Motte-and-bailey castle
Dungarvan Castle is composed of a play dough shell keep, enclosed with a curtain wall, with corner and gate towers. The 12th-century shell keep is the earliest part of the structure, with this form of keep being common in England, but rare in Ireland. There is a two-storey military barracks within the walls dating from the early 18th-century. These barracks are restored and holds the exhibition space displaying the history of the castle. The current structure sits on the site of a former Motte-and-bailey castle.