Built on a low earthen mound that stretches 34 metres north to south, the limestone rubble foundations are all that remain of what was once a formidable structure measuring roughly 7.8 by 9.7 metres, with walls that varied in thickness from 1.2 to 2.5 metres. The tower’s rounded corners, an architectural detail still visible in the foundations, hint at its defensive purpose. By 1654, the Civil Survey recorded it as nothing more than ‘old rotten walls of a castle with one thatcht house and five cabbins’, a far cry from its former glory when it appeared on seventeenth-century Down Survey maps.

The site’s history extends well beyond the tower itself. The field preserves remarkable earthworks that reveal the ghost of a deserted medieval village, complete with house platforms and a sunken way that once served as the main thoroughfare. An adjacent field system shows how the land was organised for agriculture, whilst two millstones discovered nearby speak to the economic activities that sustained the community. The mound on which the tower stands is defined by a scarp that varies dramatically in height; 0.85 metres on the western side rising to 2.47 metres on the east, suggesting significant landscape modification over time.

Records from 1640 name William Glysane and John Grace as proprietors of the estate, giving us a glimpse of the families who controlled this strategic position along what was once an old river course, before the Dolla was straightened. The tower house would have served as both residence and fortress for these local lords, overseeing the village and agricultural lands that spread out below. Today, these layered ruins offer one of North Tipperary’s more complete pictures of how a small medieval settlement lived, worked, and eventually faded into the landscape.