Today, visitors to this spot in County Leitrim will find only a working farmyard, with no visible traces of the medieval structure that once dominated this riverside location. The castle appears on historical maps dating back to the Down Survey of 1655-6, where it’s marked but unnamed, and later on Taylor and Skinner’s 1788 map, which labels it as ‘Port Castle ruins’. This suggests the structure was already in decline by the late 18th century.

The site’s later history offers intriguing glimpses into its transformation. A carved date stone from 1766, now set into the boundary wall at the entrance to Port Shan House, bears the inscription ‘Laugh Lin / Glyn Undert / ake Er 1766’, marking some form of construction or renovation work during that period. Historical records show that Bryan Conyngham was living here at the turn of the 19th century, but by 1856, the entire townland had passed into the ownership of George Latimer according to the Griffith Valuation.

Archaeological investigations carried out in 2018 revealed little of the castle’s original footprint; excavators uncovered only a small spread of burnt stone in the vicinity. However, the possibility remains that fragments of the medieval structure, perhaps a tower house, could be incorporated into the existing farm buildings. Such reuse of old stone was common practice in rural Ireland, where practical farmers often viewed ruined castles as convenient quarries rather than historical monuments. The castle’s strategic position, controlling this bend in the Shannon, would have made it an important defensive site in medieval Leitrim, even if its stones now serve more mundane agricultural purposes.