The castle’s story begins in 1379, when Richard Sutton of Fethard and his wife Agatha received a land grant here, establishing what would become a family stronghold for nearly three centuries. The Suttons held onto their Clonard estates right through to the 17th century; by 1641, Nicholas Sutton had amassed considerable holdings in the area, owning 98 acres at Great Clonard and another 430 acres scattered throughout St. Peter’s parish, according to the Civil Survey of 1655-6.

What remains today is a rectangular tower house that has lost its western wall but still stands to the top of its east-west barrel vault, reaching 4.3 metres in height. The structure measures 6.9 metres north to south and would have been at least 7 metres east to west when complete. The castle’s construction is straightforward and functional; the walls rise straight from the ground without the defensive base-batter common in many Irish tower houses, and no dressed quoins mark the corners. The ground floor preserves evidence of two blocked window lights in the eastern wall, whilst the first floor, tucked beneath the barrel vault, features a single small rectangular window, also facing east. The floor joists for this upper level were simply set directly into the north and south walls, a practical building technique of the period.

Today, the castle gives no clues about its original entrance or how residents once moved between floors, as any evidence of stairs has long since vanished. Despite its ruined state, this unassuming structure offers a tangible connection to the Sutton family’s centuries of occupation and the broader patterns of Anglo-Norman settlement in medieval Wexford.