Built by Mahon MacNamara and documented as early as 1570 in the possession of Turlough O’Brien, this tower house tells a turbulent story of changing ownership and gradual decay. The castle passed between the MacNamaras and various tenants throughout the late 16th and early 17th centuries, apparently falling into ruin by 1613 before being repaired around 1630. Sir Roland Delahoyde rented part of it then, gaining full possession by 1636, only for his son Oliver to forfeit it after the 1641 rebellion. Edmund McGrath received the grant in 1656 and returned it to the MacNamaras and Maloneys, but by 1696 the estate was forfeited again and the castle began its final descent into ruin.

The rectangular structure measures 8.4 metres north to south and 11.5 metres east to west, built with substantial double-faced limestone walls nearly two metres thick. The west wall remains the most intact, rising to parapet level and featuring window openings at ground, first, and second floor levels, though most surrounds are missing. A particularly fine round-headed window with a dropped keystone survives at second floor level, and above it spans a broad, depressed pointed arch that once supported the wall-walk. The ground floor preserves a pointed wicker-centred vault reaching about five metres high, with natural bedrock protruding through the floor at the western end, worn smooth by centuries of erosion.

Today, much of the castle lies in various states of collapse; the east wall containing the main entrance has completely vanished, whilst the northeast corner that housed the guardroom survives only as low wall footings. The spiral staircase in the southeast corner is now just a grass-covered mound of rubble. Still visible are practical medieval features including window embrasures with straight ingoings, wall niches for storage, and the remains of a garderobe chute that once exited through the north wall. A single corbel at the upper west wall likely supported corner machicolations at battlement level, whilst traces of a bawn wall can still be detected to the south and west of the main structure.