Historical records from 1605 mention this site in an inquisition post mortem of Mulrony McTeig O’Carroll, where it’s referred to as ‘de Castr’ Vill’ et Campis de Castleton Keneleage’. Today, only the bawn survives; a defensive courtyard wall that once protected a castle building that has long since been levelled. The square enclosure formed by these walls offers a glimpse into the defensive strategies of medieval Ireland.

The surviving structure reveals intriguing construction techniques that connect it to other thirteenth century Irish castles. Only the south and east walls of the bawn remain standing, but they’ve yielded valuable insights into medieval building methods. Where the base batter has been robbed out, archaeologists have discovered that the walls were constructed atop mud or earthen banks that formed the inner core. The stone walls were then built to encapsulate these earthen banks, a technique also observed at Ballykilmurry castle in the same county, as well as at Shrule castle in Mayo and Ballylusky in Tipperary.

This construction method, combining earthen banks with stone walls, appears to have been a characteristic feature of thirteenth century Irish castle building. The site offers visitors a chance to see these medieval engineering techniques exposed, where centuries of decay have revealed the bones of the structure in ways its builders never intended. Though the main castle building is gone, the remaining bawn walls stand as a testament to the O’Carroll family’s former power in the region and provide a tangible link to Ireland’s complex medieval past.