Northern Ireland's largest Grade A listed building - the 150-room Gosford Castle in Co Armagh - has been sold by the British government for a nominal £1,000, it was announced yesterday.
A developer has signed a deal to restore the dilapidated castle as part of a project expected to cost up to £5 million. The development requires the restoration of the building by certain dates and to a standard that meets the approval of the Environment and Heritage Service.
Developers plan to turn the castle into a series of private residences - 23 homes of between one and four storeys - and the government has a claw-back agreement relating to a share of profits generated by the development.
Under this deal the government will receive half of any surplus beyond a specified profit of 15 per cent.
Announcing the sale, agriculture and rural development minister Lord Rooker said the future for the castle was looking bright.
The securing of the contract opens the way for the developer, Gosford Castle Development Ltd, to begin, subject to planning permission and listed building consent, to get on with the project.
The immense granite neo-Norman castle in Markethill was completed in the 1850s after more than 30 years under construction. It was built for Archibald Acheson, second Earl of Gosford, and remained in family hands, despite being commandeered by both British and US forces during the second World War, until it was acquired by the Forestry Commission in 1958. Restoring the roofs alone are expected to cost over £1 million and, had the castle not been sold, the cost would have fallen on the taxpayer.
The castle is a central feature within Gosford Forest Park which will continue to be open for public use. Lands being sold include the walled garden and castle car park, amounting to just over nine acres. - (PA)