Ireland · Partial ruin
Castle Hackett
Castle Hackett is a ruined medieval tower house near Belclare at the base of Knockma Hill in County Galway, Ireland. Originally a Norman-built stronghold later adapted into a multi-storey tower house, it was occupied into the early 18th century and now survives as a ruined standalone tower in a meadow.
Its prime
1600
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1600
What Castle Hackett looked like in its prime.
A tall, rectangular rubble-stone tower house rising alone in a grassy field at the base of a low hill. The tower has several narrow slit and rectangular windows stacked vertically, a ruined crenellated parapet and corbelled angles at the top; the lower walls are thicker and slightly battered. Stone is pale grey to off-white; the tower stands without surrounding curtain walls, set amid trees and open meadow with a clear approach from the west.
Its story
The story of Castle Hackett.
The Hacketts and the Burkes, 13th to Late 16th Century
Castle Hackett is a ruined 13th-century tower house at the base of Knockma Hill, in the townland of Castlehacket — Caisleán an Haicéadaigh — near Belclare in the parish of Caherlistrane, ten kilometres south-west of Tuam in County Galway. It was built by the Hacketts, a Norman family.
Mike Salter, in Castles and Stronghouses of Ireland (1993), suggests the building may have begun as a 13th-century hall house, its two upper storeys added during the 16th century. By the late 16th century the tower house was in the possession of 'Ullig McReamon [Burke]'.
The Kirwans of Castlehacket, Mid-17th Century to the 1700s
The Castlehacket branch of the Kirwan family — the Kirwans were one of the tribes of Galway — had been established in the mid-17th century by Sir John Kirwan, and the family purchased the Castlehacket estate in the late 17th century. The tower house was occupied until at least 1703. During the 18th century the Kirwans abandoned it and built a new three-storey house nearby.
Yeats and the Hacketts' Fairy Ancestor, 1888
In the introduction to his Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), William Butler Yeats set the Hacketts down among the families credited with fairy-seeing: "Each county has usually some family, or personage, supposed to have been favoured or plagued [with fairy-seeing abilities], especially by the phantoms, as the Hackets of Castle Hacket, Galway, who had for their ancestor a fairy".
Castlehacket House: Burned 1923, Rebuilt, Renovated 2016
The 18th-century successor house, known as Castlehacket House, was burned in 1923 during the Civil War, and was subsequently rebuilt. It is included in the Record of Protected Structures maintained by Galway County Council. In 2016 it was renovated to operate as a bed and breakfast.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1600.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Castle Hackett, including 1 interior: first-floor great hall. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Castle Hackett with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1600, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Castle Hackett.
The families that held Castle Hackett for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Hackett
Built by the Hacketts, a Norman family, in the 13th century.
Kirwan
The Castlehacket branch of the Kirwan family was established here by Sir John Kirwan in the mid-17th century.
