11 College Square North, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

Number 11 College Square North is a modest two-storey, two-bay terraced mill workers' dwelling built in local stone around 1890, forming part of the northern terrace of College Square in Bessbrook, County Armagh. The architect is unknown, though the building may be the work of John Hardy, a civil engineer appointed as company architect to the Bessbrook Spinning Company in 1881. The house is listed along with its gate and railings, and sits within the Bessbrook Conservation Area.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The building is arranged on an L-plan, facing southeast, with a two-storey rear return. Its walling is generally random-coursed, rock-faced Newry Granodiorite — a locally quarried granite — with stepped red brick dressings to the jambs, stone window cills, and square-headed gauged-brick door and window openings. The roof is pitched and finished in fibre cement tiles, with roll-top black clay ridge tiles. There are two rectangular-section red brick chimneys: the one to the southwest has four buff clay pots, while the one 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, though this decorative eaves course to the front facade is now largely obscured by modern electrical wiring. Rainwater goods are generally uPVC, with half-round guttering discharging to circular-section downpipes.

The principal, southeast-facing elevation is flush with the rest of the terrace and is near-symmetrical, with a regular fenestration pattern: two windows at first-floor level aligned above two ground-floor openings. All windows are double-hung 1/1 timber sash with horns. The front door is a modern sheeted timber door with a small glazed section to its upper half and black iron furniture, set beneath a square-headed fanlight with modern glass. There is a window to the southwest side of the door. A modest front garden is laid to lawn and enclosed by a red brick dwarf wall topped with modern hooped metal railings supported on thin square-section posts, with a matching foot gate hung on slim posts to the northeast. A paved path leads from the gate to the front door.

To the southwest, the building is attached to Number 10 College Square North. To the northeast, it is attached to Number 12 College Square North.

Access to the rear northwest-facing elevation is limited. Where visible, it consists of a two-storey rear return at the northeast, projecting northwest to the site boundary. A painted sheeted timber door opens from the rear access route into the rear yard to the southwest, which is a single, reduced bay in width. A window is visible at first-floor level facing northwest onto the rear yard. The rear return has a window to its southwest side at first-floor level, with a uPVC door directly below 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 with a matching window directly above at first-floor level. No openings are visible to the northeast side. The rear elevation generally has a smooth cement render finish, with top-opening uPVC casement windows and slim concrete cills.

A large rendered extension and some modern external finishes detract somewhat from the building's character and heritage value.

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

The village of Bessbrook traces its origins to 1761, when a John Pollock opened the first woollen mill and bleach green on the site, which was then simply known as The Green. The name Bessbrook derives from Pollock's wife Elizabeth — known as Bess — and the nearby Camlough River. By the 1830s, the first edition Ordnance Survey map records only Mount Caulfield House and a number of thread manufactories and bleach mills on the site.

The village as it is known today was effectively founded in 1845 when John Grubb Richardson (1813–1891), a linen merchant from Lambeg and a member of the Religious Society of Friends, purchased one of the derelict mills and began building housing for his factory workers nearby. Richardson's layout of the village was influenced by the work of William Penn, the American Quaker responsible for planning Philadelphia in the late 17th century. Richardson's approach combined practical commercial interests with a strong philanthropic motivation: he brought workers from the surrounding countryside, providing them with good living conditions and steady employment in the hope of improving their circumstances. Bessbrook became well known as a village without the "Three Ps" — no public house, no pawn shop, and therefore no need for a police presence — a stipulation Richardson introduced and which the majority of the population voted to preserve in the 1870s. No public house exists in Bessbrook to this day, and police were not stationed there until the turn of the 20th century. In place of a public house, Richardson provided recreational and educational facilities at the Institute building, well-stocked shops, and had milk, tea and cocoa distributed to his mill workers.

In 1863, Richardson became the sole owner of the Bessbrook Spinning Company after purchasing his brother's shares. 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 accordingly. He acquired the remainder of the Camlough Estate from Lord Charlemont in 1865. Between 1861 and 1871, the population of Bessbrook rose from 637 to 2,215, with the number of houses increasing from 73 to 296. Charlemont Square was laid out between 1862 and 1866 to house the influx of new workers.

