![]() ![]() “He was met by the witch in disguise, who told him that there was no well near at hand but that if he went over to a tuft of rushes which she pointed out, and pulled one rush, a well would issue from the earth. “One of the hurlers turned off the hurling green (faithche) to quench his thirst but not finding any water, he wandered about in search of a well. “A wicked witch wished to destroy a number of young men who were hurling on the plain over which the waters of Lough Cullen spreads itself,” he wrote. This ties in with the local superstition of how Lough Cullen was formed and the following story was written down by John O’Donovan from Slieverue who did so much work on Irish place names proves this. The hurlers are then engulfed and a witch, disguised as an old woman lets out venomous wails of destruction and cries out in a loud voice, “An luachair, an luachair (the rushes, the rushes.) My favourite myth surrounding the lake is the tale that when there is a full moon, ghost hurlers come out and play on top of the shimmering surface of the lake.Īccording to the Journal of The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, the hurlers, after a protracted and violent struggle, unleash unearthly shouts, which float in wild reverberations around the distant hills with the lake becoming unusually agitated. It is also known by its English name, Holly Lake and amazingly there has never been a major feature written on what I found to be a little piece of heaven situated in the heart of South Kilkenny. Having read the various accounts of what was supposed to have gone on there in prehistoric times, you would be almost afraid to go anywhere near it. Witches, wells, piseogs, pike, curses, Fionn Mac Cumhaill and ghost hurlers all form part of the rich heritage surrounding Kilkenny’s only lake, Lough Cullen.
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