Overview
Richhill’s best-known feature left the village in 1936. The wrought-iron gates made for the manor house by the Thornberry brothers of Falmouth in Cornwall, and set up here in 1745, were taken down and moved to Hillsborough Castle, where they still hang. Bear that in mind before you come looking for them. What remains is a tidy planned Georgian village in County Armagh, laid out in the 18th century on a clear grid and kept largely intact, enough to earn it Conservation Area status in 1993. It makes a pleasant twenty-minute walk and a decent base for the Orchard County, rather than a place with much to go inside.
History and architecture
The village was originally Legacorry, from the Irish Log an Choire, ‘hollow of the cauldron’. It was granted in 1610, as part of the Plantation of Ulster, to the English settler Francis Sacherevall; his granddaughter Ann married Edward Richardson, an army officer who later sat as MP for County Armagh. The house Richardson built gave the place its later name, Richardson’s Hill, worn down over time to Richhill. Roof timbers dated by dendrochronology were cut around 1664, which puts the building of the house somewhere between 1664 and 1690.
The Georgian townhouses along Main Street came in the following century, built to a consistent scale with sash windows and stone lintels. At the centre stands the octagonal market house, put up to serve the linen and farming trade. Eight-sided market houses are rare, and this one, with its paved square, gives the village its slightly stage-set look. A £1.5 million Townscape Heritage Initiative from around 2012 tidied much of this up, restoring frontages and burying the overhead wires that used to clutter the street.
What to see and do
Richhill Castle
The 17th-century house above the village is privately owned and not regularly open, so in practice you’re looking at the exterior and grounds from the road. It occasionally holds open days and guided tours; the original gates, as noted, are long gone to Hillsborough. If getting inside matters to you, check local heritage listings first, because otherwise there’s nothing here to enter.
The Apple Harvest Fayre
County Armagh is the Orchard County, and Richhill marks it each October with the Apple Harvest Fayre, a free, family-run day built around the Armagh Bramley apple. The square and nearby fields fill with food and craft stalls, live music and community competitions, with plenty of apple in every form. It’s the one date that turns the village from a quiet streetscape into an event, and the best day to plan a visit around.
Walking
The flat, paved streets are easy to walk and done inside an hour. Beyond the village, quiet backroads and hedgerow lanes run out through orchard and pasture country towards Portadown and Armagh City, popular with cyclists and birdwatchers.
Practical information
Getting there
Richhill sits between Armagh City and Portadown and is easiest reached by car. Ulsterbus runs services through the village on routes linking Belfast and Armagh (61, 251, 270, 271 and 551a among them), though note the stops aren’t right beside the main amenities. For rail, the nearest mainline station is Portadown, with trains to Belfast, Bangor, Newry, Dundalk and Dublin; from there it’s a short taxi or bus into the village.
Accommodation and amenities
Richhill has no large hotels, but there are bed-and-breakfasts, guesthouses and self-catering cottages for a rural stay, plus a convenience store, a garden centre and a few pubs. For a wider choice of food and shopping, Armagh City and Portadown are both a short drive off.
Accessibility
The main streets are paved and reasonably level, so fine for wheelchairs and pushchairs, though some older side lanes keep their original stone surfaces and narrow entrances.
Nearby attractions
Richhill works best as a starting point for the wider county:
- Armagh City – about 15 minutes north, with its two cathedrals, the County Museum and the Observatory & Planetarium.
- Armagh Observatory & Planetarium – Ireland’s oldest observatory, with tours, star shows and hands-on exhibits.
- Gosford Forest Park – a large wooded estate to the east, with marked trails, a lake and picnic areas.
- Ring of Gullion – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the south, with volcanic ridges, standing stones and walking routes.
- Ardress House – a 17th-century plantation house and walled garden giving a picture of early Ulster settler life.
For most people Richhill is a half-hour stroll and a look at the market house on the way to somewhere bigger, worth the detour mainly if you can time it for the October fayre.