The castle’s documented history stretches back to 1562, when an inquisition recorded it in the possession of Walter Roche, who had died the year before, leaving the property to his heir William Wadding. The Wadding family maintained their connection to the castle through the turbulent 17th century; John Wadding held it in 1635, and by 1641 the castle was already described as ruined when Robert Roche and John Wadding controlled it along with 210 acres of surrounding land. During the Cromwellian upheavals of the 1650s, John Wadding was allocated 216 acres in Connacht, suggesting his displacement from Barntown during the widespread land confiscations of that period.

The tower house itself measures 7.9 metres north to south and 6.6 metres east to west, built with the defensive practicality typical of Irish tower houses. Its rebuilt eastern entrance was once protected by machicolation above, whilst inside, a now-destroyed lobby featured a murder hole for defending against unwanted visitors. The internal layout follows a familiar pattern: the ground floor, lit by windows in the east and south walls, originally connected via mural stairs in the eastern wall to the first floor above. A destroyed north-south vault once covered this first floor, which drew light from windows in the north and south walls and had its floor supported on corbels projecting from the western wall.

The upper floors reveal the more comfortable domestic arrangements typical of these fortified homes. The second floor, positioned above the vault, contained a fireplace in the west wall with its flue projecting externally, and a garderobe tucked into the northwest corner, accessed through a lintelled doorway. A newel staircase at the southeast corner, now destroyed, once led to the third floor which featured larger windows with built-in seats in the north and east walls; clear evidence of more peaceful times when defence could give way to comfort. The fourth floor had window openings in each wall, with ceiling joists set directly into the masonry. Notably absent are any dressed stones throughout the structure, and there’s no evidence of an attached bawn wall that might have enclosed a courtyard. Recent archaeological testing in 2020, conducted both 70 metres to the north and 60 metres to the southwest of the tower, failed to uncover any related material, leaving the castle as a solitary survivor of its era.