This motte and bailey castle consists of a substantial flat-topped mound, measuring about 34 metres across at its base and rising between 6 and 9 metres in height. The summit, roughly 16 metres in diameter, is encircled by the remnants of a low drystone wall; barely 30 centimetres high now, but still visible to those who know what to look for. Around the base of the mound, you can trace the outline of a fosse, or defensive ditch, that once provided additional protection. Though largely filled in over the centuries, this 6.3-metre-wide ditch remains discernible as a depression encircling the entire structure.

To the east-southeast of the motte, careful observation reveals subtle earthwork features that may represent the castle’s bailey; the enclosed courtyard where daily life would have unfolded during the medieval period. This rectangular area, defined by scarped edges, extends roughly 40 metres in length and 30 metres in width, though it rises less than a metre above the surrounding ground level. These modest remains hint at what was once a bustling fortified compound, likely containing timber buildings, stables, and workshops that supported the castle’s garrison and household.

The site exemplifies the motte and bailey design favoured by the Normans as they established control over newly conquered territories in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. These earthwork castles could be constructed relatively quickly using local labour and materials, providing immediate defensive positions whilst more permanent stone fortifications were planned or built elsewhere. Today, Stormanstown’s castle survives as a grass-covered monument to this turbulent period of Irish history, its weathered earthworks preserving the footprint of medieval power in the Louth countryside.