Built in 1422 by Conor Mac Donagh, the castle now exists as two separate sections of limestone rubble masonry, standing about 25 metres apart. What remains today offers fascinating glimpses into medieval Irish castle construction, with surviving features including mural staircases, window embrasures, and the remnants of rounded wicker-centred vaults that once covered the ground floor chambers.

The eastern block, which likely formed the main tower, preserves a southeast corner that rises to two storeys, though it originally stood much taller. Its most intriguing feature is a doorway at ground level that opens onto a spiral staircase built within the thickness of the walls. This mural stair, illuminated by narrow slit windows, winds up through the southeast corner before continuing through the eastern wall to reach the first floor, where fragments of another doorway would have provided access to the upper chamber. The western section appears to have been a mural tower connected to a bawn wall; traces of this defensive perimeter can still be seen in the curved scarp of rock and stone facing that arcs between the two surviving blocks.

The castle’s strategic importance continued well beyond its medieval origins. During the 18th and 19th centuries, various buildings were constructed immediately south of the castle ruins, including walled gardens that remained in use into the 1830s. The site became part of the estate attached to the mid-18th-century Castledargan House nearby, ensuring its place in the evolving story of this clifftop location. Today, visitors can explore these layered ruins, from the medieval masonry with its fallen vault blocks scattered on the ground, to the later estate buildings that speak to centuries of continuous occupation at this commanding spot above the lough.