The tower house, which dates back to Butler ownership in the early 14th century, sits on a north-facing slope with extensive vistas stretching from west through north to east, whilst higher ground rises to the south and a small stream runs to the west. During the Civil Survey of 1654-6, it was recorded as a ‘good castle with bawne & twelve cabbins’ that had been ‘lately repaired at the states charge’, with Pierce Butler, Lord Viscount of Ikerryn, listed as the proprietor in 1640. The survey also noted it was ‘inhabited with a strong bawne repayred at the states charge’, indicating its continued strategic importance during this turbulent period.

The tower house itself is a substantial structure measuring approximately 12.85 metres north to south and 8.65 metres east to west, with walls over two metres thick. Built from roughly coursed sandstone and limestone rubble, it rises three storeys high and features a distinctive base batter standing three metres tall. The original entrance was positioned in the centre of the north wall, leading into a lobby that provided access to both the spiral stairs in the northeast angle and the main ground floor chamber. This chamber was illuminated by single-light, round-headed windows; the western window displays particularly fine punch-dressed stonework dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, set within a segmental-arched embrasure that still shows evidence of wicker-centring on its underside.

Today, the castle bears the marks of centuries of adaptation and decline. Nineteenth-century outhouses have been built against the north and east exterior walls, whilst a later doorway was inserted into the south wall at ground floor level, replacing the original window. The wooden floors, which were originally supported by joists set into the wall thickness, were replaced with machine-cut joists during the 18th or 19th century, though these upper levels are now inaccessible due to the deteriorated condition of the spiral staircase. Remnants of the original bawn wall can still be traced to the east and north of the tower, though elsewhere this defensive enclosure has vanished. A partially destroyed garderobe chute remains visible on the internal west wall near the northwest angle, whilst the second floor preserves evidence of a chamber in the southwest angle with a partially ruined ventilator, testament to the domestic arrangements that once made this fortress a home.