The site represents centuries of continuous occupation, beginning with an artificial island or crannóg, later topped by a stone cashel, and finally crowned with the tower house we see today. The rectangular tower, constructed from coursed sandstone rubble with dressed quoinstones, rises four storeys despite its weathered state. Though currently inaccessible due to a padlocked gate, historical records describe barrel vaulting over the second floor, a doorway in the north wall, and mural stairs within the eastern wall.

What makes this site particularly intriguing is how each generation of builders incorporated earlier structures into their designs. The circular bawn wall, measuring about 16 metres east to west with walls two metres thick, appears to follow the line of an earlier drystone cashel built with uncoursed cyclopean masonry; a stark contrast to the mortared, coursed walls of the later medieval additions. Just three metres west of the tower, ivy-covered foundations reveal the remains of a rectangular house, likely the same thatched dwelling mentioned in the 1640 Civil Survey, which described the property as ‘a little castle with a little Bawne aboute it in an Island in ye Shannon, it wants repayre & a thatcht house within the Bawne’.

The castle’s history is closely tied to the O’Brien dynasty, with Teige O’Brien listed as proprietor in 1640. Earlier records identify it as Cathair Conchubhair, appearing in deeds relating to Murchartach O’Brien of Ara, who served as Bishop of Killaloe from 1570 to 1613. Though the tower has undergone recent conservation work, including repointing with cement and rebuilding of the battlements with limestone rubble, it remains an evocative reminder of the layered history typical of Irish fortified sites, where stone upon stone tells the story of centuries of conflict, adaptation, and survival.