The site offers commanding views in all directions, a strategic advantage that would have been prized by its original inhabitants. Today, visitors to this reclaimed grassland would find little evidence of the structure that once stood here; the castle has effectively vanished from sight at ground level, leaving only historical records and maps to tell its story.

According to the Ordnance Survey letters from 1839, only a fragment of the castle’s south wall remained visible at that time, measuring about one metre thick and attributed to the Grace family, who were prominent Anglo-Norman landowners in medieval Kilkenny. The Graces held considerable power in the region from the 13th century onwards, and this castle would have been one of many fortifications that dotted their extensive estates. The structure appears on the first Ordnance Survey map of 1839 and the 1900 revision as a small, square roofed building measuring approximately eight metres on each side, suggesting it may have been a tower house typical of late medieval Irish castles.

The disappearance of Gaulstown Castle from the visible landscape speaks to the fragility of Ireland’s built heritage, particularly in rural areas where stone was often robbed for other construction projects over the centuries. What remains is a place where history literally lies beneath the surface, its presence marked only by the gentle undulations in the field that hint at foundations below. The site was documented by Jean Farrelly and uploaded to archaeological records in December 2016, ensuring that even as the physical structure fades from memory, its place in the historical landscape of County Kilkenny is preserved.