This weathered fragment is all that remains visible of a castle that once belonged to the powerful Earls of Desmond. The surviving structure consists of a south wall stretching seven metres internally, with partial returns of the east and west walls; the tallest section reaches approximately five metres high despite a significant breach in its centre. A shallow projection at the western end contains a garderobe shaft and chute, a medieval toilet facility that would have emptied outside the walls. Archaeological evidence suggests these remains sit atop even earlier foundations, hinting at multiple phases of construction on this strategic riverside location.

The castle met its end following the Desmond Rebellion in the late 16th century, when the family’s lands were forfeited to the Crown. Historical records from 1584 paint a vivid picture of what once stood here: a substantial hall with a tower at its western end, all enclosed within a bawn (defensive wall) and two courtyards. The hall itself was an impressive two-storey structure with a vaulted ground floor; stone steps led to the first-floor chamber, which measured an expansive 60 by 26 feet beneath a high thatched roof. The accompanying tower rose five storeys, with vaulting over the third floor, typical of a late-medieval tower house design.

What makes this site particularly interesting is its stone-built vaulted hall, an unusual feature for the period that finds a parallel at Askeaton in County Limerick. The surviving tower fragment was likely a mural tower incorporated into the bawn wall rather than the main residential tower described in the 1584 account. After the castle’s destruction, presumably soon after the rebellion’s failure, a new fortified house was built nearby, leaving only this solitary tower to mark the spot where one of Munster’s most powerful families once held court above the Blackwater.