The structure, measuring roughly 14.6 metres in external diameter and standing 7.6 metres high, represents what survives of a once more extensive fortification. Built atop a circular mound whose western side shows signs of deliberate damage, the castle ruins reveal traces of numerous stone walls and foundations extending between the tower and the nearby medieval church of Newtown, located just 80 metres to the southwest.

The castle’s history reads like a chronicle of conquest and displacement typical of Irish medieval politics. Originally constructed by the Maddens, a powerful Westmeath family, the fortress changed hands through an act of calculated betrayal when, according to local tradition recorded by O’Donovan, a visiting Geoghegan of Castletown refused to leave after his stay and forcibly expelled his hosts. The Geoghegans held the property until the Parliamentary wars, when they too were displaced, this time by a Cromwellian family named Low who received land grants in 1666 and 1668. The Lows renamed the fortress after themselves and remained there for many years, though the castle had already seen destruction in 1474 and capture by the sons of Brian Mageochagan in 1451.

Today’s visitor can still observe the castle’s sole remaining architectural feature, its doorway, whilst the interior reveals later modifications including cross walls that divide the space into three or four small chambers. These alterations weren’t part of the original medieval construction; local speculation suggests the compartments may have served as a clandestine distillery for poitín production in later centuries. Though heavily overgrown with ivy when surveyed in 1913, the ruins continue to offer tangible evidence of the layers of occupation, conflict, and adaptation that characterise so many Irish historical sites.