The structure consists mainly of high outer walls around an interior bawn with a four-storey tower-house or keep.

On 7 March 1613 during the Plantation of Ulster, the king granted the castle, along with other lands, to the Attorney-General for Ireland, Sir John Davies (poet, born 1569).

[4] It was there that Owen Roe O'Neill returned in 1642 to lead the Ulster Army of the Irish Confederate forces during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

In 1932, the castle came into the hands of the Land Commission, and in 1934 was declared a national monument and was acquired by the Office of Public Works.

[5] The castle grounds are open daily and guided tours of the tower house are available during the summer months.