What stands today is a 19th-century house, but beneath its foundations and scattered throughout the surrounding demesne are remnants of a much older story. In the 17th century, the O’Donovan family built a fortified residence here, a testament to the uncertain times when even wealthy landowners needed defensive structures to protect their holdings.

By the 18th century, the fortification had lost its original purpose and the area became known as Castle Lane, marking a shift from its martial past to a more peaceful rural existence. Though the original castle has long since vanished from view, leaving no visible surface remains, the landscape still holds clues to its former glory. Substantial walls throughout the estate grounds hint at the earlier occupation, their weathered stones serving as silent witnesses to the site’s evolution from defensive stronghold to country residence.

The current Bawnlahan house, a modest two-storey structure built in the 1800s, may actually incorporate elements of the original fortification or sit directly atop its foundations. Archaeological surveys conducted by Healy in 1989 documented these tantalising traces, though much of the site’s early history remains buried, quite literally, beneath centuries of change and development. For those with a keen eye, the demesne walls offer the most tangible connection to the O’Donovans’ fortified home, their substantial construction suggesting they may have once formed part of the castle’s defensive perimeter or associated buildings.