These banks and ditches, captured in aerial photographs from the mid-20th century, likely represent the wall footings of a levelled bawn; the defensive courtyard that once protected Kill Castle. Such bawns were essential features of Irish castles, providing a fortified enclosure where cattle could be secured and defenders could make their stand during raids.

When surveyed in 1942, the castle site revealed intriguing details about its former layout. The remains consisted of a flat-topped, slightly eroded mound measuring roughly 21 by 24 metres, with a rectangular stone-lined enclosure sunk into it, probably the foundations of the keep itself. The internal dimensions of this structure, approximately 10 by 6 metres, suggest a modest but sturdy tower house typical of medieval Irish fortifications. South of the mound, surveyors noted traces of additional walling and what appeared to be a rectangular entrenched area at a lower level, though centuries of weathering had obscured many details that only excavation could properly reveal.

Adding to the site’s atmospheric character are the ancient approaches to both church and castle. An avenue of venerable hawthorn trees leads from the east, with another such track running along the castle’s southern side. These old thorns, planted centuries ago, would have guided visitors and pilgrims along established routes through the landscape, their gnarled branches now serving as living monuments to the site’s long history of human occupation.