1 College Square North, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

No. 1 College Square North is a two-storey, two-bay end-terrace mill workers' dwelling, built in local stone around 1890, and forming part of a formally planned late-Victorian square in the village of Bessbrook, County Armagh. The architect is unknown, though the work may be attributed to John Hardy, a civil engineer appointed as company architect to the Bessbrook Spinning Company in 1881. The building sits within the Bessbrook Conservation Area, designated in 1983, and carries significant group value as one of twelve similar houses forming the northern terrace of College Square.

Historical Background

Bessbrook was established as a model village in 1845 by John Grubb Richardson (1813–1891), a Quaker linen merchant from Lambeg, who purchased a derelict mill near Newry and began building housing for his factory workers. The site had earlier origins: a woollen mill and bleach green were opened by a Mr John Pollock in 1761 on land known as "The Green", later renamed Bessbrook after Pollock's wife Elizabeth ("Bess") and the nearby Camlough River. By the 1830s, the first edition Ordnance Survey map recorded little development at Bessbrook beyond Mount Caulfield House and several thread manufactories and bleach mills.

Richardson laid out Fountain Street in the 1840s and shaped the village according to Quaker values, influenced by the planning principles of William Penn, the American Quaker responsible for the development of Philadelphia in the late 17th century. Richardson's aim was to create a social experiment in which workers could live and work contentedly. He famously stipulated there would be no public house, no pawn shop, and therefore no need for police — a principle known locally as the village without the "Three P's". In their place he provided recreational and educational facilities at the Institute, well-stocked shops, and distributed milk, tea and cocoa to mill workers. The majority of the population voted to preserve this ordinance in the 1870s, and no public house exists in Bessbrook to this day. Police were not stationed in the village until the turn of the 20th century.

Richardson became sole owner of the Bessbrook Spinning Company in 1863. The local linen industry boomed during the American Civil War (1861–65), when access to American cotton was cut off, and Richardson greatly enlarged his factory and workforce. Lord Charlemont sold the remainder of the Camlough Estate to Richardson in 1865, making him the dominant employer and landowner in the area. Between 1861 and 1871 the population of Bessbrook rose from 637 to 2,215, and the number of houses from 73 to 296. Charlemont Square was laid out between 1862 and 1866 to accommodate this influx.

College Square was laid out in stages between around 1874 and 1890, driven by further expansion of Richardson's business. The Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide describes the mid-1880s as a period of intense building activity, during which the earlier ideals of the village plan were re-established. The factory itself was greatly extended and modernised in 1884–85. The two-storey houses along College Square were built by masons and joiners employed directly by the Bessbrook Spinning Company, using Newry Granodiorite quarried locally on the former Charlemont Estate — the same granite used in the construction of Manchester Town Hall and the great steps of St George's Hall in Liverpool. The Annual Revisions record that Nos. 1–12 College Square North were erected around 1890 and were the last row of the square to be completed.

Each house at Bessbrook was owned by the Bessbrook Spinning Company and contained between three and five rooms. Tenants were required to sign an agreement containing specific clauses: they were not permitted to keep fowl or pigs within the family quarters or yard, though a pig-sty and fowl-run were permitted in the garden; and they were obliged to send their children to school until old enough for mill work.

No. 1 College Square North was initially let by the Bessbrook Spinning Company to a Mr Samuel Porter, valued at £5 10 shillings. Occupancy changed frequently over the following decades. The 1911 Census of Ireland recorded the house as occupied by a Ms Mary Phoenix, whose daughters worked at the local mill; it was described as a second-class dwelling with five inhabited rooms. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), it remained valued at £5 10 shillings and was occupied by a Ms Susan Phoenix. A Mr Joseph Nesbitt occupied the property around 1952 and purchased it outright around 1968. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the total rateable value had risen to £8.

The mill at Bessbrook continued to expand through the 20th century, supplying cloth for military uniforms during the Second World War. The Bessbrook Spinning Company began selling its housing stock in the 1960s, following a post-war downturn in the local textile market; the mill itself closed in 1972. No. 1 College Square North was listed in 1980. The building underwent extensive renovation around 2003, including the construction of a two-storey rear return.

The carefully planned development of Bessbrook, encompassing the uniform terraces at Charlemont Square and College Square, is recognised as having influenced the design of the English model villages at Saltaire (1852), Port Sunlight (1888) and Bourneville (developed by the Cadbury family from 1895), which in turn directly influenced town and country planning across the world. College Square itself represents the historical development of Bessbrook with the expansion of trade and industry in the late 19th century and, together with Charlemont Square (1862–66) to its west, can be considered of international importance as part of an early planned mill village.

Architectural Description

College Square is a formally designed square comprising 53 mill workers' dwellings arranged along three sides — north, east and west — around a central bowling green, playground and lawn, primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast. No. 1 College Square North is one of twelve houses forming the northern terrace, which is the shortest of the three sides. These northern terrace dwellings are distinctly larger than those on the other two terraces, being two-storey buildings with steeply pitched roofs.

