This limestone rubble castle, measuring roughly 8.5 metres north to south and 6 metres east to west, has undergone quite the transformation since its medieval origins. Built as a defensive tower house that would have originally soared at least four storeys high, it still retains its stone vault over the first floor, a testament to the skilled craftsmanship of its original builders.

The castle’s most curious chapter began in the second half of the 19th century when it was reimagined as an entrance gateway to Castlepark House, later known as Mantlehill House. This Victorian conversion saw the addition of an east to west passageway carved straight through the building, along with the construction of pointed Gothic Revival windows on the eastern wall. The transformation from fortress to folly is evident in the architectural hodgepodge; later stone vaulting was tacked onto the eastern end, whilst various corners of the tower were rebuilt over time. A buttress supports the southern wall, and a narrow staircase, just half a metre wide, winds up through the northern wall’s 1.3 metre thickness, illuminated by defensive loops that once watched for approaching threats.

Today, visitors can trace the building’s complex history through its architectural scars. The blocked doorway in the south wall, topped with its round headed arch of carefully placed voussoirs, hints at the original medieval entrance. Broken corbels along the internal south wall mark where wooden floors once divided the tower’s interior spaces. A substantial wall fragment projecting from the southwestern corner, possibly the remains of a bawn wall that once enclosed a courtyard, suggests this tower was part of a larger defensive complex. Though much modified and partially ruined, with significant cracks patched in the north wall and angles rebuilt at various periods, the castle remains a fascinating example of how Ireland’s medieval fortifications were repurposed and reimagined by later generations.