The castle’s story stretches back to at least 1549, when it became the scene of a violent episode; Walter Fada Bourke was murdered here by Donnel Fitz-Rory Og Flaherty, marking the site with bloodshed during the turbulent Tudor period. Today, all that remains are partial foundations of the west and south walls, measuring less than 9 metres by 7.3 metres, which are still lapped by the sea at high tide.

When archaeologists inspected the site in 1984, they noted several intriguing features beyond the castle walls themselves. A cabin had been built within the foundations at some later date, whilst a causeway once crossed the inlet, and a substantial defensive ditch, or fosse, protected the western approach. However, the Atlantic hasn’t been kind to these remnants; when the site was revisited in January 2018 following winter storms, the causeway had become obscured by storm-deposited boulders, and the fosse lay buried beneath seaweed.

This may be the castle referred to as ‘Ballemicro’ in a 1574 list of Galway castles, when it was recorded as being in the possession of Thomas Blake. The Blake family were prominent merchants and landowners in medieval Galway, one of the fourteen tribes who dominated the city’s commerce and politics. The castle’s position on the coast would have made it strategically valuable for controlling maritime trade routes, though time and tide have reduced it to these haunting foundations that speak to the constant battle between human ambition and the relentless Irish sea.