9 College Square North, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

A two-storey two-bay late-Victorian mill workers' terraced dwelling, built in around 1890 from designs by an unknown architect, though possibly the work of civil engineer John Hardy. The building is constructed of local stone in L-plan form, facing southeast, with a two-storey rear return added around 1997.

The dwelling is part of a terrace row of twelve similar houses forming the northern side of College Square, itself a formally designed late-Victorian square of 53 dwellings total, arranged on three sides around a central bowling green and playground, primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast.

The building is constructed of generally random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite walling with stepped red brick dressings to jambs and stone cills. Door and window openings are square-headed with gauged brick surrounds. The pitched roof is covered with fibre cement tiles and features roll-top black clay ridge tiles. A rectangular-section red brick chimney to the southwest has four terracotta clay pots; a similar chimney to the northeast has been rebuilt in rustic red brick. The eaves are flush with separate red and buff brick eaves courses and an alternating red and buff brick corbel course above. The rainwater goods are generally uPVC with half-round guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

The principal southeast-facing elevation is flush with the rest of the terrace and near symmetrical in arrangement. It features two windows at first floor level in line with ground floor openings, all fitted with top-opening uPVC casements. A modest front yard, paved with a central planting area, is enclosed by red brick dwarf walling topped with hooped galvanised metal railings. A similar foot gate is hung on slim posts to the northeast. A paved path from the gate leads to a painted panelled timber door with two glazed sections to its upper half, brass furniture, and a square-headed fanlight above, with a window to the southwest side of the door.

To the southwest, the building is attached to No. 8 College Square North. The rear elevation faces northwest and consists of a two-storey rear return projecting to the site boundary. A concrete rear yard to the southwest is reduced to a single bay in width and has a flush timber door leading from the rear access route. The reduced bay of the northwest elevation retains original stone walling with altered openings; a uPVC window at first floor has red brick jambs and a slim concrete cill, and a painted timber door with glazing at ground floor has a concrete head. The rear return has a uPVC window to its southwest side at first floor level and a uPVC glazed door in-line below at ground floor level, with a uPVC casement window to both ground and first floor on the northwest side. No openings are visible to the northeast side. A boiler and flue abut the northwest end of the rear return in the shared rear access route. The rear elevation generally has a rough-cast cement render finish with uPVC casement windows and slim concrete cills. To the northeast, the building is attached to No. 10 College Square North.

College Square itself comprises three terraces of mill workers' dwellings arranged around a central area. The eastern terrace contains 23 dwellings stepped in groups of six to respect the site's subtle relief, terminating at its southeastern end with the village Town Hall (the old Institute building). The western terrace comprises 18 dwellings, mostly arranged in pairs in a similar style with some variations in detailing, with the former school building located at its southeastern end. The northern terrace is the shortest at twelve houses but distinctly larger with steeply pitched roofs. Each house is set back from the perimeter road and footpath with a modest front yard enclosed by dwarf walling topped by hooped metal railings, and rear yards are typically enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling.

The central area of the square is divided into three sections: a northwest area with a bowling pavilion and green enclosed by painted hooped metal railings with established trees at its boundary; a southeast lawn also enclosed by hooped railings; and a central open children's playground. Three granite monuments stand in the square. One records those who served Bessbrook firm for nearly fifty years (erected 1911); another commemorates James N. Richardson and the last stone cut from Bessbrook quarry (1927); a third, recently moved from the mill grounds, details the mill's ownership history from the Pollock family in 1760 to Bessbrook Spinning Company Limited in 1878.