Built in a T-plan configuration, this two-storey structure with attic and basement spaces represents a fascinating example of Irish fortified domestic architecture from the period following the Nine Years’ War. The building consists of an eastern arm measuring 20.6 metres north to south and 7.5 metres east to west, with a perpendicular western projection extending 14.4 metres eastward and 8.1 metres north to south, positioned just north of centre.

The house showcases several defensive features typical of its era, including bartizans at first-floor level on three corners; the southeast, northeast and southwest, with the latter ingeniously constructed in two separate units to maintain visibility around the building’s corner. Each section is supported by two corbels and topped with stone caps. The southern basement contains a pair of gun loops, whilst the building’s gables feature distinctive shaped masonry chimney stacks with stepped, projecting caps. These original stacks survive on the western gable and the northern wall of the western arm, where a ground-floor fireplace projects externally and rises the full height of the building.

Today, the structure lies derelict after various conversions over the centuries; the eastern arm was transformed into a country house, whilst the western arm served as farm buildings. The interior has been significantly altered with partition walls dividing the eastern arm into three units, though the central wooden stairway has collapsed. A first-floor entrance in the centre of the east wall now provides access via an external stairway, leading down to a semi-basement kitchen at the north end. According to Samuel Lewis’s 1837 topographical dictionary, this was “the stronghold of Sir Owen O’Sullivan,” who maintained control of the lordship of Bear following the fall of Dunboy Castle until his death in 1616.