Here, a rectangular earthen enclosure stretches 23.5 metres from east to west and 20 metres from north to south, its boundaries marked by a low grassy bank that varies between 30 and 90 centimetres in height. This modest earthwork, measuring roughly 3 metres wide, sits just west of Knockmaon tower house and likely served as its bawn; a defensive courtyard that would have protected livestock and provided the tower’s inhabitants with their first line of defence against raiders.

The relationship between the enclosure and the tower house tells a familiar story from Ireland’s turbulent medieval period. Bawns were essential features of tower house complexes, particularly during the 15th to 17th centuries when local lords needed fortified homesteads that could withstand both cattle raids and more serious military threats. The grass that now covers these earthworks softens what would once have been a formidable barrier, possibly topped with wooden palisades or thorn bushes to deter unwanted visitors.

About 100 metres south of the bawn stands a church, completing what was once a small but significant settlement. The proximity of these three structures; tower house, bawn, and church; reveals the interconnected nature of secular and religious power in medieval Ireland, where local lords often acted as patrons to nearby religious sites whilst maintaining their own defensive strongholds. Today, the undulating landscape of south Waterford still bears these traces of a time when every landowner needed walls, and every community clustered close to both prayer and protection.