Overview
Cullaville (also spelled Culloville, from the Irish Baile Mhic Cullach, ‘MacCullach’s townland’) is a village in the south of County Armagh, near Crossmaglen and by the border with County Monaghan. What makes it worth a paragraph isn’t scenery. It’s the place the border runs through, and the history layered onto it. Had the 1925 Boundary Commission recommendations been enacted, Cullaville and the rest of South Armagh would have gone to the Free State, and the line would sit somewhere else entirely.
It’s built around a crossroads on the main Dundalk-to-Castleblayney road, where the A37 on the Northern side becomes the N53 on the Southern. This is a small working border village, not a visitor attraction. Come for the oddity of the frontier, not for things to do.
The railway ghost
Cullaville once had its own station, on the Great Northern Railway’s line from Dundalk to Enniskillen, opened in June 1858. Passenger trains stopped in 1957 and the line closed completely in 1959, like so much of the cross-border network. Treat it as history rather than a place to visit, and do not go onto railway land or private property to look for remains.
The GAA club
The local Gaelic football club, Culloville Blues, uses the alternative spelling of the village name.
Getting there
Translink’s route 42 timetable lists Cullaville Crossroads on some Newry-area services. Check both directions for your date before planning a visit by bus. Otherwise the village is easiest by car along the A37/N53.
Nearby
Crossmaglen is a few miles north. West of that, the Ring of Gullion and Slieve Gullion have the real hillwalking, passage tombs and forest trails, and are the better choice for a longer outing in south Armagh.