These fortified enclosures, built primarily during the 16th and 17th centuries, served as protective compounds for English and Scottish settlers who arrived during the various plantation schemes. The term ‘bawn’ derives from the Irish word ‘bábhún’, meaning cattle enclosure, though these structures evolved to serve a far more defensive purpose than their name might suggest.

The bawn would have consisted of a rectangular stone wall, typically three to four metres high, with defensive towers or flankers at the corners. Within these walls, settlers could protect their livestock, stores, and families from raids by dispossessed Irish clans who had lost their lands during the plantations. The Urlan More bawn would have been part of this broader network of fortified homesteads that dotted the Irish landscape, particularly in areas where English authority was tenuous and the threat of uprising remained constant.

Today, these structures offer valuable insights into a turbulent period of Irish history when two cultures clashed over land, religion, and political control. The remains at Urlan More, like other bawns throughout Ireland, tell the story of colonisation and resistance; they represent both the determination of planters to establish permanent settlements and the equally fierce determination of the native Irish to reclaim their ancestral lands. These stone walls witnessed centuries of conflict and coexistence that would ultimately shape modern Ireland.