Tourists/visitors travelling from Borrisoleigh to Nenagh, via route 498, and arriving in the townland of Cullahill, Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, will observe a crumbling, two storey ruin, or tower house. This ruin is built on the ruins of a castle, latter which clings to a rocky outcrop, known locally as Cullahill castle. Houses built on earlier castle sites usually retain the name of that original castle site.
This building first comes into view on the horizon, easily observed on left-hand-side, as the junction leading to Kilcommon village (L4141) is encounter, just past the bad bends north of Borrisoleigh village.
Drone Footage: Courtesy Pat Corbett (Professional Videographer).
Music: Courtesy Chris Haugen.
From what remains of this existing two storey ruin today; we can observe that both storeys had fireplaces and chimney-stacks on their south-west facing and north-east facing walls.
This visible eerie ruin, especially on late winter evenings, dates back to the early 17th century, and is reckoned to be only the second building on this elevated site. As the drone footage above shows, the ruined foundations of the older castle still exist, same estimated to date from as early as the 13th century.
It was one fortress of the Dwyer clan, latter who, over a 200 years period, constantly feuded with the nearby Bourke clan, in matters pertaining to agrarian claims, before finally the two clans eventually made peace.
It is believed that part of the peace negotiations between the Dwyer and Bourke clans was that a sister of the Dwyer clan, residing at Cullahill castle, named Sighle Ní Dhuibhir, would marry Chief of the Burke clan, Walter Burke, latter residing at Borrisoleigh castle, close to Cullahill castle.
However, after four years, in 1623, Walter died, leaving all his possessions in the hands of his wife Sheila, the latter who by this time had become an cruel, embittered mistress who immediately abandoned her husband’s castle at Borrisoleigh and moved back to Cullahill castle.
Sheila had gained the reputation of being a local tyrant and history stands her accused of committing horrendous acts of cruelty on both her enemies and those who simply incurred her wrath.
It is claimed that, at least on one occasion, she placed an enemy in a barrel containing internal spikes, before rolled him down the steep hill, just metres from south east of her abode. The action was repeated until her enemy died.
Others enemies, legends state, met a torturous death by being tied up and submerged in barrels of boiling water, killing them slowly.
Sheila also stands accused of the cruel murder her sister Cáit (Kathleen). It is said that Cáit had eloped with her stepson Ulick, seen then as a “moral relapse” by Sheila.
So displeased was Sheila that she, by means of deception got them to return to the castle, before making them both prisoners.
She ordered both of them to be hanged naked from the battlement of Cullahill castle, hung by their ankles, for them to be scalded to death while in that position, using boiling water poured on them from couldrons above.
Other storeys claim that she regularly had one night stands with lovers and like the Australian Redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), she would then kill her mate the following morning.
Sheila met her own end when she was killed by one of her own soldiers. Again legend states it was her daily habit, on rising from her bed each morning, that she would walk towards the open window and stand surveying her property. It is believed she was killed possibly by accident, when an arrow was shot from a bow by a nearby soldier. It is said that a loud, high-pitched and intense scream reverberated throughout the Castle walls before her lifeless body was later recovered from the ground at the foot of the castle wall. Sighle Ní Dhuibhir was buried in Glenkeen old cemetery, outside Borrisoleigh village.
Eerie tales are often repeated in connected with these same aging ruins. It is said that a sow (female pig) and its bonhams (baby pigs) can be heard screeching in the castle ruins at certain times of the year, while the sound of strange music can be heard on other annual occasions.
Local legend states that gold remains hidden underneath the floor area of the castle. Two young men, legend claims, once set out to locate this hidden treasure. They dug down into the floor of the castle and came upon a large stone slab. They managed to lift the stone slab just slightly and from underneath emerged a huge black bird, who attacked one of the men with its beak, injuring his face, before flying away, never to be seen again. The story goes that this slightly injured young man was suddenly taken seriously ill and died within a few days.
To date no treasure has ever been discovered.
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