The story has been passed down through generations, keeping alive the memory of what may have been a fortified structure in this rural corner of Ireland. Whether it was a tower house, a motte and bailey, or another type of defensive building remains unknown; the details have been lost to time.

Such traditions are common throughout Ireland, where countless castles and fortifications were built, destroyed, and rebuilt over centuries of conflict and change. Many were dismantled for building materials, others simply crumbled away, leaving only place names or folk memories as evidence of their existence. The lack of physical remains at Killaun doesn’t necessarily mean the tradition is unfounded; Ireland’s turbulent history saw many structures completely erased from the landscape.

Archaeological surveys and historical research compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O’Brien in 2008 have documented this local belief, adding it to the broader record of Ireland’s medieval heritage. While we may never know the true nature of what stood at Killaun, the persistence of the tradition itself tells us something important about how communities preserve their history, even when the stones themselves have vanished.