This large rectangular fortification, measuring approximately 76 metres from northwest to southeast and 55 metres from northeast to southwest, once formed a defensive enclosure around Hopestown Castle. Though the castle itself has long since vanished, the bawn’s footprint remains clearly visible, marked by earth and stone banks along its northwestern and southwestern sides, whilst a natural scarp defines the southeastern edge.

The site first appeared on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map as a substantial rectangular outline just southwest of where Hopestown Castle once stood. Today, aerial photography reveals the combined castle and bawn site as an intriguing oval earthwork, complete with an L-shaped section of surviving wall. Old cultivation ridges, running in various directions across the site, tell the story of later agricultural use; these ridges cut through the southwestern bank and continue into the surrounding fields, evidence of centuries of farming that followed the bawn’s defensive days.

Located 310 metres south of Hopestown Church, this fortified enclosure would have served as a secure courtyard where livestock could be protected and daily activities carried out under the watchful eye of the castle’s inhabitants. While time and agriculture have softened its military edges, the bawn’s substantial earthworks continue to mark this piece of Irish history in the landscape, a reminder of the uncertain times when such defences were essential for survival in rural Westmeath.