This fortified complex actually consists of two separate structures built side by side: a 15th-century tower house and an adjacent fortified house, their corners just touching. The Laffan family, who likely constructed these buildings, were Irish landowners with roots in County Wexford dating back to at least 1376. They held the property from the Knights Hospitallers’ manor of Kilcloggan until various changes of ownership saw the castle pass through the hands of the Redmonds during the Commonwealth period and eventually to the Loftus family in 1666.

The fortified house, probably modelled after the Redmonds’ Hall nearby, is a two-storey rectangular structure measuring 13 metres east to west and 7 metres north to south, with a barrel vault over the ground floor and stepped crenellations crowning its walls. Entry is through a round-headed doorway on the south wall, leading to a lobby protected by a murder hole. The ground floor, divided into three chambers by later walls, features a large fireplace at the western end and even contains an oubliette or hidden chamber within the eastern vault. A mural staircase rises through the south wall, connecting the various levels including a mezzanine at the eastern end, whilst the first floor originally contained three chambers with ogee-headed windows, fireplace, and garderobe facilities.

Later modifications, likely dating to the 18th century when Henry Loftus developed the old quay and William Mansel established saltworks at the site, saw attempts to better connect the two buildings. A small two-storey structure was built in the angle between them, with doorways broken through the original walls to create internal access between the fortified house’s first floor and the tower house’s second floor. Additional external stairs were added to the eastern end of the fortified house for direct first-floor access. Both structures continued to be occupied in various configurations well into the 20th century and are now protected as a National Monument under state guardianship, offering visitors a remarkably complete example of late medieval Irish defensive architecture.