The castle complex includes the main tower, remnants of a defensive bawn wall on its northern side, and the roofless shell of a three-storey barracks attached to the south. Designated as National Monument No. 534, the site has undergone significant changes since the late 17th century, with major conservation work by the Irish state completed in 1993 when it opened to the public as a visitor attraction.

The bawn, or fortified courtyard wall, tells its own story of medieval defence. The northern section survives best, stretching nearly 17 metres long and standing about 5 metres high, with circular corner towers anchoring each end. The northeastern tower, with an internal diameter of 2.7 metres, features multiple gun loops at ground and first floor levels covering an arc from northwest to southeast, along with a fireplace in the southeast wall and a door opening to the southwest. Its northwestern counterpart is slightly smaller at 2.3 metres across, equipped with similar defensive features including gun loops, a fireplace in the southwest wall, and a niche in the northeast wall. Both towers had wide rectangular windows added during the 19th or early 20th century, modernising what were once purely military structures.

The bawn’s eastern wall extends roughly 20 metres from the northeastern tower, though much rebuilt over time, whilst only traces remain of the western wall’s return on the southern side of the northwestern tower. A wall walk tops the northern bawn wall, accessed through a central pointed doorway; 19th century illustrations show a two-storey building once straddled this defensive wall, though no trace of it remains today. These layers of construction, destruction, and adaptation make Ross Castle a compelling record of Irish fortification spanning from medieval times through to the modern era.