The remains of this square tower house stand on a low rock outcrop, surrounded by an extensive complex of earthworks that tell the story of a once-formidable stronghold. Aerial photographs reveal the ghostly outline of a rectangular bawn, approximately 93 metres east to west and 120 metres north to south, complete with what appear to be flanking towers at the northwest angle and along the north side. The public road now cuts across where the south side of the bawn once stood, whilst mysterious rectangular earthworks nearby might mark the sites of former houses, though centuries of weathering have made their true purpose uncertain.

This castle, known as Ballineclossy Castle in the 17th century, played a notable role during the turbulent Irish Rebellion of 1641. Two companies of English foot soldiers were garrisoned here under the command of Captain Bertie (or Bartie), brother to the Earl of Lindsey, who had served as the king’s general at the Battle of Edgehill. Sir Henry Piers, writing in 1682, paints a vivid picture of the English forces returning from burning nearby Bethlehem Nunnery to find the castle abandoned by its inhabitants but generously stocked with ‘excellent strong beer and aquavitae, and all sorts of provisions for food’. The castle belonged to what Piers described as ‘a gentleman of antient family and good estate’, though the identity of this family remains unrecorded in his account.

The site’s strategic importance becomes clear from its position on a promontory jutting into Lough Ree, with the River Inny flowing into the Shannon nearby and Portenure visible on the opposite shore. Today, visitors can trace the sunken linear earthwork running northwest from the west side of the bawn, possibly the remains of a medieval roadway or drainage ditch, whilst the field south of the castle bears scars from post-1700 quarrying activities, including a limekiln marked on the 1838 Ordnance Survey map. Though time has reduced this once-mighty fortress to foundations and earthworks, the landscape itself preserves the memory of English soldiers, Irish rebels, and the dramatic events that unfolded here nearly four centuries ago.