Today, visitors will find little more than a levelled site within a circular earthwork, with the holy well of Tobernea located just 55 metres to the north-northwest. The castle’s history stretches back to at least 1537, when James FitzGerald of Desmond claimed the profits from the manor of “Tibernius”, which had belonged to the late Thomas, Earl of Kildare. By 1629, the manor had passed into the stewardship of W. Creagh of Miltown, who served as seneschal of Tuberneagh and other Kildare estates.

The site’s transformation from castle to ruins was already complete by the 19th century. When the Ordnance Survey visited in 1840, they found only “a heap of rubbish” where the castle once stood, though local memory preserved its name as both Leagane Castle and Tobernea Castle. The surveyors noted that the ruins appeared “nearly in the shape of a fort”, suggesting the circular earthwork visible today might incorporate elements of the original castle’s defensive features. Historian Westropp, writing in the early 1900s, considered it a “doubtful site”, perhaps reflecting the challenge of identifying specific medieval structures amongst the scattered stones.

The confusion over the castle’s precise name and location reflects the complex history of land ownership in this part of Limerick. The various spellings; Tibernius, Tuberneagh, Tobornea, and Leagaun; all point to the same estate that changed hands between some of Ireland’s most powerful families during the turbulent 16th and 17th centuries. While the physical structure has long since vanished, the site remains an intriguing reminder of the medieval manorial system that once dominated the Irish countryside, its circular earthwork still visible in the pasture as a ghostly footprint of former grandeur.