This stronghold, which locals once called the Castle of Palace, belonged to the O’Moore clan, one of the most influential Gaelic families in the region. The castle’s most distinctive feature was its surrounding fosse; a defensive ditch that would have made any direct assault considerably more difficult for potential attackers.

The fosse likely served a dual purpose, functioning both as a protective barrier for the main castle structure and potentially as the boundary of a bawn, a fortified enclosure typical of Irish castles from the 16th and 17th centuries. Bawns were essentially walled courtyards that provided additional security for livestock and people during times of conflict, making them essential features of Irish tower houses and castles during turbulent periods.

Today, no visible traces remain above ground of either the castle or its defensive earthworks. The site was documented in detail by O’Hanlon and O’Leary in 1907, and later incorporated into the Archaeological Inventory of County Laois in 1995. While the physical structure has vanished from the landscape, the location remains an important archaeological site, preserving beneath the soil the footprint of what was once a formidable medieval fortress in the Irish midlands.