Built around 1614 by the Burke family, this structure represents the uneasy balance between domestic comfort and military necessity that characterised landowning life in early modern Ireland. The name ‘bawn’ derives from the Irish ‘bábhún’, meaning cattle enclosure, though these structures evolved far beyond their agricultural origins to become sophisticated defensive complexes.

The building’s most striking feature is its distinctive Z-plan design, with square towers projecting from diagonally opposite corners of the main rectangular structure. This clever architectural arrangement allowed defenders to provide covering fire along all four walls, eliminating blind spots that attackers might exploit. The thick limestone walls, some nearly a metre wide, contain numerous gun loops and narrow windows; practical defensive features that also created a rather gloomy interior. Inside, traces of the original plasterwork and carved stone fireplaces hint at attempts to maintain some degree of comfort despite the fortress-like construction.

Today, though roofless and partially ruined, the bawn remains an evocative monument to a time when even wealthy families lived with the constant threat of raids and rebellion. The structure survived the Cromwellian conquest of the 1650s, various Jacobite conflicts, and centuries of neglect, making it one of the better-preserved examples of its type in Connacht. Visitors can freely explore the ruins, which sit on private farmland but are accessible via a short walk from the road, offering a tangible connection to the complex social and military history of plantation-era Ireland.