Built around 1480, this bawn represents a fascinating chapter in Irish defensive architecture, when landowners needed to protect their families and property from raids and political upheaval. The structure combines the practical defensive features of a medieval castle with the more comfortable living arrangements that wealthy families were beginning to expect by the late medieval period.

The bawn at Clenagh is particularly noteworthy for its well-preserved defensive walls, which would have enclosed a courtyard where livestock could be secured during times of trouble. These thick stone walls, punctuated by narrow windows and defensive features, speak to an era when the Irish countryside was far from peaceful. The main house within the bawn shows the typical characteristics of a tower house; a vertical stone structure that maximised defensive capability whilst providing multi-storey living accommodation for the family and their retainers.

What makes Clenagh especially interesting is how it represents the transition between purely military fortifications and the more domestic country houses that would follow in later centuries. The bawn served multiple purposes: it was simultaneously a home, a fortress, a status symbol, and an agricultural centre. Today, though weathered by centuries of Irish weather, the ruins offer visitors a tangible connection to the complex social and political landscape of medieval Clare, when local chieftains and Anglo-Norman families vied for control of the rich farming lands of the west of Ireland.