11 College Square North, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

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

The house is constructed of generally random-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 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 buff clay pots; a similar chimney to the northeast has three buff clay pots and a single terracotta clay pot. 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 front elevation faces southeast and is flush with the terrace. It is near-symmetrical with regular fenestration: two windows at first-floor level aligned with ground-floor openings, all fitted with double-hung 1/1 timber sash windows with horns. A modest-sized front garden laid to lawn is enclosed by red brick dwarf walling topped with modern hooped metal railings supported on thin square-section posts. A similar foot gate is hung on slim posts to the northeast. A paved path from the gate leads to a modern sheeted timber door with a small glazed upper section, black iron furniture, and a square-headed fanlight above with modern glass. A window sits to the southwest side of the door.

The southwest elevation is attached to No. 10 College Square North. The northwest elevation has limited visibility but shows a two-storey rear return at the northeast projecting northwest to the site boundary. The rear yard to the southwest is a single reduced bay in width with a painted sheeted timber door leading from the rear access route and a window visible at first-floor level facing northwest. The rear return has a window visible to its southwest side at first-floor level and a uPVC door at ground-floor level opening into the rear yard. The northwest side of the rear return has a three-part window at ground-floor level and a similar window aligned to first-floor level. The rear elevation generally has a smooth cement render finish and top-opening uPVC casement windows with slim concrete cills. The northeast elevation is attached to No. 12 College Square North.

No. 11 forms part of College Square North, a planned arrangement of 53 mill workers' dwellings comprising a formal square composed of 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 rear yard to each dwelling is typically enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with a square-headed door opening onto a wide rear access route. The northern terrace consists of 12 houses, distinctly larger two-storey buildings with steeply pitched roofs, forming the northern side of College Square. The terrace to the east comprises 23 dwellings initially stepped in groups of six respecting the subtle site relief, terminating at its southeastern end with the village 'Town Hall' (the old Institute building). The western terrace comprises 18 dwellings, arranged for the most part in pairs and built in a similar style with some significant differences in detailing; the former school building is located at the southeast end of this terrace. The central area of the square is divided into three sections each laid to lawn: the northwest area contains 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 containing three granite monuments is located in the centre of the square. One monument records the memory of George Wright (Head Mason), John McClelland (Head Millwright), Michael Boyle (Flax Buyer), Robert Ross (Mill Manager), and Austin Kennedy (Rougher), each of whom served the Bessbrook firm for nearly 50 years, erected in 1911. Another monument 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 on the opposite side recording that this was the last stone cut from Bessbrook quarry. A third monument, recently moved from the grounds of Bessbrook Mill 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.