Built by the Burke family sometime in the 16th century, this four-storey fortified residence followed the typical design of Irish tower houses of the period; thick limestone walls, narrow windows, and a rectangular footprint that prioritised defence over comfort. The Burkes, who had arrived with the Norman invasion and quickly became more Irish than the Irish themselves, controlled vast swathes of Connacht from strongholds like this one.

What remains today gives a clear picture of how these minor nobility lived during turbulent times. The ground floor, which would have served as storage and possibly housed livestock during raids, still shows its barrel-vaulted ceiling. A spiral staircase, now partially collapsed, once connected all four levels, with the upper floors containing the main hall and private chambers. Murder holes above the entrance and narrow arrow slits throughout the walls remind visitors that this was as much a fortress as a home. The castle’s position near the old road between Galway and Limerick made it strategically important for controlling trade and movement through the region.

Like many Irish castles, Kilcolgan’s decline came during the Cromwellian conquest of the 1650s, when systematic destruction of Catholic-owned fortifications left structures like this abandoned or severely damaged. Local tradition holds that the castle was besieged and its defenders massacred, though historical records are sparse. Today, ivy creeps through the empty window frames and birds nest in the upper chambers, whilst cattle graze in the shadow of walls that have stood for nearly five centuries. The site remains freely accessible to visitors willing to trek across the field from the nearby road.