2 Maytown Terrace, Fountain St., Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

2 Maytown Terrace, Fountain Street, Bessbrook, County Armagh

A modest two-storey, two-bay late-Victorian mill workers' terraced dwelling, built around 1896 to designs by an unknown architect. The building has a rectangular plan form facing northwest, with a two-storey rear return added in approximately 2004. It has good proportions and is constructed of locally quarried Newry Granodiorite, with good quality external brick detailing. Despite the addition of the large two-storey rear extension, the building retains its character externally. It forms part of a terrace of seven similar historic houses and carries group value with the other six dwellings along the terrace. The building is of significant local historical and social importance as a product of the continuous industrial development of Bessbrook, an early model village begun in the 1840s and rooted in Quaker ideological beliefs, connected with the industry and trade surrounding Bessbrook Mill.

Exterior

The front elevation faces northwest and sits flush with the rest of the terrace. It is near-symmetrical, with a regular fenestration pattern: two windows at first-floor level aligned with the ground-floor openings. All windows are double-hung sliding timber sash windows with horns. The panelled painted timber door has two glazed panels to its upper half and a square-headed fanlight above, and opens directly onto the public footpath. The door and fanlight contain modern decorative coloured glass. A window sits to the northeast side of the door.

Walling throughout is generally random-coursed, rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite, with stepped red brick dressings to jambs, stone cills, and square-headed gauged-brick door and window openings. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with angled black clay ridge tiles. The eaves are flush, with separate red and buff brick eaves courses and an alternating red and buff brick corbel course above. There are two rectangular-section red brick chimneys — one to the northeast with two terracotta clay pots, and a similar chimney to the southwest. Rainwater goods are generally cast iron to the front and uPVC to the rear, with half-round guttering discharging to circular-section downpipes.

To the northeast the building is attached to No. 1 Maytown Terrace, and to the southwest it is attached to No. 3 Maytown Terrace.

Rear

The rear elevation faces southeast into an enclosed concrete yard. A two-storey rear return, added around 2004, extends southeast the full width of the yard, which is now much reduced in size. The rear return has a pitched fibre cement slate roof, uPVC fascia, sheeted uPVC soffit, and a smooth cement render finish. There is a uPVC casement window to the centre at first-floor level, and a two-part sliding patio door at ground-floor level opening into the rear yard. No other openings are visible to the rear. The replacement yard boundary walling has a smooth cement render finish, with high two-part modern galvanised metal gates leading from the rear access route.

Setting

Maytown Terrace is a row of seven similar mill workers' dwellings situated along Main Street, Bessbrook, set back from the road by a wide tarmac public footpath. The rear facades of most of the dwellings along the terrace have been considerably altered, with the majority having lost their original stone rear yard boundary walls. Rear boundaries are defined by a local access route and an area of rough grazing to the southeast.

Historical Background

The development of industry at Bessbrook dates from 1761, when the first woollen mill and bleach green were opened by a Mr John Pollock. The site was then known simply as "The Green" but was renamed Bessbrook after Pollock's wife Elizabeth (Bess) and the nearby Camlough River (Brook). The first edition Ordnance Survey map of the 1830s records few buildings at Bessbrook at that time — the only significant structures depicted were Mount Caulfield House (the residence of the Nicholson family) and a number of thread manufactories and bleach mills.

The village of Bessbrook was effectively founded in 1845 when John Grubb Richardson (1813–1891), a linen merchant from Lambeg, purchased one of the derelict mills on the site and began building housing for his factory workers nearby. Richardson, in his own words, "had a great aversion to be responsible for a factory population in a large town, so on looking around, fixed upon a place near Newry… with water power and a thick population around, and in a country district where flax was cultivated in considerable quantities." Bessbrook was established as a model village in a number of phases, beginning with the laying out of Fountain Street in the 1840s. The architect of the majority of the housing in Bessbrook is not known; however, Richardson's layout of the village was influenced by the work of William Penn, the American Quaker responsible for the planning and development of Philadelphia in the late 17th century. Richardson was himself a member of the Religious Society of Friends and, according to historian R. Harrison, possessed a "typical Quaker mix of pragmatic and altruistic expectation to provide jobs and good working conditions for his employees."

By providing his workers with good standards of living, Richardson aimed to foster positive relations between employer and employee. He established the village as a social experiment where workers could both live and work in contentment. Harrison notes that Richardson's philanthropic spirit led him to bring the poor, the unqualified, and beggars from the surrounding countryside to work and live at Bessbrook, hoping to encourage them to improve themselves and leave old habits behind. Bessbrook is often referred to as a village without the "Three Ps" — no public house, no pawn shop, and therefore no need for a police presence. In exchange for keeping the village free of alcohol, Richardson provided recreational and educational facilities at the Institute, a number of well-stocked shops, and had milk, tea, and cocoa distributed to his mill workers. The strategy proved effective: the majority of the population voted to preserve the ordinance in the 1870s, and to this day there remains no public house at Bessbrook. Police were not stationed in the village until the turn of the 20th century.

In 1863, Richardson became the sole owner of the Bessbrook Spinning Company following the purchase of his brother's shares. The local linen industry experienced a boom during the American Civil War (1861–65), when access to American cotton was cut off. Richardson took advantage of this by greatly enlarging his factory and increasing his workforce. Lord Charlemont sold the remainder of the Camlough Estate to Richardson in 1865, making Richardson the principal employer and landowner at Bessbrook by the mid-1860s. Charlemont Square was laid out between 1862 and 1866 to accommodate the influx of new workers; between 1861 and 1871 the population of Bessbrook rose from 637 to 2,215, and the number of houses from 73 to 296. By the turn of the 20th century the population stood at approximately 4,000.

Annual Revision records confirm that nos 1–6 Maytown Terrace were constructed by the Bessbrook Spinning Company around 1896. In that year the valuer set the total rateable value of No. 2 Maytown Terrace at £3, and noted that the Bessbrook Spinning Company initially leased the building to a Mr William Linton. By the time of the 1911 Census of Ireland the property had passed to John McLoughlin, who was employed at Richardson's mill along with a number of his family members. The census building return described the house as a second-class dwelling consisting of five rooms. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), No. 2 Maytown Terrace was occupied by a Mr Martha Chambers and had risen in rateable value to £5 and 10 shillings.

During the 20th century the mill at Bessbrook continued to expand, gaining the Bessbrook Spinning Company international recognition. During the Second World War, mill workers were tasked with supplying cloth for uniforms. The Bessbrook Spinning Company retained ownership of most housing in Bessbrook until the 1960s, when dwellings in the village began to be sold to private individuals and firms. These sales were necessitated by the post-war downturn in the local textile market, which preceded the closure of the mill in 1972 — the building was subsequently occupied by the British Army. The Chambers family purchased No. 2 Maytown Terrace outright around 1959 and continued to reside there until the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), at which time the rateable value of the house stood at £8 and 5 shillings.

No. 2 Maytown Terrace was listed in 1982 and was included in the Bessbrook Conservation Area, designated in 1983 in recognition of Bessbrook's "historical significance as a planned mill village and its distinct form and character." The Conservation Area Guide notes that the carefully planned development of Bessbrook, including the uniform terraces at Charlemont Square and College Square, influenced the design of the well-known English model villages at Saltaire (1852), Port Sunlight (1888), and Bournville (developed by the Cadbury family from 1895), which "have directly influenced town and country planning all over the world." The building underwent an extensive renovation around 2004, which included the construction of the two-storey rear return.