Johnstown. The site sits on level ground with farmland surrounding it; a house and farmyard to the southeast, farm buildings to the north-northeast, and St. Johnstown church and graveyard just 110 metres away in an adjacent field. Hills to the east frame the landscape, whilst views stretch out across the valley in other directions.

The tower house itself rises five storeys plus an attic, built in the 16th century when the St. John family held these lands. Historical records from the Civil Survey of 1654-56 note that Robert St. John of St. Johnstown was proprietor in 1640, and describe ‘a Castle with a Bawne about it w[hi]ch is in repaire’. Whilst no obvious bawn enclosure survives today, intriguing architectural evidence hints at what once may have been. On the western face, where the tower house entrance is located, tie-stones project from both the northern and southern ends up to a height of 3.5 metres and spanning 1.4 metres wide.

These projecting stones suggest there may have been a small bawn here, perhaps more accurately described as a forecourt protecting the entrance. Similar arrangements can be found at Kilcrea Castle in County Cork and Clara Castle in County Kilkenny, though those appear to be later additions to 15th-century towers. At St. Johnstown, if these stones do represent a bawn, they seem to have been part of the original 16th-century design. It’s equally possible that a larger defensive bawn once enclosed the entire tower house, though no traces remain visible at ground level today.