The tower house and friary were both built by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry.

Kilcrea Castle stands in a copse, which almost hides it, in the valley of the River Bride on its right (southern) bank.

The castle was completed by 1465 by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry and founder of Kilcrea Friary, in a marshy area over an old fort possibly dating to the Bronze Age.

[citation needed] In the mid-19th century a cutting of the now disused Cork and Macroom Railway line was built through the moat of the castle on the northern side.

[citation needed] Unlike the friary, which is in state ownership and is maintained by the National Monuments Service of Ireland,[5] the ruins are on privately owned lands, the land immediate to, and including the ruins themselves, currently serving as a cattle farm.