This fortified enclosure, which once belonged to Doctor Garrott Fennell, an Irish Catholic gentleman, sits just 50 metres south of Ballygriffin church and graveyard. The Civil Survey of 1654-6 records that the site featured “a castle wanting repayre wth a strong Bawne”, along with an orchard and garden within its protective walls.

The bawn forms a large rectangular enclosure with substantial defensive features that remain remarkably intact. The northern wall, stretching approximately 100 metres, contains the original limestone gateway; a round arched entrance standing 3.2 metres high with distinctive hood moulding and flanked by double gun loops on either side. Above the gateway, a rectangular recess once held an armorial plaque or datestone, though this has long since vanished. The enclosure’s corners were reinforced with rectangular mural towers, with the northwest tower still clearly visible, projecting 2.25 metres beyond the wall and defended by shot holes at its angle.

While time and practical needs have altered parts of the structure, much of the bawn’s circuit survives. The western wall stands 3.7 metres high and runs over 70 metres between the corner towers, whilst the southern and eastern walls retain much of their original fabric despite some later modifications. A blocked doorway on the eastern wall, with its chamfered limestone surrounds, represents one of the few original openings besides the main gateway. Modern breaches for farm access and the incorporation of parts of the wall into later buildings tell the continuing story of this site’s adaptation through the centuries, from defensive stronghold to working farmland.