This four-storey limestone tower house, also known as Ardcollum, may have originally belonged to the Wall family before becoming embroiled in the territorial disputes of the 16th century. In 1542, Sir Thomas Butler of Cahir garrisoned the castle, though it was later reclaimed by the Earl of Ormond, who still held it as proprietor in 1640. By the time of the Civil Survey in 1654-6, the structure was already described as ‘a small castle wanting repaire’, suggesting its best days were behind it.

The tower house itself is a compact but cleverly designed fortification, measuring roughly 10 by 11 metres externally, with walls over two metres thick. Built from roughly coursed limestone rubble with sandstone detailing around openings and corners, it features two barrel-vaulted floors; one at ground level and another on the second floor. The original entrance on the south wall was once defended by a machicolation at parapet level, though only the corbel supports remain today. Inside, a murder hole protected the entrance lobby, accessed from a chamber above, though much of this defensive feature has since collapsed. The castle’s vertical circulation relies on a combination of mural stairs within the southern wall and a spiral staircase tucked into the southwest corner.

Each floor reveals the practical considerations of medieval living, from the garderobe chambers with their slop-stones for waste disposal to the various wall cupboards for storage. The windows progress from simple openings on the ground floor to more elaborate ogee-headed designs on upper levels, with a particularly fine two-light window gracing the third floor’s eastern wall. Evidence of fireplaces can be found on multiple floors, whilst the third floor features an intriguing triple-arched blind arcade along its eastern wall, supported on chamfered corbels. Though the parapet level has long since vanished, the surviving structure offers remarkable insights into the defensive architecture and daily life of a modest Irish tower house, where comfort and security were carefully balanced within thick limestone walls.