Built around 1220, possibly by the de Lacy family, this compact fortification measured roughly 10.6 metres from north to south and 5.6 metres from east to west. By 1840, when antiquarians took detailed measurements, the castle had already fallen into considerable disrepair; its walls reached no more than 7.3 metres in height, with most sections barely taller than the first floor’s stone arch. The eastern doorway, with its characteristic medieval design featuring inclined jambs, had been reduced to a mere 1.47 metres high, whilst the three foot thick walls that once protected its inhabitants had lost most of their upper features.

The castle’s history reads like a chronicle of Ireland’s turbulent past. Initially connected to the Hospital of Aney, it witnessed centuries of conflict and changing ownership. During the Desmond Rebellion of 1583, Piers Lacy held the castle before his defeat and execution, after which the lands passed to Sir Thomas Standish in 1617. The castle saw further action during the 1641 rebellion when J. Lacy seized it from E. Standish and used it as a base to harass English forces at Lough Gur. A tragic incident occurred when, against Lacy’s explicit orders and his wife’s pleas, his followers hanged two English prisoners in revenge for the burning of nearby Ballynegalliagh village. By the 1650s, the property, including its bawn, orchard, tucking mill, grist mill and fishing weir, belonged to Standish’s four daughters, though much of it had fallen into disrepair.

Later serving as the chief residence of the Hartstonge Baronets, the castle’s fortunes continued to decline. By 1840, a poor family had taken up residence in the ground floor of the ruins. To the northeast stood a separate quadrangular building known as ‘the Court’, measuring about 8.4 metres in length and roofed with thatch by the time of its documentation. Both structures have since been levelled, leaving only historical records and archaeological traces to tell the story of this once significant Limerick stronghold that witnessed everything from medieval warfare to Georgian gentrification.