This multi-period fortification tells a complex story of Irish castle building, from its medieval origins through to its 17th-century reconstruction. The Civil Survey of 1654-6 records that ‘The house & lands of Claire’ belonged to Edward Butler, an Irish Catholic, in 1640, though by the time of the survey it had been leased to Captain Mathew Jacob, who had recently carried out repairs to what was described as ‘a good stone house’.

The main tower house rises four storeys from a raised earthwork platform, built of roughly coursed limestone rubble with neat cut-stone corners and a distinctive sloping base, known as a batter. What makes Clare Castle particularly fascinating is how it incorporates remnants of a much earlier hall-house, dating to the 13th or early 14th century. You can still spot a beautiful trefoil-headed sandstone window from this earlier structure embedded in the northwest wall at first-floor level, along with other telltale signs in the masonry that reveal how the medieval castle was cleverly recycled into the later building. The third floor is actually an attic level disguised behind high parapet walls, with decorative gables and gablets adding architectural interest to the roofline.

A smaller fortified house forms the western corner of the complex, though only its southwest gable and southeast wall remain intact today. This secondary structure features multiple gun loops at ground level; five defensive embrasures that were later modified with narrow windows; and displays the same high-quality limestone window frames as the main tower, complete with external chamfers and hood-mouldings. The building underwent further modifications in the 18th century, including the blocking up of several windows and the addition of what appears to have been a lean-to structure against the northeast wall. While 19th-century Ordnance Survey letters mention a square tower with a spiral staircase at the northeast corner, no trace of this feature survives above ground today, adding another layer of mystery to this already complex site.