iconography, statues and rosaries. \u201cWhen people come to visit, we ask them all to come in here,\u201d Goldin says. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a boot room, a plant room, a utility room, a pantry, at least two more livingrooms, and so many other rooms for random activities that I lose track. Bergin\u2019s trademark trilby hats are present in every room. The large kitchen is on the ground level, with a smaller dining area, which they use every day. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it\u2019s a big building, it feels very much a home,\u201d Goldin says. They are in the unenviable process of starting to pack up more than three decades\u2019 worth of their belongings; boxes of which have already filled the huge top room of the tower.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Film and TV director John Irvin dies aged 86Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cLook,\u201d Bergin says. We are downstairs, close to the original stone-arch entrance to what was then the only building on site \u2013 the Tower House. He tells me to stand at one side of a room, and then goes around a corner, out of sight. There is a circular opening carved out of the wall, and when I look into it, there is Bergin\u2019s eye, staring back at me. \u201cThe spy hole,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

They both eagerly follow the news, or else they don\u2019t like silence. Large televisions are on in at least four of the rooms we go into. \u201cThere\u2019s only the two of us rattling round here, so we like to have a bit of noise going on in the background,\u201d Goldin says, as she switches one off. <\/p>\n

Formal dinners are held in the room they call the guard room. It\u2019s like a medieval banqueting hall, with exposed stone walls, a stone flagged floor, a huge grate, and a long table that seats 20 and came with the castle when Bergin bought it. A suit made of chain mail hangs from the ceiling, and candle sconces and holders are scattered around. Will they be including some of the furniture with the sale? \u201cWe haven\u2019t thought about that yet,\u201d Goldin says. \u201cQuite possibly.\u201d This room has an iron gate, which, should they wish, they can lock. \u201cMy grandchildren call this room the dungeon,\u201d Goldin says cheerfully. <\/p>\n

They are selling up as the place is now too large for them, and hope to make a move to somewhere between \u201cSkerries and Greystones\u201d, where both their families live. <\/p>\n

Emmel Castle, which extends to 663sq m (7,136sq ft) and is Ber exempt, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald, guiding \u20ac995,000.<\/p>\n

\"PatrickPatrick Bergin at home in Emmel Castle. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien \"EmmelEmmel Castle, Emmel, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly \"ReceptionReception room \"Bedroom\"Bedroom \"EmmelEmmel Castle grounds \"PatrickPatrick Bergin at Emmel Castle. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Address: Emmel Castle, Emmel, Cloughjordan, Co Offaly Price: \u20ac995,000 Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes View this property on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16344,61,60,8765,11520,43,8286,259800,4310,11518],"class_list":["post-613030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-escape-to-the-country","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-julia-roberts","tag-new-to-the-market","tag-news","tag-offaly","tag-patrick-bergin","tag-property","tag-sherry-fitzgerald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}