The 1655-57 Down Survey map of Ballybritt barony shows Cree Castle as a tower house with an angle tower, positioned near the northern boundary between Cree and Coolnagrower townlands. This detailed cartographic record, held in the National Library of Ireland, provides one of the few visual references to the castle’s original form and location.

The castle that once stood here was typical of the fortified houses built across Ireland during the tumultuous seventeenth century. These structures served dual purposes; they were both comfortable residences for landowners and defensive strongholds during times of conflict. Historical records from the period, including those compiled by researcher Loeber in 1988, confirm that this was indeed the principal fortified building within the townland of Cree during that era.

Today, visitors to the site will find little more than subtle undulations in a field where the castle once stood. The upstanding remains were demolished by the landowner in the early 1980s, leaving only low earthworks and a few humps and bumps to mark the spot. These modest remnants serve as a quiet reminder of the area’s turbulent past, when fortified houses like Cree Castle dotted the Irish landscape, offering protection and prestige to those who dwelt within their walls.