Former Tram Station, Bessbrook, Newry

Former Tram Station, Bessbrook

A substantial single-storey gabled former tram station constructed in 1884–85 for the Bessbrook and Newry Electric Tramway. The building served to transport workers and raw and finished materials from the adjacent Bessbrook mill complex to and from Newry. It is the last remaining structure from what was Ireland's second hydro-electric powered tramway, preceded only by the Giant's Causeway–Bushmills line, which opened in 1883. The Bessbrook and Newry line opened in October 1885 and operated until January 1948.

The building is L-shaped in plan, oriented north–south, with the main tram opening positioned at the north end. It is constructed of random rubble granite stone with multi-coloured clay brick dressings to the openings and projecting cornices at each gable. The north elevation is symmetrical, dominated by a central opening with triple segmental arches. Above this opening is a small central roundel. The south elevation faces the mill complex and is gabled with a matching brick cornice. It features a large central opening with an exposed steel beam above and a recessed panel exposing the granite structure; this opening may date from the twentieth century. The south elevation has been roughcast rendered, and a pedestrian door to the left is blocked up. The east elevation is plain granite without openings, though a concrete block lean-to has been added at the north end. The west elevation has a projecting wing covering approximately half the side, with regularly spaced window and door openings dressed in brick. Door openings are blocked and windows are largely 1/1 timber sliding sash with wire grilles. The roof is covered with corrugated iron sheeting.

Photographic evidence from around 1930 shows the large north gable opening originally featured a fixed timber double door to the left, with a large sliding timber door occupying the remainder and a square column between them. A larger lean-to to the north-west, marked on the 1906 Ordnance Survey plan, originally served as the station or depot manager's office and ticket office, as evidenced by its surviving chimneystack. A small lean-to to the south-east appears on the 1906 map; the present structure is a later twentieth-century rebuild.

The tram venture was promoted by the Richardson family, owners of Bessbrook mill. Trams conveyed mill workers as well as coal and flax from this terminus, directly opposite the mill, to Edward Street in Newry. The goods wagons employed a system devised by Henry Barcroft of the mill, using flangeless wheels so they could operate on roads as well as tram track. The wheels ran on an extra rail either side of the main rails at a slightly different level, kept in place by the main rails, saving time in transport.

Following closure of the line in January 1948, the brick infill of the large north opening appears to have been carried out at or shortly after this date. The building likely served subsequently as a store for the mill. When the mill was requisitioned by the army in 1971, the area to the north-west was utilised as helicopter pads, though the building's own role during this period is uncertain.

The former tram station sits beside the wooded banks of the Bessbrook River where it crosses Derrymore Road. To the north-west is the now-cleared site of the former army helicopter base. Across Derrymore Road lies the Bessbrook mill complex, with which this building has important group value.