The castle’s main entrance sits in the western wall, protected by what was once a machicolation at wall-walk level, though this defensive feature has since been destroyed. A later window was inserted directly below, and the entire entrance has been rebuilt over time. The roughly coursed limestone rubble construction speaks to the practical building methods of medieval Ireland, whilst various alterations hint at the castle’s long occupation.

The defensive bawn walls reveal multiple phases of construction that weren’t always carefully documented. The main bawn wall connects to the northeast corner of the tower, where it rather awkwardly blocks the garderobe chute opening; a detail that suggests hasty or poorly planned additions. In front of the western entrance stands a smaller inner bawn structure, complete with crenellations filled with brick and a pointed entrance accessed by steps. This inner fortification, along with the round-arched main entrance and its crenellated wall, appears to be a 19th-century romantic addition, possibly created when medieval castles became fashionable country residences rather than defensive structures. Interestingly, Petrie’s 19th-century drawings don’t show any bawn at all, suggesting these walls were either rebuilt or invented during the Victorian Gothic revival.

The castle’s western wall once featured two square towers at either end, and a coat of arms plaque above the entrance, though this heraldic stone has since been removed. The worked stones used in the main entrance appear to have been recycled from an earlier structure, possibly an original entrance, showing the practical reuse of materials common in Irish castle construction. Historical records place a Mac Coghlan castle at this site as early as 1519, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, making this one of the clan’s important strongholds in the Irish midlands. The mixture of authentic medieval masonry, Victorian romanticism, and practical rebuilding creates a structure that embodies not just one moment in history, but several centuries of Irish architectural evolution.