This remarkably well-preserved five-storey tower house stands as a testament to the medieval settlement of Earlstown, which passed from the D’Erleys to the Sweetman family in the late 14th century. The Sweetmans held the property until Cromwell’s forces confiscated their lands in the mid-17th century, after which the estate was divided amongst several new owners. Today, visitors can still trace the crumbling southern and western walls of the original bawn that once protected this imposing fortress.

The rectangular tower house, measuring roughly 6.85 metres east to west and 4.65 metres north to south internally, rises from a pronounced base-batter constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble with impressive cut stone quoins. Its thick walls, averaging 1.65 metres, contain a fascinating network of chambers, passages, and defensive features. The original entrance, a pointed doorway on the north wall’s eastern end, still bears deep door-bar holes in both jambs and leads to a lobby protected by an overhead murder-hole; a grim reminder of the castle’s defensive capabilities. From here, a spiral staircase in the north-west angle provides access to the upper floors, each revealing different architectural elements from flat-headed single-light windows on the lower levels to elegant ogee-headed double-lights higher up.

The interior tells its own story through centuries of use and modification. A pointed vault spans the first floor, whilst timber floors once supported the second and third levels, their corbels still visible in the walls. The second floor features a large fireplace with a joggle-joined lintel and curving lamp brackets, alongside a chilling detail; a trap door leading to an oubliette hidden within the vault’s haunch below. Multiple garderobes throughout the tower speak to medieval sanitation practices, with one later repurposed as a fireplace flue at ground level. Victorian graffiti from 1892, including the names G. Holden and Jph Dunne carved into window sills, adds a more recent human touch to this ancient structure. At parapet level, a split-level wall-walk runs around the building, with the lower section covering the north, west, and south walls, whilst the upper walk crosses the east and west walls, offering those same commanding views that made this location so strategically valuable six centuries ago.