The site, which sits at the northern edge of a bog stretching southward, has puzzled locals for generations. What remains today is an overgrown cairn of stone and mortar, roughly 15 metres in diameter and a metre high, likely spoil from the castle rather than the children’s burial ground that local tradition suggests. When this material was removed in 2007, no underlying features were discovered, though a double carhouse dating from the 18th or 19th century stands about 50 metres to the west, marking the original castle location.

The castle’s history reflects the turbulent transfer of land ownership during the Cromwellian period. In 1617, the lands at Knock belonged to Donogh McKeogh, and by 1641, Feogh McDonnagh Keogh held 116 acres here. The Strafford map of around 1636 shows both a castle and a mill at this location. However, by the 1660s, the property had passed to Sir Thomas Newcomen, who had acquired a substantial estate of 1,000 acres in Taghmaconnell parish. The Newcomen family, originally from County Longford, are believed to have built their castle near the earlier Keogh stronghold, though they had relocated to the grander Camlagh House, four kilometres northwest, before 1740.

The confusion over the castle’s exact location adds to its mystique; whilst the 1837 Ordnance Survey map marks “Newcommen Castle” in Gothic lettering on one spot, the 1915 edition shows it had mysteriously shifted eastward, closer to the stream. This cartographic puzzle, combined with the site’s transformation from medieval stronghold to rubble heap, captures the layers of history that characterise so many forgotten Irish castle sites, where each generation has left its mark on both the landscape and local memory.