No stones remain above ground to mark where this fortification once stood, though historical records confirm its significance to the local landscape. The castle was mentioned by Samuel Lewis in his 1837 topographical dictionary as the ruins of Castle Mehan, built by the Mehans or O’Heas around 1540.

The castle’s builders, the O’Hea family (sometimes written as Mehan or Mehigan), were part of the complex tapestry of Gaelic lordships that controlled much of County Cork during the Tudor period. Their decision to construct a castle here in the mid-16th century came at a turbulent time in Irish history, when traditional Gaelic powers were increasingly challenged by English expansion and the dissolution of the monasteries was reshaping the countryside. The strategic position above Crookhaven would have given the castle’s occupants commanding views of the coastline and any approaching vessels.

While the physical structure has vanished completely, leaving only historical references and local memory, the site remains catalogued in Cork’s archaeological inventory. The absence of visible remains is not unusual for Irish tower houses and smaller castles of this period; many were demolished for building materials in subsequent centuries or simply collapsed through neglect once their defensive purpose became obsolete. The clifftop location that once provided strategic advantage may have hastened the structure’s deterioration, with Atlantic storms and coastal erosion taking their toll over nearly five centuries.