Hillsborough Castle
Hillsborough Castle is a Georgian country house in the historic town of Hillsborough in County Down, Northern Ireland, serving as the official royal residence and Government House in Northern Ireland. The house was built in the 1770s for Wills Hill, first Marquess of Downshire, and has served as the official residence for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and for visits by the British royal family since the 1920s. The castle and its gardens were opened to visitors in 2019, allowing public access to the state rooms and the extensive walled gardens for the first time. The adjacent historic town of Hillsborough, with its Georgian architecture, fort and church, is one of the most attractive small towns in Northern Ireland.