Cullam Castle (in ruins) — Court (kenry By.)

The siting of Cullam (Killacollum) Castle was described by Dowd (1896, 169) as ' The banks of the Maigue were well protected on the lower reaches of the river by Cullam Castle, situated on a hill, and by the low square tower of Court [LI012-042----] almost at the river's edge'. According to Begley (1906, 119) 'The old ruined castle standing on a hill to the south-west of the Ferry bridge is called Collum Castle, which is a part of the original name, and near it must have been the old church'. The castle mistakenly identified as nearby Court Castle was described in 1840 as 'a rectangular building, 28ft. [9m] long and 22 ft. [7m] broad. The north wall is tolerably perfect, and a fragment of the east wall remains, the remainder is razed to the ground. The lower story was arched and the upper two were lofted, which is evident by hewn stones jutting out and holes placed at regular distances in the north wall. The ascent to the top was by a spiral staircase, which still remains' (OSNB Kildimo Parish, 922-3). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that John Haly [Healy] late of Limerick was the proprietor of lands in 'Killa Collum' (Cullam) which contained a 'ruinous Castle, and three smale Cottages' (Simington 1938, 349). A tower house like castle with angle tower is depicted standing beside a cluster of dwellings on the 1657 Down Survey map of Kenry Barony (Hib. Reg.). Westropp (1906-07, 162) recorded the following details about Cullam Castle; '1201 Kildacolum held by Limerick Cathedral (B.B.L., p. 14). 1651 It was defended by Capt. Thady Burke, who surrendered to Sir H. Waller after a few shots had been fired with sakers. Some men on the tower, being unaware of the capitulation, fired, killed two of the English, and wounded Waller, who, convinced of the mistake, insisted that his men should spare the Irish. 1655 Healy held Killacollum ruinous C. (C.S., p. 11; D.S.B., 16). Fabric - The northern wall stands near the Maigue; but all its features are defaced. The lower story was vaulted. It had a bawn [LI012-047001-]'. The ruins of Cullam Castle and bawn (LI012-041001-) were drawn in the 18th century and published in the Groses's Antiquities of Ireland where the N wall of the castle stood three storeys high with vaulted ground floor and polygonal shaped angle tower on NW angle with partial remains of upstanding bawn wall visible to W and N of tower. The castle was described in the 18th century as; 'Cullum Caftle was of considerable strength in the civil wars of 1641. Sir Hardress Waller was sent by Ireton, in 1650, with forces to lie before Limerick; in his way he assaulted Cullum Castle, defended by Captain Thady Bourk and a garrison of fifty men. After a few discharges of artillery, called sakers, Bourk capitulated. The soldiers placed in the towers and on the top of the castle, not knowing what was agreed, and seeing a number of the English entering the gate, fired on them and killed two, and wounded Waller in the left arm; he, however, with uncommon generality, restrained his men from revenging their companions, and contented himself with the pillage of the castle and neighbouring country, which was very considerable, and which he brought safe to Limerick. This castle was soon after in the possession of the Marquis of Clanricard, but at length was dismantled by part of the forces of parliament' (Grose 1791 vol. 2, 70-1). Cullam Castle classified by Donnelly (1999, 25, 37) as Type 1D which was characterised by castles where the 'entrance to the building is located in one of the tower house's long walls near a corner. The entrance lobby is set within the thickness of the long wall. There is no subsidiary chamber but on one side of the lobby is the doorway leading to a wall-stair that rises up through the thickness of the long wall to provide access to the first and/or second floor level in the building' (Donnelly 1999, 25). Castle described by Salter (2004, 80) as follows; 'Only the north end wall containing staircases remains of this 7.6m wide tower. There were two upper levels over a vaulted basement. It was battered into submission by Sir Hardress Waller in 1651 , lay ruinous in 1655, and was probably never restored'. In 2005, Frank Coyne, of Aegis Archaeology Ltd carried out excavations under licence No. 05E1009 which were summarised as following; 'Test-trenching was undertaken in advance of a proposed development at Court townland, Kildimo, Co. Limerick. The proposed development may impact on a castle/tower-house [LI012-041----), now surviving as a pile of rubble, which is located on the site. A short, standing portion of the castle wall was identified during the testing and associated earthworks were also investigated at that time. A total of eight trenches were inserted on the site of the tower-house. Four were placed in the area of the pile of rubble, to ascertain if any remains of the original tower-house survived. It was found that a portion of the northern wall of the castle remains intact, to a maximum height of 2.4m, and c. 6m in length, east-west, although a 2m-wide breach occurs in the centre of this. From the testing, it does not appear that the west, south and east walls survive. These appear to have been demolished in recent years, as modern plastic was found underneath the rubble. However, the original floor of the tower-house was identified as a light, sandy-gravel rectangular area, which was markedly different to the immediate external ground surface. The tower-house is surrounded by a series of low earthworks, which appear to be associated with it, and which were identified in Trenches 6, 7 and 8. These take the form of low gravel and stone banks, forming a bawn [LI012-041001-] or enclosure area to the north and east of the tower-house, with a possible entrance/exit opening to the north. A portion of one of these banks extends to the north-west of the remains of the tower-house. No earthworks were identified to the west of the castle; however, a possible humic layer in Trench 5 may indicate unenclosed activity associated with the tower-house. All trenches produced animal bone or pottery sherds, some of which would be contemporary with the date of use of the site, from the 16th to mid-17th century' (www.excavations.ie). See attached drawing of castle taken from Antiquities of Ireland. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 19 November 2020