Richill Castle

Richhill Castle was listed by the Northern Ireland Environment Service (NIEA) on 13th September 1976, listed at Grade B+. It was upgraded to Grade A in 1992 (HB Ref: HB15/13/001). The house sits on an elevated site to the north-east of the Parish Church in the village of Richhill, once known as Richardson’s Hill within the area previously called Legacorry. It is possible that the house which sites on the site today contains parts of an earlier house dating from the early 17th century. The history of this early house is vague, it being attributed to Francis Sacheverall who erected two houses at Legacorry, either one of which might be part of Richhill Castle as it stands today.

Seanchas Ard Mhacha (vol. IV), the Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, suggests that by 1622 Francis Sacheverell had built upon his proportion of Legacorry: “a convenient dwelling-house of stone and lyme, covered with thatch, within a bawn of clay and stone, rough-cast with lyme, 198 foot long, 19 foot broad, walls 8 foot high with 4 flanckers of the same height”.
Philip Robinson, formerly Head of Buildings at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum surveyed the roof in the early 1990s and describes the roof as follows:
‘The roof timbers on Richhill Castle (c.1670) consist of an oak, butt-purlin system characteristic of other late 17th century Ulster houses with ‘English’ or ‘Plantation’ influence in their roof construction’.

In more recent history the castle was commandeered by the army as part of the Allied Army campaign during world War 2. PRONI records refer to discussions as to whether to reduce the building to a pile of rubble after their use as a base had ended. Thankfully the detonation of explosives were not activated but the decorative gates that once adorned the entrance pillars were sold and now stand pride of place at the entrance to Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, Historic Royal Palaces.