College Square was laid out in stages between approximately 1874 and 1890 as Richardson's business continued to expand. The factory was significantly extended and modernised in 1884–85. The Annual Revisions record that the twelve houses forming College Square North — of which Number 11 is one — were erected around 1890 and were the last row of the square to be completed. The two-storey houses were arranged along the north, west, and eastern sides of an open green intended as recreational space; a bowling green at the southern end was added in 1911. The terraces were built by masons and joiners employed directly by the Bessbrook Spinning Company. The walling material, Newry Granodiorite, was quarried locally on the former Charlemont Estate; granite from the Bessbrook quarry is of notably high quality and was used in the construction of Manchester Town Hall and the great steps of St George's Hall in Liverpool.

Every house at Bessbrook was owned by the Bessbrook Spinning Company and contained between three and five rooms. Tenants were required to sign an agreement stipulating, among other things, that fowl and pigs were not to be kept in the living quarters or yard (though a pig-sty and fowl-run were permitted in the garden), and that children must be sent to school until old enough for mill work.

Number 11 College Square North was initially let by the Bessbrook Spinning Company to a Mary A. Williamson and valued at £5 and 10 shillings. Occupants changed frequently in the following decades. By the 1911 Census of Ireland, the house was occupied by John Meeke, employed at Richardson's factory as a damask tenter; the census building return described it as a second-class dwelling with five inhabited rooms. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the building remained valued at £5 and 10 shillings and was still occupied by the Meeke family. During the Second World War, Bessbrook mill workers were engaged in supplying cloth for military uniforms.

The Bessbrook Spinning Company retained ownership of the College Square houses until the 1960s, when a post-war downturn in the textile market prompted the sale of properties to private individuals and firms. This decline in trade foreshadowed the closure of the mill in 1972, after which the building was occupied by the British Army. The Meeke family purchased Number 11 around 1968 and remained at the address until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), at which point the total rateable value of the house was £8 and 10 shillings.

Number 11 College Square North was listed in 1980. The Bessbrook Conservation Area was designated in 1983 in recognition of Bessbrook's historical significance as a planned mill village with a distinct form and character. According to the Conservation Area Guide, the carefully planned development of Bessbrook — including the uniform terraces at Charlemont Square and College Square — influenced the famous 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 around the world.

The building's original windows were replaced with the current sliding sash frames in 1999. A subsequent renovation around 2006 included the construction of the two-storey rear return.

SETTING

Number 11 forms part of a planned arrangement of 53 mill workers' dwellings comprising a formal square composed of north, east, 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 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. Rear facades are generally much altered.

The eastern terrace is composed of 23 dwellings, initially stepped in groups of six to respect the subtle relief of the site, and terminates at its southeastern end with the old Institute building, which served as the village Town Hall. The western terrace, by contrast, is composed of 18 dwellings arranged for the most part in pairs, built in a similar style but with some significant differences in detailing. The former school building is located at the southeastern end of the western terrace. The northern terrace — of which Number 11 forms part — is the shortest in the square at only 12 houses wide; although similar to the other terrace dwellings, these are distinctly larger two-storey buildings with steeply pitched roofs.

The central area of the square is now divided into three sections, each laid to lawn. The area to the northwest contains a bowling pavilion and green enclosed by painted hooped metal railings, with established trees at the northwest boundary. A lawn enclosed by hooped metal railings lies 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 on the opposite side noting that this was the last stone cut from the Bessbrook quarry. The third monument was formerly in the grounds of Bessbrook Mill and has been recently moved to its current location; it details the mill's history from its ownership by the Pollock family in 1760 to the Bessbrook Spinning Company Limited in 1878.

The square is primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast. Number 11 College Square North has substantial group value as one of twelve similar houses forming the northern terrace, and its setting is enriched by many other historic buildings in the vicinity.