Tower House Cross Section
Irish Castles Irish
Archaeology
The above ruined tower house/Irish
Castle is a fascinating study in as much as it allows us to
wander through a tower house from the comfort of our computer
chairs! The castle in question is in the village of
Cullahill on the main Dublin to Cork road. A 100 yard
diversion is all that is required to visit this impressive
site. This one looks like it was enlarged at some time because
the outline of two different roofs can still be seen. It
is possible that the chimney was added when the castle was
upgraded. Where the lower roof line reaches the wall on
our right probably represents the height of the original
castle. From the comfort of my own chair it appears that
the roof was raised during that enlargement and the chimney
was also added at that time. So too was the portion of
the building to the left of the chimney as we look at it. The
walkways through that new portion now incorporated
access to each floor of the tower and would have replaced the
original stairs. This gave more room in the living
quarters of the tower as the old stairs may well have been
removed.
A few feet under the chimney, one can also see the holes in
the wall that took the beams which carried floors and
ceilings. below these holes can be seen the protruding shaped
stones called corbels. These also supported the floors
and may have supported the original roof in this case.
The picture below shows the fireplace built into the
chimney breast and with a bit of imagination one can imagine
the nobleman and his family and guests gathered here with the
fire blazing on winter evenings... perhaps with a huge
wooden table in the centre of the room groaning under the weight of
roasted sides
of beef and lots game from the countryside.
Cullahill
Cullahill Tower House / Castle showing
the fireplace, chimney and walkways through the old ruin.
