The Civil Survey of 1654-6 paints a rather forlorn picture of what remained even then; describing it as a ‘little old castle wanting repaire’, accompanied by a thatched house and four or five small cabins. William Butler of Ballykeryne held the castle as proprietor in 1640, though by the time of the survey, the structure was already showing its age and neglect.

The site commanded excellent views across the surrounding countryside, a strategic advantage typical of medieval fortifications in Ireland. However, visitors today will find no trace of the castle or its associated settlement. The field underwent extensive reclamation in 1971, when farm roads were constructed and the land was levelled, effectively erasing any remaining earthworks that might have survived. An Office of Public Works report from that same year notes that the castle had been largely quarried away by then, with only the faintest suggestion of a yard remaining and no coherent structures left standing.

This vanished fortress represents countless similar sites across Ireland where medieval strongholds have disappeared entirely from the landscape, leaving only documentary evidence and place names to mark their existence. The transformation from defensive structure to agricultural land tells a broader story of Ireland’s changing priorities; from the contested territories of the medieval period to the agricultural improvements of the modern era.