Gosford Castle

The Acheson family were granted land in County Armagh by King James VI & I in 1610, at the start of the Plantation of Ulster. They established the village of Markethill and built a castle, though this was destroyed during the Irish Rebellion of 1641. A manor house was built in its place, which the Achesons occupied until 1840. The writer Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) visited Gosford and contributed to the layout of the gardens. In 1819, Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford (1776–1849), then head of the Acheson dynasty, commissioned Thomas Hopper (1776–1856) to design a new house at Gosford. A Norman revival style of architecture was chosen, marking Hopper's first attempt at this style that he would go on to perfect at Penrhyn Castle in Wales. Hopper was assisted by local architect Thomas Duff. In 1837 the building was reported as unfinished, and was not fully complete until 1859 when Hopper's assistant George Adam Burn rebuilt the entrance front. Archibald Acheson, 4th Earl of Gosford (1841–1922) was forced to sell the castle's contents in 1920 and, after his death in April 1922, the castle was no longer occupied by the Acheson family. During the Second World War, Gosford was commandeered and used to accommodate troops, with a prisoner-of-war camp on the estate. Following the war the Achesons sold the estate to the Ministry of Agriculture, who established the 240 hectares (590 acres) demesne as Gosford Forest Park. The castle was used for the storage of public records, and in the 1970s served as a barracks for soldiers. In 1983, it was opened as a hotel, but the venture was unsuccessful, and the leaseholders allowed the building to fall into disrepair.

The Forest Service, then part of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), regained control of the property in February 2002.