This conical earthen mound rises about three metres high, its flat oval summit measuring 27 metres east to west and 22.5 metres north to south. A moss-covered stone bank, roughly two metres wide, encircles the rim of the summit, merging seamlessly with the mound’s sloping sides. Around the base, a shallow fosse or defensive ditch, three to four metres wide, provides additional fortification, though it becomes notably deeper and more pronounced on the western side where it reaches 0.7 metres in depth.

Today, nature has reclaimed much of the structure. Ash trees, hawthorn and blackthorn create a natural perimeter around the mound’s base, whilst brambles and blackthorn bushes have colonised the summit itself. On the east-northeast side, visitors can spot what appears to be the original entrance; a gentle, ramp-like slope leads up the mound’s side, aligning with a 2.3-metre gap in the summit’s stone bank. This carefully constructed approach suggests this was once the primary access point to whatever wooden structures likely crowned the motte during its active use.

The castle’s history remains somewhat elusive, though local historian Milligan suggested in 1890-91 that this might be one of several castles captured by the O’Donnell clan during their raids of 1516, when Irish chieftains were asserting their power against Anglo-Norman holdings. Located just 700 metres west-southwest of the medieval parish church at Killross, the motte would have been part of a broader network of defensive and religious sites that shaped the medieval landscape of this corner of Sligo. Its prominent position and surviving earthworks offer a tangible connection to the contested borderlands of medieval Ireland.