The eastern terrace comprises 23 dwellings, stepped in groups of six to respect the subtle relief of the site, and terminates at its southeastern end with the village Town Hall (the old Institute building). The western terrace comprises 18 dwellings, for the most part arranged in pairs and built in a similar style but with some significant differences in detailing; the former school building is located at the southeastern end of this terrace. Each house is set back from the perimeter public road and footpath with a modest front yard, typically enclosed by dwarf walling topped by hooped metal railings. Rear yards are typically enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with a square-headed door opening onto a wide rear access route; rear facades are generally much altered.

The central area of the square is divided into three sections, each laid to lawn. The northwestern area contains a bowling pavilion and bowling green enclosed by painted hooped metal railings with established trees at its northwestern boundary, the green having been added in 1911. A lawn enclosed by hooped metal railings is located to the southeast, and an open children's playground occupies the centre of the square. The playground includes three granite monuments. The first records: "erected A.D. 1911 in respectful memory of George Wright, Head Mason. John McClelland, Head Millwright. Michael Boyle, Flax Buyer. Who each faithfully served the Bessbrook firm for nearly 50 years. Also Robert Ross, Mill Manager. Austin Kennedy, Rougher." The second records: "The garden in memory of James N. Richardson is arranged by his wife as a playground for the children of Bessbrook whom he loved November 1927", with an inscription to the opposite side recording that this was the last stone cut from Bessbrook quarry. A third monument, formerly in the grounds of Bessbrook Mill and recently relocated to its current position, details the mill's history from ownership by the Pollock family in 1760 through to the Bessbrook Spinning Co. Ltd in 1878.

The building has a rectangular plan form facing southeast, with a two-storey rear return added around 2003, a single-storey monopitched block, and a flat-roofed block — which has an oil tank above — attached to the northwest.

External Walling and Roof

The walling is generally random-coursed, rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite, with stepped red brick dressings to the jambs, stone cills, and square-headed gauged-brick door and window openings. The roof is finished in fibre cement tiles with roll-top black clay ridge tiles. Eaves are flush, with separate red and buff brick eaves courses and an alternating red and buff brick corbel course above — though this decorative eaves course to the front facade of all dwellings along College Square North is now masked by modern electrical wiring. Rainwater goods are generally uPVC half-round guttering discharging to circular-section downpipes, with a cast iron downpipe to the centre of the front southeast elevation.

There are two rectangular-section red brick chimneys: the one to the southwest has been rebuilt in modern brick and carries two buff clay pots; the one to the northeast has been rebuilt in rustic brick and carries two terracotta clay pots.

Principal (Southeast) Elevation

The front elevation is flush with the rest of the terrace and is near-symmetrical with a regular fenestration pattern. Both first-floor windows sit directly above the ground-floor openings. All windows are double-hung 1/1 sliding timber sash windows with horns. The modest front yard is paved, has some established shrubs, and is enclosed by modern concrete block dwarf walling. A hooped painted metal foot gate on slim posts is hung to the northeast. A concrete path from the gate leads to a panelled painted timber door with two glazed upper panels, brass furniture, and a square-headed fanlight above. A window sits to the southwest side of the door.

Southwest Elevation

The southwest elevation forms the end of College Square North. It consists of a two-storey pitched-roof block to the southeast with a red brick chimney at the gable apex and a side-opening uPVC casement window at first-floor level. A two-storey pitched-roof rear return has a single window at first-floor level and a single window at ground-floor level at the northwestern end of the elevation. The general finish to this elevation is rough-cast cement render, and the windows are two-part side-opening uPVC casement windows with slim concrete cills. Attached to the northwestern end is a one-and-a-half-storey section of the original stone rear yard boundary walling with red brick and stone quoins, now rendered on the southwest side only.

Northwest Elevation

Access to the northwest elevation is limited, but where visible it consists of the two-storey rear return, which projects the full width of the original rear yard toward the northwest boundary. A single-storey monopitched block is attached to the northwest side of the return at the northeast, and a flat-roofed block with oil tank above is attached at the southwest, both abutting the original rear yard boundary walling to the northwest. The original random-coursed rock-faced stone yard boundary walling has a painted sheeted timber door leading from the rear access route to the monopitched block. The rear return has a uPVC sheeted soffit and uPVC fascia, a rough-cast cement render finish, and a single top-opening uPVC casement window at first-floor level. No openings are visible to the northeast.

Northeast

To the northeast, the building is attached to No. 2 College Square North.

Significance and Condition

No. 1 College Square North has substantial group value as part of a rare, formally planned late-Victorian square — itself an unusual occurrence in the province — and plays a significant role in the overall composition and planned architectural effect of College Square. The use of locally quarried Newry Granodiorite to the front southeast facade contributes to the unique sense of identity and place that characterises Bessbrook. The building exhibits much external character, with well-designed proportions and modest detailing. However, a large extension and some modern external finishes — including the rough-cast cement render to the side elevations and the uPVC windows and rainwater goods — detract somewhat from the building's character and heritage value.