Today, only the semi-circular foundations of what was once a small tower remain, standing just half a metre high. These curved wall footings, measuring roughly 5.7 metres across internally, likely supported a circular flanking tower that once boasted a vaulted first floor. Extending northward from the tower, the thick foundations of a bawn wall, about a metre wide, hint at the defensive perimeter that would have enclosed the castle’s courtyard and protected its inhabitants from raiders and rival clans.

The site reveals more than just military architecture; to the north of the bawn, low wall footings mark the location of what may have been a stone house, mentioned in historical records from the Civil Survey of 1654-6. This document provides a fascinating glimpse into the property’s ownership during a turbulent period in Irish history, noting that the castle stood mortgaged to one Richard Lennard, a shoemaker from Limerick city. The survey’s description of “a castle and a stone house” standing on three ploughlands suggests this was once a modest but complete estate, combining defensive and domestic structures typical of the Anglo-Norman and later plantation periods.

Archaeological investigation, most recently updated in 2008, has helped piece together this fragmentary site, though much of its original grandeur exists now only in historical documents and the imagination. The OS Letters from 1930 provide additional architectural details, whilst the Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary offers the most comprehensive modern assessment of what remains. For those willing to look beyond the humble ruins, Carrigatogher represents a tangible link to Ireland’s complex medieval past, when castles dotted the landscape and served as both homes and strongholds for the families who controlled the surrounding lands.