The tower house, which once belonged to the influential Desmond family, sits on the southern edge of the farmyard with a stream flowing 35 metres to the west, marking the boundary with the neighbouring townland of Bealduvroga. Though time has taken its toll, the castle’s impressive structure remains largely intact, offering visitors a glimpse into medieval defensive architecture.

When surveyed in 1840, the castle’s walls were recorded as being approximately 18.3 metres high and 1.67 metres thick, enclosing an interior space measuring roughly 4.4 by 3.6 metres. The tower originally contained five floors, with two stone arches still visible over the first and second levels during that nineteenth-century inspection. The castle’s Irish name, Lios a Móta, reveals an interesting aspect of its defensive design; it was once surrounded by a lios, an earthen rampart that formed a protective bawn around the tower. Unfortunately, this earthwork enclosure was completely removed during the eighteenth or early nineteenth century when local farmers carted away the earth for use as fertiliser, a common fate for many such structures across Ireland.

Today, visitors to the site can explore not just the castle itself but also traces of the wider defensive complex. Archaeological surveys have identified the site of an enclosure 26 metres north-northeast of the tower, whilst aerial photographs taken in 2006 have helped researchers better understand the original layout of the bawn that once protected this Desmond stronghold. Though the earthen defences have long since vanished, Lissamota Castle continues to stand as a remarkable survivor of Ireland’s turbulent medieval past.