15 Charlemont Square East, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

Two-storey, two-bay mid-Victorian terraced house built between 1862 and 1866 to designs by an unknown architect. The building has an L-plan form facing southwest with a single-storey rear return.

Number 15 Charlemont Square East is one of twenty-seven similar houses forming the eastern terrace of Charlemont Square, a formally designed mid-Victorian square consisting of 66 buildings in total arranged on three sides around a central green. The square is primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast and comprises mill workers' dwellings and shops.

The walls are constructed of generally random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite with painted red brick dressings. Stone cills and stepped red brick surrounds are provided to gauged-brick cambered door and window openings, though doorway and window heads are now generally squared off with painted smooth cement render. The pitched roof is covered with fibre cement tiles with angled black clay ridge tiles. A rectangular-section red brick chimney to the northwest carries two original buff clay pots. Flush eaves feature a red brick corbel course. Metal rainwater goods with half-round guttering discharge to circular-section downpipes, with uPVC rainwater goods to the rear elevation.

The principal southwest-facing elevation is near symmetrical and flush with the main terrace. A modest paved concrete front yard is enclosed by smooth rendered dwarf walling topped by hooped metal railings, with a similar painted metal foot gate to the southeast. A concrete path leads from the gate to a modern varnished planked timber door to the southeast of the facade. The door has a single leaded glass panel to its top centre with a square-headed fanlight above. The facade displays regular fenestration with two windows at first-floor level in line with ground-floor openings, all fitted with double hung 1/1 sliding timber sash windows with window horns and exposed sash boxes.

The building is attached to Number 16 Charlemont Square East to the northwest and to Number 14 Charlemont Square East to the southeast. The northeast elevation consists of a single-storey flat roof rear return at the northwest end projecting to the boundary of an enclosed rear yard. A planked painted timber door in random-coursed rock-faced stone boundary walling provides access from the rear access route to the yard. The rear elevation retains original random-coursed rock-faced walling with one timber sash window visible at first-floor level; the rear return has smooth rendered finish with felt roof.

Charlemont Square comprises East and West terraces initially stepped in groups of two dwellings to respect the subtle relief of the site. Each house is set back from the perimeter public road with a modest front yard enclosed by dwarf walling topped by hooped metal railings. Generally a larger rear yard enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling is accessed via a square-headed door opening onto a wide rear access route. Five larger buildings to the southeast of Charlemont Square East and one to the southeast of Charlemont Square West have traditional shop fronts at ground-floor level with dwellings above. The northern terrace comprises only 8 houses but they are distinctly larger two-and-a-half storey paired buildings. The central area of the square is laid to lawn and enclosed by hooped galvanized metal railings with established trees at its boundary. A children's playground is located to the southeast, incorporating a monument to the installation of electric lighting in 1911. Bessbrook's War Memorial is centrally located to the southeast of the playground.