When the Ordnance Survey visited in 1841, they found no trace of the castle marked on 17th century maps, though John O’Donovan dutifully recorded its supposed location near Currans House. The Down Survey map of the Barony of Trughanacmy clearly shows a tower house at this spot, and another detailed illustration appears in the Gilbert Manuscript held at Dublin City Library and Archive. Yet by the 19th century, nothing remained above ground; local tradition held that stones from the medieval castle had been recycled to build Currans House, which stands just 25 metres south of where the Manor of Curryns once dominated the landscape.

The castle’s documentary trail stretches back to the late 13th century, when Gilbert Brown held one knight’s fee at Curryngs for the service of 10 shillings, though by 1298 it lay waste amongst the Irish. By 1572, Currans had become one of seven principal castles belonging to the Earl of Desmond in Kerry, listed alongside better-known strongholds like Castlemaine and Dingle. The earl’s lands at Currans included parcels with evocative Irish names; Kilsarkan on the mountain of Slewlogher, traditionally leased to the earl’s rhymers, and territories called Moyanas, Tardecrone, and Farrenrogane.

Following the Desmond Rebellions, Queen Elizabeth granted Currans to Charles Herbert in 1589 as part of the Munster Plantation, requiring him to establish houses for 90 families on nearly 4,000 acres. The Herberts renamed the estate Gwlade Herbert or Lemerycahill, and by 1613, King James I had confirmed the grant to Giles Herbert with additional privileges; the right to hold a Friday market and an annual fair on St Peter’s Day, complete with a court of pie-powder for settling merchant disputes. Though the castle itself has vanished, these documents preserve a vivid picture of a once-thriving manor that controlled significant lands in medieval and early modern Kerry.