About Markethill
Markethill is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits at the southern side of Gosford Forest Park. It had a population of 1, 652 people in the 2011 Census. A livestock market is held here three times a week and each summer the world's largest Lambeg drumming contest takes place in the village. It is home to Kilcluney Volunteers Flute Band, who host the largest band parade in Europe on the first Friday of each June. This attracts thousands of onlookers and participants. HistoryThe village sprang up within the townland of Coolmallish or Coolmillish, on the road between Armagh and Newry. It began to grow during the Plantation of Ulster as a town for Scottish and English migrants. The village of Markethill was founded by a Scottish family, the Achesons of Gosford (or Goseford), Haddingtonshire (East Lothian), who received a grant of 1, 000 acres (4 km²) from King James I of Ireland and England in 1610. The Achesons built a strong castle at Cloncarney around 1617, but it was destroyed in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. It was replaced with a manor house, visited by Jonathan Swift in the late 1720s. Swift devised the existing nature walks throughout the grounds, where he composed poems. The manor house, although occupied to 1840, has practically disappeared. In 1819, Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, (a peerage bestowed on the family in 1776), commissioned the construction of Gosford Castle.
Markethill Description
Markethill is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits at the southern side of Gosford Forest Park. It had a population of 1, 652 people in the 2011 Census. A livestock market is held here three times a week and each summer the world's largest Lambeg drumming contest takes place in the village. It is home to Kilcluney Volunteers Flute Band, who host the largest band parade in Europe on the first Friday of each June. This attracts thousands of onlookers and participants. HistoryThe village sprang up within the townland of Coolmallish or Coolmillish, on the road between Armagh and Newry. It began to grow during the Plantation of Ulster as a town for Scottish and English migrants. The village of Markethill was founded by a Scottish family, the Achesons of Gosford (or Goseford), Haddingtonshire (East Lothian), who received a grant of 1, 000 acres (4 km²) from King James I of Ireland and England in 1610. The Achesons built a strong castle at Cloncarney around 1617, but it was destroyed in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. It was replaced with a manor house, visited by Jonathan Swift in the late 1720s. Swift devised the existing nature walks throughout the grounds, where he composed poems. The manor house, although occupied to 1840, has practically disappeared. In 1819, Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, (a peerage bestowed on the family in 1776), commissioned the construction of Gosford Castle.