Built sometime during the late medieval period, this fortified residence served as both a defensive stronghold and a family home for local Gaelic lords. The castle’s strategic position allowed its inhabitants to survey the surrounding countryside whilst maintaining control over the local territory, a common feature of tower houses throughout Clare during this turbulent era.

The structure itself follows the typical design of Irish tower houses, rising several storeys with thick limestone walls that have weathered centuries of Atlantic storms. Inside, the castle would have contained a series of chambers stacked vertically; the ground floor typically housed storage and servants’ quarters, whilst the upper floors provided living spaces for the lord’s family, complete with fireplaces, window seats, and defensive features like murder holes and narrow arrow slits. The original oak timber floors have long since disappeared, leaving visitors today to peer up through the hollow shell at patches of sky visible through the partially collapsed roof.

What makes Castle Baun particularly intriguing is its relatively intact state compared to many other Clare tower houses, allowing historians and archaeologists to piece together details about daily life in medieval Ireland. The surrounding landscape still bears traces of the castle’s former importance, with remnants of defensive earthworks and evidence of associated agricultural buildings that once supported the household. According to research by Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, who documented Clare’s castles and tower houses, Castle Baun represents one of numerous similar structures that once dotted the county, each telling its own story of clan politics, local warfare, and the gradual transition from Gaelic to Anglo Irish society.