According to the Civil Survey of 1654-6, the property belonged to Dorothy Shea, widow of Henry Shea of Kilkenny, with their son Robert as heir; both were listed as Irish Papists whilst their tenant, John Grove, was recorded as an English Protestant. At that time, the survey noted the castle was already “not in good repaire” and surrounded by several thatched cabins, painting a picture of a once-grand residence beginning its slow decline.

The building itself is a substantial rectangular structure measuring roughly 14.5 by 9.73 metres, constructed from randomly coursed limestone rubble with a distinctive semi-circular stair turret projecting from its north angle. Rising three storeys with an attic level, the fortified house features typical defensive elements of its era: a murder hole above the original entrance doorway, gun loops in the turret, machicolations at parapet level, and a circular bartizan supported by corbels at the south angle. The Ordnance Survey Letters from 1840 recorded fourteen limestone windows lighting the interior, though many have since been widened or altered, suggesting significant modifications occurred after that date. The house notably lacks a garderobe, which was typical for buildings of this period, and all floors were originally wooden, supported on slight offsets in the walls.

The interior layout reveals a carefully planned domestic space adapted over time. The ground floor, entered through a now broken doorway protected by a murder hole accessible from the first floor, contained a large fireplace and several windows, including one with gun loops flanking its embrasure. The first and second floors each had their own fireplaces; some retain their original chamfered limestone lintels whilst others show evidence of later brick insertions and modifications. Much of the internal lime render and the partitioning appears to date from a secondary phase of occupation, probably during the 19th century when the building was repurposed for agricultural use. Today, the castle stands amid later farm buildings and a 19th-century wall that may incorporate elements of the original bawn, its weathered stones continuing to tell the story of Protestant and Catholic, English and Irish, wealth and decline in rural Tipperary.