The castle once stood on a narrow, rocky promontory that juts out above the surrounding landscape, offering commanding views across the undulating pastures to the north and east. Though marked as ‘in ruins’ on the 1842 Ordnance Survey map, today no visible traces remain above ground to mark where this fortification once stood.

According to historical records, this was a small castle belonging to the O’Hea family, one of the many Gaelic Irish families who controlled territories throughout Cork during the medieval period. The strategic placement on the promontory would have given the O’Heas control over this stretch of the River Fealge, allowing them to monitor movement along the waterway and across the surrounding countryside. The castle’s position near where the river changes direction would have been particularly advantageous for observing approaching visitors or threats from multiple directions.

While the castle itself has vanished from the landscape, the area retains other historical features that speak to centuries of human activity along the river. A mill complex, recorded in archaeological surveys, can be found to the northeast of the castle site. This pairing of defensive and economic structures was common in medieval Ireland, where lords needed both military strongholds and sources of revenue from agricultural processing. The information about this site comes from the Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, compiled as part of Ireland’s systematic effort to document and preserve knowledge of its archaeological heritage.