Cullahill or Cullohill () is a small village situated on the

R639 road The R639 road is one of Ireland's regional roads. Once designated the N8 national primary road (and before that some fractions were designated as the T6 and others as the T9), it was reclassified in stages as the R639 following the progress ...

County Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Cullahill takes its name from an ancient forest that covered

Cullahill Mountain Cullahill Mountain () is listed as a marilyn hill and a Special Area of Conservation in County Laois, Ireland. Cullahill with an elevation of gives its name to the local townland. It is also called Knockmannon Hill. Cullahill Mountain takes ...

and extended down to Cullahill Castle.

History

A priory of Augustine canons was founded here in 550 by O'Dempsey, under the invocation of St. Tighernach who is now the patron saint of the area. The village is home to an impressive early 15th century tower house, once the principal stronghold of the MacGillapatricks of

Upper Ossory Upper Ossory () was an administrative barony in the south and west of Queen's County (now County Laois) in Ireland. In late Gaelic Ireland it was the túath of the Mac Giolla Phádraig ( Fitzpatrick) family and a surviving remnant of the once ...

. The castle bears the image of a sheela na gig. Under their patronage, a medical school flourished at Aghmacart townland, about a mile from the castle from before 1500 to c.1610. It was conducted by the Ó Conchubhair family. Its physicians included Donnchadh Óg Ó Conchubhair ( fl. 1581-1611), Risteard Ó Conchubhair (1561–1625), Donnchadh Albanach Ó Conchubhair (1571–1647) and Cathal Ó Duinnshléibhe (fl. 1592-1611). According to 1837 records, Cullohill was listed as a village in the parish of Aghmacart. Aghmacart is now a

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

of Cullahill and contains an old church and graveyard which are still in use. It is now part of Durrow parish and is in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Ossory The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ossory ( ga, Deoise Osraí) is a Roman Catholic diocese in eastern Ireland. It is one of three suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Dublin.

Activities

Cullohill is surrounded by countryside and has several public walkways and trekking trails in the nearby hills.Description of Walks on Laois Tourism website
archived 2007)

Public transport

Route 828, operated by M & A Coaches on behalf of the National Transport Authority, provides a daily journey each way to/from

Durrow, County Laois Durrow (, formerly ''Darmhagh Ua nDuach'') is a village located in south-east County Laois, Ireland. Bypassed by the M8 motorway on 28 May 2010, the village is located on the R639 road at its junction with the N77. The River Erkina flows thr ...

Abbeyleix Abbeyleix (; ) is a town in County Laois, Ireland, located around south of the county town of Portlaoise. Abbeyleix was formerly located on the N8, the main road from Dublin to Cork. At one point, up to 15,000 vehicles passed along the town' ...

and

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

. There is no Sunday service.

Sport

The local GAA club is The Harps which was formed in 1984 as an amalgamation with Durrow. Up until then Cullohill had its own hurling team and had won the

Laois senior hurling championship The Laois Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois GAA, Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1888. Clough–Ballacolla GAA, Clough–Bal ...

in 1955 and 1964. The 1955 team was captained by Lar Dunphy and the 1964 team by Martin Mahony.

Notable people

Darina Allen Darina Hilda Allen (née O'Connell; born 13 June 1948) is an Irish chef, food writer, TV personality and founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School. Biography Darina Allen was born in Cullohill, County Laois, the eldest of nine children. The renow ...

, née O'Connell, a

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

, is a native of Cullohill. Her family remain there today where they own and run the local pub, The Sports Man's Inn, or O'Connell's, as it is more known locally.

References

* ''The medical school at Aghmacart, Queen's County'', Aoibheann Nic Dhonnchadha, ''Ossory, Laois and Leinster'' 2, (2006)

External links

Cullohill Castle.Durrow Community WebsiteHarps Camogie Club Website
{{County Laois Towns and villages in County Laois Articles on towns and villages in Ireland possibly missing Irish place names FitzPatrick dynasty