Known locally as Caislean Dubh, this poorly preserved hall-house dates from the medieval period and sits amongst undulating pastures, with marshy lands to the north and a church just 200 metres to the southwest. The castle’s eastern half survives to first-floor level only, with the northwest wall being the most intact element of the structure, constructed from roughly coursed limestone rubble featuring a distinctive high base-batter but notably lacking any cut stone in its construction.

What makes this castle particularly intriguing are its unusual defensive features and construction techniques. The builders employed a double-face wall construction atop single-phase foundations on the northwest wall and northern section of the northeast wall, possibly providing extra defensive capability on these exposed angles where a now-destroyed curtain wall may have once stood. Internal timber bracing, evidenced by put-log holes visible along all three faces, reinforced the wall strength; a technique found at other early medieval castles in both Ireland and England. At the northern corner, remains of what appears to be an external stone forebuilding likely housed a stone staircase, with a draw bar slot still visible at ground-floor level, similar to features found at Clohaskin hall house elsewhere in North Tipperary.

The castle’s interior reveals further medieval architectural details, including a possible garderobe chute serving first-floor facilities along the northwest wall, and a single-light slit opening in the centre of the southeast wall that would have illuminated the ground floor. A stone vault, apparently a later addition, was inserted in the eastern corner of the building, cutting across earlier floor joist holes and springing from the southeast wall. By 1640, the lands of Urard were held by Pierce Butler of Callan, County Kilkenny, though by 1840 when the Ordnance Survey letters described the site, much of the southern side had already vanished, leaving only the imposing remnants we see today measuring approximately 18.4 metres east to west.