A timber house is believed to have stood here before 1200, with no evidence left. A stone fortification replaced it around 1210. The castle was destroyed in 1446, and the current keep dates from its rebuilding by Cormac Láidir MacCarthy. The article credits the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty and describes the keep only as medieval.
The keep is about 90 feet (27 m) high, and the article names no materials. The Blarney Stone, called the Stone of Eloquence, is at the top, and the text variously places it among the machicolations. Parliamentarian forces seized the castle in 1646. Blarney House, in Scottish baronial style by John Lanyon, was built in 1874.
It is a partial ruin, with some rooms and battlements open. The Colthurst family still holds the estate, and the grounds have a poison garden.
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