This rectangular tower house, built from roughly coursed limestone rubble, sits in rolling grassland beside a small stream, offering views along the valley to both east and west. Though it now survives only to third floor level, having lost its upper storeys around 1810 when they were demolished for building materials, the castle once stood as the seat of the Purcell family, who held sway over much of the Catholic parish of Muckalee during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The castle’s architecture tells its own story of late medieval defensive design. Measuring 12.8 metres north to south and 8.5 metres east to west, with walls 2.3 metres thick, this formidable structure features pointed doorways and distinctive ogee-headed windows set within wide embrasures. Entry is gained through a doorway on the north wall, complete with a yett-hole at its apex for additional security, leading into a lobby with a barrel-vaulted guardroom. A spiral staircase rises in the northeast corner, providing access to the upper chambers which, apart from the small ground floor vault, were originally supported by wooden floors resting on punch-dressed corbels. The presence of a gun-loop on the ground floor and the absence of a main vault suggest the tower house dates from the late 16th century, a time when military architecture was adapting to the age of gunpowder.

The castle’s later history reflects the turbulent politics of 17th century Ireland. According to historian Carrigan’s 1905 account, Philip Purcell, being “an Irish Papist”, lost his estate during the Cromwellian regime when Ballyfoyle was granted to one Tobias Cramer. Despite this change of ownership, the castle continued to be inhabited alongside an attached 17th century house until around 1748, when the house unexpectedly collapsed. Today, visitors can still explore the remaining floors, from the ground level with its single-light window and gun-loop, through the first floor’s divided chambers, to the more elaborate second floor which features a large fireplace, multiple window embrasures, L-shaped mural chambers with angle-loops, and even a garderobe; all architectural features that speak to both the defensive necessities and domestic comforts of tower house life.