When surveyed in the 1650s during Cromwell’s Civil Survey, the site was already recorded as ‘a ruinated castle and bawn about it and a large thatch house and some cottages’. The castle and its surrounding 182 acres belonged to Sir Luke FitzGerald in 1640, who also held extensive lands throughout Killaconican parish, including properties at Crosantown, Parkestown, Moyfiagher and Muchwood, totalling nearly 650 acres.

While no obvious remains of the original castle structure survive above ground, it’s quite possible that portions of the medieval building were incorporated into the current Portlester House. Several architectural fragments from the castle have found new purposes around the property; two late medieval window spandrels now serve as corner arch stones above an external doorway, placed opposite each other in an interesting bit of architectural recycling. A carved stone lion, likely the crest from a memorial within the castle, now rests in the rockery beside the house, a tangible link to the site’s aristocratic past.

The owners of Portlester House maintain the local tradition that their home sits on the footprint of the old castle, though without archaeological investigation it’s impossible to determine how much, if any, of the medieval structure survives within the current building. The reused stonework and the site’s documented history as a fortified residence suggest this quiet spot by the Stonyford River once held considerable strategic importance in medieval Meath, controlling river crossings and overseeing the FitzGerald family’s substantial local estates.