The site sits just south of a modern road that runs east to west, cutting across what may have been the original extent of the fortified enclosure. Historical Ordnance Survey maps from 1842 show the castle ruins within an east-west polygon, whilst later maps from 1897 and 1920 depict the area as a north-south rectangular space marked with hachures to indicate the earthworks.

Today, the bawn; the defensive wall that once enclosed the castle grounds; is largely obscured by trees and overgrowth, making its boundaries difficult to trace. The tower house itself appears to stand at the northern edge of the bawn, though archaeologists Ua Cróinín and Breen noted in 1997 that they observed earthworks north of the tower, suggesting the modern road may have been built directly through the original fortification. This would mean the bawn once extended further north than what’s currently visible.

To the southeast of the main tower house stand the remains of a circular stone tower, approximately 4 metres in diameter and 1.5 metres high, which appears on historical OS maps simply marked as ‘Tower’. This structure likely marks the southern boundary of the bawn, giving us some sense of the original defensive perimeter that protected Cloondooan Castle and its inhabitants during more turbulent times in Irish history.