A defensive bawn wall, built from stone and clay during the 17th century, once stood here as part of the fortified settlements that dotted the Ulster landscape. According to historian Davies, writing in 1948, this structure was located on an old road just below the hill’s summit, though local memory tells a different story, placing the castle site about 85 metres to the west-south-west.

These bawn walls were essential features of plantation castles and fortified houses, providing a secure courtyard where settlers could protect their livestock and retreat during raids. The walls typically enclosed an area around the main dwelling, creating a defensive perimeter that could withstand attacks from dispossessed Irish clans who frequently targeted these symbols of colonisation. The construction method, combining locally sourced stone with clay mortar, was both practical and economical, though clearly not durable enough to survive intact into the modern era.

Today, visitors to Castlepoles will find no visible traces of either the bawn wall or the castle it once protected. The competing claims about the structure’s exact location reflect how quickly built heritage can vanish from the landscape, leaving only conflicting oral traditions and historical records to mark where these fortifications once stood. The absence of physical remains serves as a poignant reminder of how the plantation period’s architectural legacy, once so dominant and contentious, has largely dissolved back into the Irish countryside.