This imposing earthen mound rises 6.5 to 7 metres high, with a flat top measuring 22.5 metres across and a base diameter of roughly 36 metres. The stronghold was likely built by de Borrard after Strongbow granted him the lands of Kilmuckridge in exchange for the service of two knights’ fees, a common feudal arrangement in Norman Ireland.

The motte’s defensive features remain clearly visible despite centuries of weathering. An earthen bank runs along the summit from southwest to northeast, standing about a metre high on the interior side. Around the base, a flat-bottomed fosse, or defensive ditch, varies in depth from 1.8 metres on the western side to 3 metres on the northern approach. An outer bank, approximately two metres wide and a metre high, extends from the southwest to the northwest. The grass and scrub-covered mound dominates the local landscape, with a small stream flowing around the base of the spur some 100 metres away, curving from northeast to south.

Archaeological evidence suggests a rectangular bailey once adjoined the motte on its northern side, occupying a flat, overgrown platform measuring approximately 30 metres square. This would have served as an enclosed courtyard for buildings and daily activities, typical of Norman motte-and-bailey fortifications throughout Ireland. These earthwork castles represented the cutting edge of military architecture when the Normans arrived in the 12th century, allowing them to quickly establish control over newly conquered territories.