The site offers sweeping views to the south, east, and west, making it an ideal defensive location that has been fortified for centuries. What visitors see today is a fascinating archaeological palimpsest; a medieval tower house built atop what may have originally been a large bivallate ringfort, suggesting continuous occupation and strategic importance spanning different eras.

The defensive architecture consists of a circular platform defined by earthen banks and two wide, flat-bottomed fosses (defensive ditches) with an intervening earthen bank between them. Whilst time and alteration have significantly changed the northern and eastern defences, the western side still clearly shows the original earthen bank, complete with a causeway entrance. The lake provides natural protection to the south, eliminating the need for man-made fortifications on that side.

At the heart of the platform stand the ruins of a square tower house, measuring approximately 10 metres on each side with walls about 1.5 metres thick. Only the southwest corner survives to any significant height, with just the wall footings visible elsewhere. Interestingly, a collapsed section of masonry reveals evidence of wicker centring, a medieval construction technique where woven branches were used as temporary support during building. Historical records identify this as an ancient fort of the Molloys, and an early 17th century barony map of Ballyboy shows a small building near the lake at Pallas, confirming the site's continued significance into the early modern period.