Settlement cluster

The National Monuments Service's description

The siting of Cullam (Killacollum) Castle (LI012-041----) 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 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that John Haly 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.). Earthworks visible on OSi orthoimage taken 2005-11 in the field to the W of Cullam Castle may be the remains of a deserted settlement which was depicted on the 1657 Down Survey map of Kenry Barony. The earthwork consist of a roadway running N-S with earthworks in field to W of this road which may be contemporaneous with Cullam Castle.
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).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 20 November 2020

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1938 The civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. IV: county of Limerick, with a section of Clanmaurice barony Co. Kerry. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Begley, J. 1906 The Diocese of Limerick ancient and medieval. Dublin.

Hibernia Regnum: A set of 214 barony maps of Ireland dating to the period AD 1655-59. The original parish maps have been lost but the Hibernia Regnum maps are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Goblet 1932, v-x). Photographic facsimiles of these maps were published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton in 1908.

Dowd, J. 1896 Round about the County of Limerick. Limerick. G. McKern & Sons.