Sir Richard Everard completed this grand H-plan house in 1641, as evidenced by the date carved on an architectural fragment found at the site. The building was an impressive sight in its day, with a two-storey main block topped by a gable-fronted attic, and four square corner towers rising three storeys above their basements. Built from rubble limestone with carefully cut quoins and window surrounds, the house still retains much of its external rendering, complete with decorative plasterwork that mimics architectural details.

The castle’s demise came in 1650, most likely at the hands of Cromwellian forces, though local tradition holds that Lady Everard herself set it ablaze to prevent it falling into enemy hands. When surveyors arrived just a few years later during the Civil Survey of 1654-6, they found only ‘the walls onely standinge and some cabbins within a bawne, the sd house beinge burned is yett without repaire’. Despite centuries of abandonment, the ruins reveal fascinating details of 17th-century life: the windows are classic examples of the period’s style, with flat-headed openings divided by stone mullions and transoms, topped with protective hood-mouldings. The eastern façade features grander three-light windows whilst the western side has more modest two-light versions.

The building’s defensive features speak to the turbulent times in which it was built. Shot-holes protected both entrances; the main doorway on the west side, which once had steps leading up to it, and a secondary entrance at the southern end. Wooden wall-walks once ran along both the east and west facades above the first floor, supported by limestone corbels that can still be seen today. Inside, polished limestone fireplaces warmed the rooms, whilst small mural chambers in the northeast and northwest towers likely served as privy chambers. The entire complex was originally surrounded by a defensive bawn wall, completing its role as both a comfortable home and a fortified stronghold in an uncertain age.