Only a fragment of the ivy-clad eastern wall remains upright, rising about six metres from the ground along a 3.6-metre stretch. Built from coursed rubble limestone with a slight base batter, this solitary wall hints at what was once a rectangular tower house measuring roughly 9 metres north to south and 10 metres east to west. The rest of the structure has long since collapsed into a grass-covered mound, though keen observers can still spot the springing arch stones of what was once a stone-vaulted ground floor rising from the inner face of the standing wall.

The castle’s history reads like a who’s who of Tudor-era Irish politics, with ownership passing between the O’Kennedy and Butler families throughout the 16th century. In 1539, Phillip O’Kennedy, captain of his nation, granted the castle to James Butler, son of the Earl of Ormond, along with nearby plowlands and various services including eleven turbaries and eight horsemen. The property changed hands several more times over the following decades, with various O’Kennedy clan members and the Earls of Ormond negotiating grants and relinquishing claims to the castle and surrounding territories. By 1591, Moreghe O’Kennedy of Drumnamahane had surrendered all his rights to the castle and parish lands to the Earl of Ormond.

When the Civil Survey documented the site between 1654 and 1656, the castle was already described as “irrepayreably demolished”, though the surveyors noted the presence of two mills, a fishing weir on the Nenagh River, two thatched houses, six cottages, and a garden plot still dotting the landscape. The Countess of Ormond was listed as proprietor in 1640, suggesting the Butler family maintained control of these lands through the tumultuous years of the Confederate Wars. Today, visitors can still trace the medieval landscape; the possible mill site lies just 19 metres northeast of the castle ruins, whilst the fishing weir location to the east remains identifiable, creating a picture of a once-thriving medieval settlement at this important river crossing.