What survives reaches no more than 2.5 metres in height, the walls roughly 60 centimetres thick, and the overall footprint modest enough to walk around in a few paces. Yet on the south-east face, four stone steps still protrude from the base, leading up to the threshold of a doorway, its opening just 60 centimetres wide. A fifth step at the bottom appears to have gone missing. The steps imply that, at some point, the entrance was elevated well above ground level, as was common in medieval tower construction to deter easy access, and the proportions of what remains make clear the structure was once considerably taller.

The tower's origins are uncertain, but it may have been built by the Butlers of Bunahow, a branch of the powerful Butler family whose influence extended across parts of Munster during the medieval period. The surrounding landscape carries its own layered history; the nearby burial ground at Doonmulvihill sits within the same townland, and the cluster of remains in this corner of Clare suggests a locality that once supported more activity than the quiet hilltop now implies. Without standing walls above the surviving stub, the building's original purpose, whether defensive tower, fortified residence, or something else entirely, remains a matter of inference rather than certainty.