These earthworks, first spotted on aerial photographs taken by the Cambridge University Collection of Air Photographs (CUCAP, AYP 5), reveal the defensive enclosure that once protected a tower house on this site. The bawn’s boundaries are marked by a low bank approximately 4 metres wide, with an outer fosse, or defensive ditch, that would have provided additional protection for the inhabitants.

The rectangular enclosure measures roughly 22 metres from north to south and 27 metres from east to west; quite typical dimensions for a bawn of this type. These fortified courtyards were essential features of Irish tower houses during the late medieval and early modern periods, serving as secure spaces where livestock could be protected and daily activities could be carried out safely. The associated tower house, catalogued separately as LA034-019002, would have stood as the main defensive and residential structure within this enclosed space.

Today, visitors to the site will find these historical features require a trained eye to spot. The earthen banks to the south and north are the most visible remnants of what was once a bustling defensive compound. This particular example, compiled in archaeological records by Caimin O’Brien in December 2007, represents one of many such sites scattered across the Irish midlands, each telling the story of a time when local defence and cattle raiding made such fortifications a necessity of rural life.