Located just west of the medieval church and graveyard, these castle remains tell a story of centuries of Irish landownership and political change. The castle’s strategic position is clearly marked on the 1654-56 Down Survey map, which shows a tower house standing beside a medieval road, with the church ruins and glebe lands nearby. Though now reduced to ruins, the castle once formed the heart of a thriving medieval settlement.

The history of the site stretches back to at least 1350, when Walter Purcell held Kilfinnane from John fitzPeter Le Poer, Baron of Dunhill Castle in County Waterford. By 1640, according to the Civil Survey of Limerick, the castle and its extensive lands had passed to Sir Edward Fitz Harris of Castleoliver, an Irish Catholic landowner. His holdings were considerable: two ploughlands complete with the castle featuring an iron grate, fifty thatched houses and cabins, a gristmill, a tucking mill, and even a mill seat. The estate also boasted significant legal and commercial privileges, including rights to hold a Court Leet and Court Baron, two annual fairs, and a weekly market.

The importance of Kilfinnane as a market town continued through the turbulent years of the 17th century. Various grants and changes of ownership followed, with Edmund FitzGibbon, the White Knight, receiving head-rent in 1590, and the manor being granted to E. Fitz Harris in 1607. By 1657, contemporary observers noted Kilfinnane as having “a good Castle, the walls of a church, and an Irish towne”, indicating the settlement’s continued significance despite the political upheavals of the period. The castle eventually passed to Robert Oliver in 1666, marking yet another chapter in its long history of changing fortunes and allegiances.