10 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 added around 1984. Number 10 Charlemont Square East is one of twenty-seven similar houses forming the eastern terrace of Charlemont Square, a formally designed mid-Victorian square containing 66 buildings in total arranged on three sides around a central green, primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast.

The walling is generally random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite with painted red brick dressings. Stone cills are painted and stepped red brick surrounds frame gauged-brick cambered door and window openings. The pitched roof is covered in fibre cement with angled black clay ridge tiles. A rectangular-section red brick chimney to the northwest has two red clay pots. The eaves are flush with a red brick corbel course. uPVC rainwater goods with half-round guttering discharge to circular-section downpipes.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is near symmetrical, flush with the main terrace of houses set back from the larger shop buildings at its southeastern end. A modest paved front yard is enclosed by smooth cement-rendered dwarf walling topped by plain hooped painted metal railings, with a similar foot gate hung on slim square-section metal posts to the southeast. A concrete path from the gate leads to a panelled painted timber door positioned to the southeast of the facade. The door has a single rectangular glazed upper panel with black iron furniture and a square-headed fanlight above. The facade has regular fenestration with two windows at first-floor level in line with ground-floor openings. Double-hung timber sliding sash windows with window horns face the front northwest elevation. Timber top-opening casement windows are located to the rear northeast elevation and rear return.

The building is attached on the northwest to Number 11 Charlemont Square East. The rear northeast elevation includes a single-bay single-storey flat-roofed rear return at the southeast, projecting into the rear yard. A planked painted timber door leads from the rear access route to a narrow L-shaped yard, single bay in width at its northwest extent, which leads to the back door on the northwest side of the rear return. The rear has a generally smooth cement-rendered finish with timber top-opening casement windows, replacement concrete cills, and enlarged window openings to the original facade. The building is attached on the southeast to Number 9 Charlemont Square East.

Number 10 forms part of a planned arrangement of 66 mill workers' dwellings and shops comprising a formal square with East, North, and West terraces arranged around a central green. 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 terraces to the east and west are initially stepped in groups of two dwellings respecting the subtle relief of the site. Generally a larger rear yard to each dwelling is enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with a square-headed door opening onto a wide rear access route. Rear facades are much altered with various extensions of different shapes and sizes. Front facades are nearly uniform along the east and west terraces. 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 is the shortest, containing only eight houses in width, though these buildings are distinctly larger two-and-a-half storey paired buildings. The central area of the square is now laid to lawn and enclosed by hooped galvanised metal railings with established trees at its boundary. A children's playground is located to the southeast and includes a monument to the installation of electric lighting in 1911. Bessbrook's War Memorial is centrally located to the southeast of the playground.