The elevated position, known locally as the site of Whiteswall House, appears unremarkable to the casual observer; no stones or ruins break the surface to hint at what lies beneath. Yet below ground, the circular foundations of a thick stone wall, or balla as it was known in Irish, trace the outline of what was once a substantial fortified residence.

According to the early 20th century historian Carrigan, the original castle stood in a field called “the Parks”, directly opposite what was then Mrs Kavanagh’s house. The medieval structure met its end sometime before 1750, when it was deliberately demolished and its stones likely repurposed for a new residence built just a few perches to the east. This pattern of dismantling old castles to build more fashionable Georgian houses was common across Ireland during the 18th century, as the old defensive structures of turbulent times gave way to the domestic comforts of a more settled era.

Today, visitors to the site need a good imagination and perhaps some local knowledge to appreciate what once stood here. The gentle, circular elevation in the landscape is the only visible clue to the castle’s former presence, whilst the foundation stones that once supported thick defensive walls remain tantalisingly hidden beneath centuries of accumulated soil and grass. It’s a reminder that Ireland’s historical landscape often conceals as much as it reveals, with countless similar sites scattered across the countryside, their stories preserved more in local memory and historical records than in any visible remains.