This castellated folly was built around 1840 as part of the wider Doonass estate, which belonged to the prominent local landowner family. The tower’s Gothic Revival design, complete with crenellations and narrow windows, was meant to evoke medieval fortifications, though it served no defensive purpose whatsoever.

The structure forms part of a larger story about Victorian Ireland’s landed gentry and their taste for romantic ruins and faux-medieval buildings. During this period, wealthy estate owners across Ireland commissioned similar follies; decorative structures that served as eye-catching features in their carefully designed landscapes. The Turret would have provided visitors with panoramic views across the Shannon and the surrounding countryside, whilst adding a touch of theatrical drama to the estate grounds.

Today, the Turret remains a striking landmark along the river, though time and weather have left their mark on the stonework. The surrounding Doonass Demesne has long since been broken up, but this peculiar tower continues to puzzle and delight those who spot it from the nearby roads or river paths. It stands as a reminder of an era when Irish landowners had both the means and inclination to build monuments to their own romantic notions of history.