This fortress was likely the ‘House of Hore’ mentioned in A. O’Daly’s satirical work ‘The Tribes of Ireland’, and by 1601 had passed into the hands of the Hussey family. During the Cromwellian conquest around 1649, Walter Hussey attempted to defend the castle against Parliamentary forces, but when overwhelmed, the garrison fled to Minard Castle where they met a grim fate, being ‘blown up by powder’ according to the 18th century historian Smith. Though the castle still stood in Smith’s time, not a trace remained by 1841.

What survives today is a fascinating collection of carved stones that tell their own tale of medieval craftsmanship. The most intriguing pieces include two arched limestone sections from a doorway, now incorrectly assembled as an ornamental gateway, bearing a cryptic contracted inscription that reads ‘V.D.M:A.I:HLIYVI./HV:H.ET.E.M:M.E:E/.IO. B.MH.O’. This mysterious text sparked enough curiosity in Victorian times to inspire a serialised romantic tale in the Kerry Magazine between 1854 and 1855, though the actual meaning remains unclear. Other fragments include a rectangular block with a keyhole shaped opening that may have served as a musket loop, various punch dressed door jambs displaying the decorative stonework typical of the 16th and 17th centuries, and a possible font with three narrow holes bored into its rim.

The collection also contains several pieces of uncertain provenance, including a keel moulded sandstone block dating to the late 12th or 13th century, limestone blocks that might have served as rainwater outlets, and what appears to be a portion of a small millstone. One solitary stone from the original castle found its way to Edenburn House, where Archdeacon Rowan incorporated it into the wall in the late 19th century. These fragments, catalogued and illustrated by archaeologists, represent all that remains of a castle that once commanded the local landscape and played its part in Ireland’s turbulent history.