The name itself means ‘ruin’, and whilst the castle that once stood here has vanished, its protective bawn wall still defines this historic site. George Fitzgerald of Cork made this place his home after being transplanted from Cork in the 1650s, before his family went on to build the grander Lahardan House about two kilometres to the northwest around 1735.

The surviving bawn is an impressive structure in its own right, stretching 72 metres from north-northeast to south-southwest and 25 metres across. Built from uncoursed limestone with an external batter, the wall reaches up to 3.6 metres high at its northwest section and maintains a width of 1.4 metres. At the northern end of the western side, you can still trace the destroyed gateway, three metres wide, with the bases of inturned walls extending six metres on either side. A draw-bar socket, measuring 1.2 metres long on the northeast side of the gateway, offers a tangible connection to the defensive mechanisms once employed here.

Today, the bawn’s interior contains evidence of later occupation, including the foundations of a rectangular building measuring 11 by 5.5 metres set against the northwest wall, and a lime kiln at the centre. The numerous cairns scattered throughout the overgrown enclosure add to the archaeological complexity of the site. Though the castle itself has been lost to time, these layered remains create a palimpsest of Irish history, from medieval fortification through plantation-era residence to later agricultural use.