This Mac Carthy stronghold, which dates to the 15th century, consists of a rectangular bawn measuring roughly 45 metres east to west and 20 metres north to south, with two substantial towers still standing at the southeast and southwest corners. The castle’s strategic position made it one of the chief seats of the Mac Carthys in Muskerry, with the Mac Sweeneys serving as its chief warders during the 16th century. Following its forfeiture in 1641, the castle passed through several hands, including the Bayly and Rye families, who inhabited it well into the 18th century.

The southeast tower remains the most intact structure, standing four storeys high with its original defensive features largely preserved. Visitors entering through a mural chamber in the south bawn wall would have encountered a murder hole immediately inside the entrance, whilst the tower’s upper floors retain their gun loops, window embrasures, and even a garderobe seat. The third floor features a fireplace with a flat arch, and the tower is crowned with a wall walk that includes a curved bartizan at the southwest corner, supported by three corbels. Each floor was carefully designed with splayed and lintelled windows positioned to provide both light and defensive coverage of the surrounding area.

The southwest tower tells a more dramatic story of architectural evolution and eventual collapse; nearly half of it has fallen away, leaving a striking cross-section of its internal structure. Between these towers, an L-shaped 18th century house was constructed within the western end of the bawn, incorporating the earlier medieval structures into its design. By 1750, the castle was still described as being “in repair and inhabited”, but by the early 19th century it had transformed into what Samuel Lewis called “one of the most picturesque ruins in the county”. Today, the site bears the scars of 19th century quarrying on its eastern side, whilst the northern wall borders an abandoned quarry now used as a dump, and the western slope is scattered with the scree of collapsed masonry; a testament to both human industry and the slow reclamation of these once-mighty fortifications by time and nature.