Located just 430 metres from Lough Naneagh to the southeast, this impressive earthwork tells a fascinating story of medieval adaptation and reuse. The site consists of a steep-sided mound, roughly 6 metres high with a width of 3 to 4 metres at its summit, which forms part of a larger circular enclosure measuring approximately 33 metres across.

What makes this site particularly intriguing is its dual identity. Archaeological evidence suggests it began life as a bivallate ringfort, a type of fortified farmstead common in early medieval Ireland, with its characteristic double banks and ditches still visible along the eastern, southern, and western sections. The overall external diameter of the original ringfort stretched to about 60 metres. When the Anglo-Normans arrived, they cleverly repurposed this existing fortification, constructing their motte on the south-southwestern edge of the ringfort’s perimeter bank and converting the interior space into a bailey where the timber buildings of their castle would have stood.

Today, visitors can still trace the defensive features that protected this site for centuries. A fosse, or defensive ditch, curves around the motte from northwest through north to east, whilst a narrow causeway entrance at the south-southeast provided the original access point to the bailey area. The present road curves respectfully around the southern side of the motte, and a modern laneway with fencing now follows the line of the outer fosse. Just 420 metres to the northwest stand the remains of another castle, suggesting this area held strategic importance throughout the medieval period. A small stream marking the townland boundary flows from Lough Naneagh just 10 metres northeast of the motte, adding to the site’s naturally defensive position.