This rectangular stone structure, measuring approximately 8.5 metres east to west and 6 metres north to south, sits within an oval earthwork that has protected the site for centuries. First recorded on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map as ‘Creeve Castle’, the building was already marked as being in ruins by the time of the 1910 survey, suggesting its destruction occurred sometime during the 19th century or earlier.

The castle served as a stronghold for the Magawley family, who controlled this northern portion of Ballyloughloe parish during the medieval period. Local tradition tells a compelling story about the castle’s demise; rather than allowing it to fall into enemy hands, the Irish defenders allegedly burnt the structure down themselves. This act of defiance, whether factual or folkloric, speaks to the turbulent history of fortified houses in Ireland, where strategic destruction was sometimes preferable to occupation by opposing forces.

Today, visitors to the site will find little more than low stone wall footings and the remnants of what appears to be a vault, all heavily obscured by briars and scrub vegetation. Small depressions near the eastern bank and a longer depression along the southern interior of the earthwork hint at additional structures or defensive features that once formed part of the castle complex. Despite its ruined state, the site remains an evocative reminder of the network of castles and fortified houses that once dotted the Irish landscape, each with its own story of power, resistance, and eventual abandonment.