The older road once ran further west, but today’s route brings visitors close to this well-preserved rectangular tower that has watched over the landscape since at least 1574. Historical records from that year note it was then owned by one ‘Redmud Reogh’, giving us a tantalising glimpse of its early inhabitants.

The four-storey tower measures nearly 11 metres in length and 9 metres in width, built with the defensive practicality typical of Irish tower houses. Its southeast wall features a centrally placed pointed-arch doorway of two orders, though sadly the decorative stonework has been robbed over the centuries. Once through this entrance, visitors would have found themselves in a lobby overlooked by a murder-hole; a sobering reminder of less peaceful times, with spiral stairs tucked into the eastern corner providing access to the upper floors. The internal layout follows a pattern seen in many tower houses: the ground, first and second floors each contain a main chamber with a smaller subsidiary room to the southeast, whilst a stone vault separates the second and third floors.

The castle’s builders didn’t skimp on creature comforts despite its military purpose. A fireplace warms the first-floor chamber’s southwest wall, and multiple latrines serve the various floors, including an enclosed latrine gallery that runs along the southeast side between the first and second floors. One particularly intriguing feature is a concealed chamber hidden within the thickness of the arch, accessible via a trapdoor from the third-floor latrine. The third floor also boasts twin-light windows set in semicircular embrasures with finely decorated soffits; a touch of elegance amongst the otherwise single-light windows that pierce the walls with their mix of ogee, circular and flat heads. Though only the base of the parapet survives today, the castle remains an impressive testament to the defensive architecture of 16th-century Ireland.