8 Deramore (Derrymore) Terrace, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

No. 8 Deramore Terrace is a modest two-storey, two-bay late Victorian terraced house built in around 1892, forming part of a planned row of ten similar dwellings known locally as Richardson's Terrace, on the northeast side of Derrymore Road to the southeast of Bessbrook village in County Armagh. The architect is unknown, though the majority of housing in Bessbrook was built by masons and joiners employed by the Bessbrook Spinning Company. The listing extends to the house itself, the yard walling, the railings and the gate.

The building is of L-plan form, facing southwest, with a later single-storey rear return. It is constructed of random-coursed, rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite — a high-quality granite quarried on the former Charlemont Estate — with stepped red brick dressings to the jambs and square-headed gauged-brick door and window openings. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with angled 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. The rectangular-section red brick chimney to the northwest, which has been rebuilt in rustic brick, carries four buff clay pots; the similar chimney to the southeast carries two. Rainwater goods to the principal front elevation are uPVC half-round guttering with a circular-section cast iron downpipe; fibre cement guttering on rise-and-fall brackets serves the rear elevation, with uPVC half-round guttering to the return, all discharging to uPVC downpipes.

The front elevation faces southwest and is flush with the rest of the terrace. It is near-symmetrical in its fenestration, with two first-floor windows aligned above two ground-floor openings. All windows are double-hung 1/1 sliding timber sash with horns. At ground-floor level there is a window to the northwest side of the front door. The front door itself is a varnished sheeted timber door with painted metal furniture, set beneath a square-headed fanlight with modern leaded glass. A concrete path leads from the entrance gate to the door. The modest front yard is gravelled with some mature shrubs and is enclosed by dwarf stone walling topped by vertical painted metal railings with pointed finials; a similar foot gate is hung on circular-section cast iron posts to the southeast.

To the northwest the building is attached to No. 7 Deramore Terrace, and to the southeast to No. 9 Deramore Terrace.

The rear elevation faces northeast and has a single-storey flat-roofed extension at the southeast end, projecting into the enclosed rear yard. At first-floor level the original stone walling is retained, with a double-hung 1/1 sliding timber sash window to the centre. At ground-floor level, to the northwest of the projecting rear return, there is a three-part timber casement window with a slim concrete cill. The northwest elevation of the rear return has a varnished sheeted timber door with a small glazed section at the top, opening onto three concrete steps, with a top-opening casement window to the northeast of the door. The concrete rear yard is divided into two levels by a single step. There is a monopitched outbuilding to the north corner of the yard. The rear return, ground floor, and the internal face of the yard boundary walling all have a smooth cement render finish. A random-coursed rock-faced stone boundary wall encloses the rear yard, with a uPVC door to the southeast leading to a shared rear access route. To the northeast of this shared access route, No. 8 has a modern rectangular-plan corrugated metal outbuilding to a gravelled back garden.

The shared rear access route runs northwest to southeast and is accessible from both ends of the terrace. Each dwelling's rear yard is typically enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with a square-headed door opening onto the access route. Rear facades and rear yard boundary walls across the terrace are now generally much altered.

The terrace overlooks parkland associated with Derrymore House to the southwest, where stone walling runs along the roadside and mature trees are present. Each house in the row is set back from the footpath behind a modest front yard typically enclosed by dwarf stone walling topped by metal railings.

The building retains its external character and its original front and rear boundaries, despite the addition of a flat-roofed extension and modern internal finishes. Alongside the other nine houses in the row, it has group value with its neighbours as part of a coherent and largely intact terrace.

Bessbrook itself is a planned model village with considerable historical significance. Its development dates from 1761 when the first woollen mill and bleach green were opened by a John Pollock. The site was known simply as "The Green" but was renamed Bessbrook after Pollock's wife Elizabeth — known as Bess — and the nearby Camlough River. By the 1830s, as recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map, few buildings had been erected at Bessbrook; the principal structures depicted were Mount Caulfield House and a number of thread manufactories and bleach mills.

