Ballygasty Castle in ruins — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Ballygasty Castle stood in flat Galway pastureland in 1574, held by Mac Owg and Wm Mc Tibbot, but by 1929 even its ruin had vanished into a low mound of displaced stone. The walls once measured sixteen centimetres thick, yet they never formed a coherent plan, suggesting brutal utility rather than noble display. That uncertainty is fitting: the castle resisted definition even in death, leaving behind only a shapeless heap where human ambition collapsed back into earth.

In flat pastureland c. 1.75km N of Loughrea town. In existence in 1574 when it was in the possession of 'Mac Owg & Wm Mc Tibbot' (Nolan 1901, 112). Shown on the 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map as a rectangular roofed building (c. 14m N-W; c. 10m E-W) and labelled as 'in ruins'. Evidently demolished by the 1929 edition when the words 'Site of' are appended. All that survives is a mound of earth and stone of irregular plan (D 36m max., H c. 4m) on the surface of which are large displaced portions of mortared stone walls. The walls average 1.6m in thickness but do not appear to form any coherent plan. The mound occupies the SW corner of possible bawn (GA105-021001-). Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 20 August 2021

Ballygasty Castle was held by Mac Owg and William Mc Tibbot in 1574 and is notable as an example of a 16th-century Irish tower house, documented in early historical and cartographic records. Its remains contribute to the understanding of Gaelic landholding in the area.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.