The site has a long history, with the Butler castle supposedly built in 1309 on the location of an earlier Poor Clare convent. Historical records show that King Edward II granted the castle and manor of Carrickmacgriffin to Edmund Butler in 1315, and by the 1360s, the castle was described as sitting south of the town wall, complete with an annexed chapel and ruins. Rather than featuring a traditional keep, this was an ‘enclosure’ castle built around a courtyard, with a distinctive D-shaped curtain wall at the river end; you can still spot the footings of this curved section at the eastern angle of the lower courtyard today.

The medieval complex underwent significant changes in the 15th century when Eamonn mac Risterd Butler added two tower houses around 1445. The eastern tower rises five storeys with a vaulted ground floor, its lower level defended by arrow loops whilst the upper floors feature later mullioned windows inserted into the original openings. The western tower house, also five storeys but larger than its eastern counterpart, includes a rectangular projecting stair turret and once boasted elaborate fireplaces and plasterwork that suggest comfortable living quarters. Both towers were eventually incorporated into a grander scheme when a Tudor mansion was added to the north of the complex around 1565, transforming the medieval fortress into a more palatial residence.

The castle’s riverside location is marked by a three-storey watergate, now blocked up but still showing its segmental-headed three-light windows at the first and second floors. A 1699 illustration reveals there was once a building connecting the two tower houses, featuring a central projecting gable over what appears to be the current 16th-century doorway. One particularly intriguing architectural detail is a round-headed window embrasure in the ‘tower’ room of the Tudor house; decorated with angels, scrolls and foliage, it’s believed to have been salvaged from the castle’s banqueting hall and bears a striking resemblance to similar features at Aughnanure Castle in Galway, suggesting the high status and sophisticated tastes of the Butler family who called this riverside fortress home.