The site, known in Irish as Caisleán Baile an Airighthe or Caisleán Bhaile in Airighthe, first appears in historical records in 1280 when Anne, widow of J. de Cogan, claimed dower rights from J. de Penrys. The castle and its lands changed hands frequently over the medieval period; held by the de Lees and de Goulys families in 1291, it passed to the Russells by 1320 following a legal dispute over whether J. de Cogan had unlawfully seized the property from John Russell’s grandfather. A member of this family, Tancardus Russell of Kilbreedy, appears in records from 1325, suggesting the Russells maintained control for several decades.

By the late 16th century, the castle had passed to James Fox, who held Ballytanckarde in 1583. The Down Survey maps of 1654-6 provide valuable visual evidence of the castle’s appearance, depicting it as a tower house standing within what appears to be a polygonal bawn, or fortified enclosure. At this time, the structure was annotated as ‘Tankardstowne Castle’ and described in accompanying terriers as a ‘decayed castle’ that had belonged to Nell Lacy (née FitzGerald) in 1640. Following the Cromwellian settlement, the site was granted to Captain C. Ormsby in 1666, though the castle itself wasn’t recorded in the 1655 surveys, suggesting it may have already been in poor condition.

By the 19th century, the castle had completely vanished from the landscape. When the Ordnance Survey visited Tankardstown North townland in 1840, they noted that whilst local memory preserved the Irish name of the old castle, not a single trace of the structure remained. Today, only the historical records and old maps bear witness to this once substantial fortification that played a role in the complex territorial disputes and ownership patterns of medieval and early modern County Limerick.