The land here slopes northward towards a turlough, one of those peculiarly Irish seasonal lakes that appears and disappears with the rains. The rectangular tower house, measuring roughly 17 by 11 metres, rises two storeys despite centuries of neglect and stone robbing. Its once impressive quoinstones and dressed stonework have long since been carted away by locals for other building projects, leaving behind well-coursed but undressed masonry walls that still speak to the skill of medieval builders.

What makes Ballynacourty Court particularly interesting is its unusual ground floor entrance, located near the southern end of the northeast wall where fragments of an arch and northern jamb still cling to a large breach in the masonry. This breaks from the typical defensive design of hall-houses, which usually placed their main entrances at first floor level for better security. The ground floor originally featured four narrow slit windows set into wide embrasures; two facing southwest and one each in the northeast and northwest walls, providing light whilst maintaining defensive capabilities. An intramural staircase built into the southeast wall once connected the floors, though today only joist holes mark where the wooden floor once divided the levels.

The tower’s recorded history offers glimpses into its changing fortunes. By 1574, it had passed into the hands of one William McRichard, though little else is known about its medieval occupants. Today, whilst the interior lies filled with rubble and only fragments of the first floor walls survive, the structure remains part of a broader medieval landscape. A church sits just 100 metres to the east, whilst remnants of a settlement cluster can be found about 165 metres north, suggesting Ballynacourty Court once served as the defensive heart of a thriving medieval community.