The castle appears on the 1657 Down Survey map of Kenry Barony as a tower house on an island, and by 1840 the Ordnance Survey noted that a drawbridge crossed the river here, complete with a keeper’s house where boats paid three shillings to pass through. This location likely served as both a defensive position and a lucrative ferry crossing point, controlling movement along the Maigue for centuries.

The castle’s history reveals the turbulent nature of land ownership in post-medieval Ireland. In 1583, it was held by Conor Moyle O’Brien in the territory of Corcamore, but just five years later it was granted to Richard and Alexander Phitton. By 1611, Sir E. Fitten had passed it on to T. Butler, and when the Civil Survey was conducted between 1654 and 1656, the property belonged to Patrick Kearny of Kilmallock, described as “an Irish Papist”, though by then only “a stump of a Castle” remained. The structure had evidently suffered considerable damage, possibly during the Confederate Wars or Cromwellian conquest, leaving just ruins where the tower house once stood.

The site continued changing hands through the late 17th century; in 1657 Margaret Bryne, also known as Stephenson, of Carrigoguinnell held the lands and castle ruins, and by 1669 the property was confirmed to W. Barker under the Act of Settlement. Today, whilst the medieval castle has vanished completely, its island location remains occupied, and the site serves as a reminder of how these river crossings were once vital arteries of commerce and communication, worthy of fortification and careful control by whoever held power in the region.