This limestone tower house was built around 1462 with a specific purpose: to guard a strategic ford across the Boyne. Historical records tell us that £40 was granted to Sir Robert Preston, Lord of Gormanstown, and Sir Thomas Plunket to construct the castle, with the four nearest baronies of Meath required to provide all the necessary materials; stones, lime, sand, and timber; whilst also feeding the masons and workers during construction.

The castle has seen better days. In 1916, the eastern section containing the original doorway collapsed, leaving behind a three-storey rectangular structure that measures roughly 6.85 metres east to west and 5.1 metres wide, standing about 10 metres tall. Built from roughly coursed limestone blocks with a slight outward slope at the base and well-finished corner stones, the remaining structure shows sophisticated medieval defensive architecture. The ground floor features three round-headed arrow loops set in curved, splayed embrasures in the south, west, and north walls, with the western embrasure also incorporating a musket loop for later firearms.

A spiral staircase in the southeast corner leads to the first floor, where pointed-arch loops replace the round-headed ones below, with additional musket loops flanking those in the west and north walls. The first floor is topped by a barrel-vaulted ceiling that springs from the north and south walls. Hidden within the walls are practical medieval features: a garderobe chamber at the western end of the south wall, with its waste chute opening near current ground level, and an intramural staircase in the eastern half of the south wall that once provided access to the second floor, though it’s now inaccessible. Currently owned by Kildare County Council, the castle was stabilised in 1985 but still carries a ‘Dangerous Building’ warning for visitors.