This small tower house once stood guard over the fishing weir of Scarre, protecting the valuable catches that helped sustain the nearby Dunbrody Abbey. Though the abbey’s dissolution records make no mention of the tower, it clearly formed part of their extensive holdings along the confluence of the Rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir, about 150 metres from where the shoreline curves southward.

The castle’s peculiar name comes from its Irish moniker ‘Caislean na blaihie’, literally translated as Buttermilk Castle, though the origins of this dairy-inspired title remain a mystery. When the antiquarian Brewer visited in 1825, he found two connected towers still standing; a compact lower building measuring roughly three metres square with a vaulted roof, connected by stairs to an even smaller upper chamber. The structure originally rose three storeys high, with a lintelled entrance cleverly defended by machicolation above, allowing defenders to drop unpleasant surprises on unwelcome visitors below.

Today, only the base of the tower survives amongst a scatter of rubble, its interior dimensions barely three metres at their widest point. The castle passed through various hands after the abbey’s dissolution, with records from the 1654 Civil Survey noting one John Etchingham as owner of what was then called Skeroirke. Despite its diminutive size, this compact fortification represents a fascinating glimpse into how medieval religious communities protected their economic interests, combining practical defensive architecture with the management of natural resources along Ireland’s tidal waterways.