Gautier Hachet - Walter Achet, Achet, Haket, Hackett Hacket, Hageth, Hachett, Hatchett or Haget

(Achet, Hackett Hacket, Hageth, Hachett, Hatchett or Haget.) The name Ache or Achet appears in 1040 in the list of the household of Thiboult (Theobald) III, comte de Chartres. The existence of two parishes of the name of Achet in the department of Pas-de-Calais would lead to the supposition that Achet belonged to the Picard family. Walter Achet held lands from Walter Giffard in Buckingham in 1086 (Domesday), in whose train he doubtless came to the conquest. He was a witness to a charter made to Trinite-du-Mont, Rouen. A Geoffry Haget is mentioned in the great charter of Be aubec as having given to that abbey possessions in Beaubec itself. In Worcester, William Hacket held lands in Claines in the time of Henry I. The family was long settled in Yorkshire and Gloucestershire and spread to many parts of England and Ireland. Ricardi Hacket occurs in a charter of the abbey of Jumieges in 1170 --(This name appears on the Falaise Roll).

Carisbrook Castle, Isle of Wight
Photo - Mark Jones Sep 2005

The Hackets of Niton, in the Isle of Wight, were the descendants of the Haket of the Battle Abbey Roll. The eventual heiress, Agnes, daughter of John Hackett, Esq. of Niton, married John Lye, Esq., of Dorsetshire, and was mother of Anne Lye, wife of Sir James Worsley, constable of Carisbrook Castle. Dominus Paganus de Haket, who also derived his descent from the soldier of Hastings, accompanied Henry II. to Ireland, and acquired broad lands and seignories there; and his descendants, generation after generation, were parliamentary Barons, and potent Magnates in the sister kingdom. They are now represented by Michael Hackett, Esq. of Brooklawn, co. Dublin. --(This name appears on the Battle Abbey Roll).