This late medieval tower house, likely built in the 15th century, once stood on the western side of what appears to have been a fortified enclosure, defined by a polygonal bank and fosse that’s still visible on modern aerial imagery. Local folklore connects the site to Hugh de Lacy, the Anglo-Norman lord who helped establish Norman power in Ireland during the 12th century, though no castle appears on the 17th century Down Survey maps when the townland was owned by Edward Nugent in 1640.

The surviving eastern wall stretches approximately 11.43 metres long and reaches heights of around 8 metres, with the southeastern circular turret preserving evidence of a now-destroyed spiral staircase. Archaeological surveys from the 1950s through to the 1980s have documented the castle’s gradual decay, noting that much of the cut stone has been robbed over the centuries and that parts of the wall appear to have been patched and rebuilt, possibly by a former landowner attempting to preserve it as a picturesque ruin. The northeastern turret exists only as foundations, obscured by a large tree growing from its collapsed remains, whilst a rounded buttress built against the western side of the southern tower partially obscures what would have been the castle’s south wall.

The castle sits within an extensive earthwork complex that includes a roughly triangular enclosure formed by a double bank and fosse, best preserved on the western side where it merges with modern field boundaries. These defensive earthworks enclose a sub-rectangular area that’s subdivided by low banks, scarps and shallow fosses forming smaller rectangular enclosures; archaeological evidence suggests additional structures once stood both inside and outside this defensive perimeter. The northern side of the earthwork has been partly obliterated by a laneway that now runs along the line of the original fosse, whilst modern farm roads and field boundaries have incorporated or destroyed other sections of these medieval defences.