The complex consists of a tower house and bawn that dates back to at least 1285, though the exact dating of the surviving structures remains uncertain. What makes this site particularly interesting is how it demonstrates the layers of Irish history; a medieval defensive structure that was extended during the 18th and 19th centuries, and has now been converted into four-star self-catering accommodation. The castle sits in the western part of Fanningstown townland in Adare parish, with the medieval Caherass Church lying about 1.5km to the south and Castleroberts a similar distance to the west.

The original medieval elements that survive include towers at the southwest and southeast corners of the bawn, each roughly 6 metres square. Both towers featured third-storey bartizans on their outermost corners; defensive turrets that projected from the walls on cut stone corbels, along with spiral staircases housed in turrets within the bawn. While the southeast tower remains complete as part of a farmhouse, only the stair turret and bartizan corbels survive from the upper portion of the southwest tower. The round staircase tower, pierced with arrow-slit windows and rising about three floors, has lost both its internal staircase and roof but still stands as an impressive reminder of the castle’s defensive past. Historical records from the Civil Survey of 1654-56 note that Edmund Fanning, listed as an ‘Irish Papist’, held one plowland here with a castle, bawn, a thatched house and an orchard.

The castle underwent significant transformation in the 19th century when P. Nagle of Cork added substantial extensions around 1810. Part of the bawn wall was removed to accommodate a new house that faced the old courtyard with an impressive façade and bow-fronted entrance, though this structure no longer survives. The Ordnance Survey map of 1840 shows this configuration, along with the entrance road from the east that ran off the Patrickswell-Croom road, marked by a gate lodge that still stands today. The current complex includes crenellated blocks of varying heights, slate roofs with red brick chimneystacks, and rubble limestone walls featuring limestone machicolations and a guarderobe-like projection with blind cross loops. The extensive walled orchard adjacent to the bawn may have origins dating back to the 17th century or earlier, adding another layer to this site’s long occupation history.