What remains of this medieval tower house is essentially a single wall; the southwest face stretches 9.1 metres and rises to three storeys, with only fragments of the northwest and southeast walls still clinging to its corners. Despite its ruinous state, the surviving masonry reveals intriguing architectural details that hint at the castle’s former complexity.

The second floor contains an intramural chamber or passage built directly into the thickness of the southwest wall, a common defensive feature in Irish tower houses that allowed defenders to move unseen. Adjacent to this, at the same level, the stone springings of a narrow vault run from northwest to southeast; these likely supported a latrine passage between the second and third floors, demonstrating the practical considerations of medieval castle life. A doorway in the south corner of the first floor appears to have provided access to an angled bartizan, a small turret that projects from the corner and would have served as both a defensive position and a status symbol. All the surviving windows are simple rectangular openings with flat heads, typical of later medieval Irish architecture.

The castle doesn’t stand alone in this landscape; approximately 280 metres to the southeast lies a medieval church, whilst a possible standing stone sits just 35 metres away in the same direction, suggesting this area has been significant to local communities for millennia. First documented by Nolan in 1901 and later by O’Flanagan in 1927, Cloghanower Castle was more thoroughly surveyed for the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway in 1999, ensuring its place in the historical record even as time and weather continue their slow work of erosion.