Built in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, this rectangular stone structure measures roughly 11.75 metres north to south and 16.8 metres east to west, with walls over two metres thick. The castle rises two storeys high and features an external base-batter, a sloped reinforcement at its foundation that helped defend against undermining during sieges. When surveyors documented the property in the Civil Survey of 1654-6, they found it already in ruins, noting ‘a ruined castle a Church the Walls onely standing, one Orchard, a Mill & a Rivolett running through the said land & six cabbins’, painting a picture of a once-thriving estate that had fallen into decline.

The castle’s original design reflects typical defensive architecture of its era, with the main entrance positioned at first-floor level on the eastern wall, accessed via what was likely a wooden spiral staircase housed in the southeast corner. This elevated entry point was a common security feature, allowing defenders to remove or destroy access stairs during an attack. The entrance itself consists of a slightly pointed segmental arch set within a deep, pointed embrasure. Throughout the building, large wooden beams once supported the floors, their positions still visible where they were set into the thickness of the walls. Windows vary between floors; the ground level features modest flat-headed single-light openings in the north, south and west walls, whilst the first floor boasts larger window embrasures on all sides, suggesting this upper level served as the main living quarters.

Evidence of later modifications tells the story of the castle’s evolution from military stronghold to comfortable residence. During the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, significant alterations were made, including the installation of a fireplace in the north wall’s centre, its flue unfortunately blocking an earlier window. A particularly interesting detail is a hanging-eye decorated in the late sixteenth-century style, marking a doorway to the first floor and demonstrating the period’s architectural tastes. The spiral staircase originally continued above the main hall to what was once a wall-walk level, now destroyed, where sentries would have patrolled the castle’s perimeter. Today, a church stands nearby to the south, continuing the site’s long association with both secular and religious power in medieval Tipperary.