This displaced section, measuring approximately 3.8 metres in length and 2.2 metres in height, offers little to the casual observer; just a straight wall face at its northern end that may have formed part of a window opening. The structure sits quietly in pasture land, easily overlooked by those unaware of its historical significance.

The castle’s history is tied to the turbulent politics of 17th century Ireland. Known as the Castle of the Roches, it was forfeited during the mid-1600s and subsequently granted to someone named Broderick, likely as part of the widespread land redistributions that followed the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. This transfer of ownership reflected the broader pattern of dispossession that saw many Irish Catholic landowners lose their estates to Protestant settlers and supporters of the English Parliament.

Today, this fragmentary ruin serves as a subtle reminder of Cork’s medieval landscape, when tower houses and small castles dotted the countryside. While grander castles elsewhere draw crowds of visitors, this modest remnant in Shanballymore Upper tells its own quiet story of power, loss, and the passage of time in rural Ireland.