7 College Square North, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

A two-storey, two-bay late-Victorian mill workers' terraced dwelling of local stone built around 1890 to designs by an unknown architect, though possibly the work of civil engineer Mr John Hardy. The building has an L-plan form facing southeast with a two-storey rear return added around 2008.

Construction and Materials

The walls are built of randomly-coursed, rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite with stepped red brick dressings to door and window jambs, stone cills, and square-headed gauged-brick door and window openings. The pitched natural slate roof has roll top black clay ridge tiles. Two rectangular-section red brick chimneys—one to the southwest and one to the northeast—each have four buff clay pots. The eaves are flush with separate red and buff brick courses and an alternating red and buff brick corbel course above. The guttering is generally uPVC with half-round guttering discharging to circular section downpipes, though galvanised metal guttering to the front southeast discharges to a uPVC rectangular hopper.

Principal Elevation

The front elevation faces southeast and is flush with the rest of the terrace, displaying near-symmetrical fenestration. There are two windows at first-floor level aligned with ground-floor openings, all fitted with double-hung 3/3 sliding timber sash windows with horns. The modest-sized front yard is set to lawn and enclosed by red brick dwarf walling topped with hooped painted metal railings, with a similar foot gate hung on slim posts to the northeast. A paved path from the gate leads to a painted sheeted timber door with a square-headed fanlight above featuring four vertical glazing bars, with a window to the southwest side of the door.

Side Elevations and Rear

To the southwest, the building is attached to No. 6 College Square North. The northwest elevation has limited access, but where visible consists of the two-storey rear return projecting northwest to the site boundary. The rear yard boundary wall and northwest side of the rear return are both of randomly-coursed, rock-faced stone, with cement render elsewhere. The ground floor of the rear return has a timber sash window with red brick surround to the northwest and a timber sash window at first-floor level. The rear yard to the southwest is a single reduced bay in width with a sheet metal door in modern stone boundary walling leading from the rear access route, with a timber sash window above facing northwest and a window at first-floor level to the northeast side of the rear return. To the northeast, the building is attached to No. 8 College Square North.

Setting and Context

No. 7 forms part of College Square, a planned arrangement of 53 mill workers' dwellings comprising a formal square with East, North, and West terraces arranged around a central bowling green, playground, and lawn. Each house is set back from the perimeter public road and footpath with a modest-sized front yard typically enclosed by dwarf walling topped by hooped metal railings. The northern terrace, of which this house is part, contains 12 houses and is notably shorter than the others, though the dwellings here are distinctly larger two-storey buildings with steeply pitched roofs. The rear yards of each dwelling are typically enclosed by randomly-coursed rubble stone walling with square-headed door openings onto a wide rear access route, though rear facades are generally much altered.

The central area of the square is divided into three sections, each laid to lawn. The northwest area has a bowling pavilion and green enclosed by painted hooped metal railings with established trees at its northwest boundary. A lawn enclosed by hooped metal railings is located to the southeast, and an open children's playground with three granite monuments is located in the centre. One monument records that it was erected in 1911 in memory of George Wright (Head Mason), John McClelland (Head Millwright), Michael Boyle (Flax Buyer), Robert Ross (Mill Manager), and Austin Kennedy (Rougher), all of whom faithfully served the Bessbrook firm for nearly 50 years. Another records the garden as being arranged in memory of James N. Richardson in November 1927 as a playground for the children of Bessbrook, with an inscription noting this was the last stone cut from Bessbrook quarry. A third monument, recently moved to its current location, details the mill's history from its ownership by the Pollock family in 1760 to Bessbrook Spinning Co Ltd in 1878.