The village was effectively founded in 1845 when John Grubb Richardson (1813–1891), a Quaker linen merchant from Lambeg, purchased one of the derelict mills on the site and began building housing for his factory workers. In his own words, Richardson "had a great aversion to be responsible for a factory population in a large town" and deliberately chose a rural location near Newry with water power, a local population, and nearby flax cultivation. Richardson's layout of the village was influenced by the work of William Penn, the American Quaker responsible for the planning of Philadelphia in the late 17th century. Richardson's philanthropic intentions extended to bringing the poor, the unqualified, and beggars from the surrounding countryside to work and live at Bessbrook, in the hope of encouraging self-improvement. The village was developed in phases, beginning with Fountain Street in the 1840s and followed by Charlemont Square, laid out between 1862 and 1866 to accommodate the influx of workers drawn by the expansion of the mill during the American Civil War (1861–65), when restricted access to American cotton caused a boom in the local linen industry. 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.

Bessbrook is widely known as a village without the "Three Ps" — no Public House, no Pawn Shop, and therefore no need for Police — a condition stipulated by Richardson. In lieu of a public house, Richardson provided recreational and educational facilities at the Institute, well-stocked shops at Charlemont Square East, and had milk, tea, and cocoa distributed to his mill workers. The majority of the population voted to preserve this arrangement 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 sole owner of the Bessbrook Spinning Company after buying out his brother's shares. Lord Charlemont sold the remainder of the Camlough Estate to Richardson in 1865, making Richardson both the principal employer and the principal landowner in Bessbrook by the mid-1860s.

Deramore Terrace, also known as Richardson's Terrace, was constructed in 1892 according to the Annual Revisions and was leased to tenants by the Richardson estate. The First Survey of 1969 suggests the row was built specifically for elderly residents, though Census of Ireland records from around 1901 indicate that the majority of early tenants were under 50 or remained employed by the Bessbrook Spinning Company. The terrace was laid out in the countryside approximately half a mile southeast of Richardson's mill — further from the main body of the village than other workers' terraces such as Maytown Terrace — on a plot of land near Woodhouse, Derry House, and the Friends Meeting House. No. 8 was initially leased to a Mr Thomas Williamson, who was recorded in the 1901 Census as a 46-year-old labourer and car owner. At that time the census building return described the house as a second-class dwelling of five rooms, with a stable, coach house, piggery, and shed among its outbuildings to the rear. The initial rateable value was £4.

Ownership of the terrace passed from the Richardson estate to the Trustees of the neighbouring Friends Meeting House in 1900, with William Davies — a local magistrate and Richardson's land agent — acting as secretary. The terrace was renamed Richardson's Terrace in 1901 following this change of ownership. The site first appeared on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1906 in its current layout. Ownership subsequently reverted to the Bessbrook Spinning Company by the time of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956–72), at which point the rateable value of No. 8 was increased to £7 and 10 shillings. During that period the house was occupied by a Mr John Morrow until around 1961, after which Alexander Galbraith — occupant of the adjoining No. 7 — inhabited the property.

The Newry Granodiorite used throughout the terrace was quarried locally on the former Charlemont Estate and is of notably high quality: the same stone was used in the construction of Manchester Town Hall and the great steps of St George's Hall in Liverpool.

During the Second World War the Bessbrook mill workers were tasked with supplying cloth for military uniforms. The Bessbrook Spinning Company continued to own housing in the village until the 1960s, when a post-war downturn in the textile market led to properties being sold to private individuals and firms, and ultimately to the closure of the mill in 1972.

No. 8 Deramore Terrace was listed in 1985 and was in use as a private dwelling at the time of the Second Survey. It is contemporary with other English model villages including Port Sunlight (begun 1888) and Bournville (begun 1895), which subsequently contributed to town and country planning practice worldwide.