Extracts from The Buildings of Co Armagh (UAHS, 1999):
An important work by one of the leading London architects of
the first half of the 19th century, Thomas Hopper (1776-1856).
Sir Howard Colvin says that Hopper was an eclectic designer who
held the belief that "it is an architect's business to understand
all styles, and to be prejudiced in favour of none"; and
considers that "his most interesting and original works were
the two Norman castles" (Gosford and Penrhyn) " in which
he effectively combined picturesque massing with a remarkable
repertoire of Romanesque detailing which owed something to his
familiarity with the twelfth-century keeps of Rochester and Hedingham".
Also, "In his best days his flow of spirits was exuberant;
his powers of conversation remarkable, his memory most tenacious.
He never drank anything stronger than water, and could bear an
marvellous amount of fatigue".His pupils included the young
Belfast architect, John Millar, who worked on this commission
with him, and signed a drawing showing the proposed front elevation.
The design was commissioned by Archibald Acheson, second Earl of Gosford, after the previous house had burned down. Bence-Jones says that it was "largely paid for by his wife, the daughter and heiress of Robert Sparrow, of Worlingham Hall, Suffolk: so that it is possible that the choice of so strange a style as Norman was hers; she was a life-long friend of Lady Byron so may have absorbed some of Byron's exotic and somewhat sinister brand of romanticism".
Building work began in 1819, and did not finish until around 1850, if then; the Valuation book of 1838 gives an extremely detailed description, while that of 1863 lists "buildings erected during the last 24 years and in progress" in equal detail: total valuation, £350. J Binns, in 1837, reported "Lord Gosford is building a baronial residence, under the supervision of Mr Hopper, the architect. Though far from being finished it has already cost about £80,000. The battlements and corbels struck me as being too light, and the arrangement in some parts appeared rather cramped, but the situation is good, and the grounds are well wooded"...
Between 1838 and 1845 Thomas Duff of Newry was still working on "additions, alterations and improvements" costing £5,400; and work continued under his successor as Hopper's assistant, GA Burn, until Hopper's death in 1856...
In January 1862, John Ynyr Burges visited Gosford, and recorded
in his diary: "We found the large round room completed, all
but the fireplace... The castle appears an immense library, for
my room is full of books and all of the choicest kinds, with the
most perfect bindings.
The new apartments consist of long corridors and morning rooms
belonging to this family, and sleeping ditto, are handsome and
comfortable, and the beautiful and rare china does not fail to
give a most picturesque effect... The dining hall brings you back
to feudal days. the table, which is profusely covered with every
delicious viand and the choicest wines, rather beats the banquet
hollow of our Norman ancestors... You eat, drink ,talk and laugh
immensely. There is something in the air and cheer around you
that encourages you to do so"...
Gosford is remarkably large, remarkably elaborate, 
and exceptionally well built
- indeed, it appears not just defensible but practically indestructible.
It is dominated by its great square keep with corner turrets containing
chimneys, 
with
subsidiary round and square towers...
The history of the house has been chequered. It cost over £40,000 up to 1829...With the death of the third earl in 1864 the Gosford seat became demoted to the status of a rather superior holiday residence; a tradition, continued for many years, came into being that Christmas should be spent at Markethill and that the demesne should be used for grouse shooting in August and September... The fourth earl was an extravagant friend of King Edward VII; he was forced to sell off the library in 1888 to pay a racing debt... and in 1921 was forced to sell off the remaining contents. The castle stood vacant until 1940, when, like many another, it was commandeered, and used first by the British army, then by the US army, with a prisoner-of-war camp in the grounds. After the war, it was used at one time as winter quarters for a travelling circus, at another as a store for the Public Record Office. Then in the 1970s, it was for a time once again occupied as a British army base in the Troubles. In 1978, the Department of Agriculture, which had acquired the demesne for a forest park, granted a 99 year lease of the castle to a consortium of businessmen hoping to restore and convert it into a luxury hotel. Work proceeded spasmodically: at one time a restaurant was opened, but forced to close again; completion seems a long way off..."
Gosford Castle has now returned to Forestry hands, and they are trying to find the best way of ensuring its restoration. It has to be one of our largest buildings at risk, and being in generally poor condition, probably the most expensive restoration project in the Province up for grabs. The Association of Preservation Trusts recently visited it in the course of a seminar in Markethill, and the Gosford Castle Trust has been set up to try to save it. They are currently carrying out a survey and feasibility study into the restoration and possible uses for the enormous building. They can be contacted at 1 College Street, Armagh, and their website is at www.thegosfordcastletrust.org.
Hearth Revolving Fund carried out the restoration of a (very much) smaller house in the grounds of Gosford some years ago. Sharp's House probably dates from about 1800, and can be seen on Hearth's website, www.hearth-housing.org.uk.
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