the east blockhouse was constructed on a narrow headland above the sea; the elizabethan historian george owen described the building as having been intended to be a "rounde turrett", and the physical remains in the 20th century comprised a stone building, with a stone enclosure to the north and a subsidiary building away from the main site on the south-east side. the construction work was never completed and by 1546 the walls had begun to collapse. according to owen, the west blockhouse was a round tower, in diameter, with eight gunports.