The castle was built by a branch of the Roche family, Norman descendants who had established themselves in the area by 1576. The Roches were among the many Anglo-Norman families who settled in Cork following the Norman invasion of Ireland, gradually becoming part of the fabric of Irish society whilst maintaining their prominence as landowners and local power brokers.

The strategic position above Ballinclashet creek would have offered the castle’s inhabitants both defensive advantages and control over the waterway below. Like many tower houses and castles of the period, Kinure likely served as both a fortified residence and a symbol of the family’s status in the region. The Roches’ presence here in the late 16th century places them squarely in a tumultuous period of Irish history, when old Gaelic and Norman families alike navigated the increasing English colonial pressure that would culminate in the plantations of the following century.

Today, visitors to the site will find little physical evidence of the castle that once stood here; time, weather, and perhaps stone robbing for local construction have erased its visible footprint. However, the location itself remains evocative, with views across the creek that would have been vital to the castle’s original purpose. The site serves as a reminder of how much of Ireland’s medieval heritage exists now only in historical records and place names, with the landscape itself holding memories that archaeology and local history work to preserve.