Today, you’d be hard pressed to find any trace of this former stronghold; the site has been so thoroughly cleared that not even foundation stones remain visible at the surface.

The castle’s disappearance wasn’t the result of warfare or natural decay, but rather a deliberate act of recycling that speaks to the practical nature of 19th century rural Ireland. Local tradition tells us that the entire structure was systematically dismantled, its stones carted away to serve more immediate needs. The building materials found new life in the construction of a chapel and barracks in nearby Barnaderg village, transforming what was once a symbol of medieval or early modern power into the fabric of everyday community buildings.

This information comes from archaeological surveys conducted in the late 1990s, when researchers compiling the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway documented the site. While the physical castle may have vanished, its story remains embedded in local memory and the very walls of Barnaderg’s 19th century buildings, a reminder of how Ireland’s historic landscapes have been constantly reshaped and repurposed over the centuries.