The rectangular three-storey structure, built from roughly coursed limestone rubble, measures approximately 17 metres by 11 metres and dates back to at least the early 17th century. By 1640, it belonged to James, Earl of Ormond, though just fourteen years later the Civil Survey recorded it as ‘a Castle and the Walls of a stone house out of repaire’, suggesting it had already fallen on harder times.

The castle bears the scars of centuries of modification and decay. Its eastern wall and part of the northern wall have completely vanished, whilst much of the protective base batter that once reinforced the structure has been robbed away, revealing the internal facing beneath. The southern and western walls are propped up by tall buttresses, though these too have lost their bases to stone robbers. The western wall, partially repaired in recent years, still displays two first-floor window embrasures featuring elegant ogee-headed lights with punch-dressed limestone jambs; clear evidence of the building’s former grandeur.

The 19th century saw the castle reimagined as a romantic ruin for the Carden estate, with several picturesque additions including a vaulted chamber inserted at ground level in the northwest corner, a double bellcote crowning the southern wall, and a circular turret on the northern wall. Original defensive features remain visible throughout: mural passages wind through the thick walls at various levels, a garderobe chute exits through the northern wall, and remnants of an internal dividing wall can still be traced between the first and second floors. Fragments of a bawn wall, once enclosing a defensive courtyard, extend from both the northern and southern walls, hinting at the castle’s original fortified complex.