Built from locally sourced limestone rubble, possibly quarried from a small site just 60 metres to the east, this imposing structure measures approximately 8.25 metres north to south and 9.8 metres east to west. From its battlements, you can spot several medieval neighbours including Cashel 10.5 kilometres to the east, nearby Ballinaclogh Castle 1.8 kilometres away, and Doneskeagh Castle 2.5 kilometres to the north-northwest, though the immediate southwestern view is blocked by a neighbouring hill.

The castle’s history traces back to at least 1549 when it belonged to David McTheobald Burke of Ballythomas, before passing to the Earl of Ormond by 1576. The Civil Survey of 1654-56 presents a curious contradiction, listing the Countess of Ormond as proprietor in 1640 whilst simultaneously describing the tower house as both “wanting repayre” and “a good castle in repayre”. Between 1999 and 2011, the structure underwent extensive restoration work that preserved most of its original architectural features, including the elegant cusped ogee-headed windows with hollow spandrels that characterise many of the upper floors. The restoration replaced damaged windows and doorways, reconstructed the timber floors, and applied lime plaster rendering to both interior and exterior walls.

The tower house reveals its defensive purpose through clever architectural details; a pointed entrance doorway protected by both a machicolation at battlement level and an interior murder-hole, with an unusual double yett-hole arrangement for securing the entrance. Inside, the building rises through multiple floors connected by a combination of mural and spiral stairs, with the third floor featuring not one but two oubliettes, essentially bottle dungeons accessed through sloping chutes. The third floor also contains an L-shaped garderobe chamber, whilst the upper levels include vaulted mural chambers with wicker-centering, demonstrating the sophisticated construction techniques of medieval Irish builders. The reconstructed crenellated battlements with stepped merlons crown the structure, and evidence of the original gabled roof line can still be seen in the broken coping stones projecting from the east and west walls.