Old School, College Square West, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

Old School, College Square West, Bessbrook

This single-storey five-bay former school building dates to 1853, designed by an unknown architect. The building was enlarged in 1875 and further extended with the addition of a single-storey extension to the northwest around 1984, when it was converted for use as a Day Resource Centre. It is now known as the Millview Resource Centre and underwent further renovation around 1993. The building forms an L-plan facing northeast onto College Square, with a flush flat-roofed extension to the rear and a single-storey northwest extension projecting into an enclosed yard.

The walls are of painted lined render with stucco raised quoins and label mouldings to window openings. Window openings are typically square-headed, featuring double-hung 3/3 sliding timber sash windows with horns to the front and side elevations, and casement windows to the rear with top-opening hopper lights. Stone cills are standard throughout. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with angled black clay ridge tiles. Projecting eaves have decorative painted timber bargeboards and fascia. Metal rainwater goods comprise half-round guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

The principal front elevation faces northeast onto College Square and is symmetrical. It consists of a central recessed three-bay entrance block, accessed by a flight of four granite steps, with a panelled painted timber double-leaf door. This entrance is flanked by sash windows and opens onto a covered porch formed by over-sailing eaves supported on two cast iron pillars standing on octagonal stone plinths with painted finish. A pair of engaged cast iron columns on a granite plinth support a cast iron bracket with trefoil detail at each end of the open porch. The central block is flanked by single-bay gabled blocks with decorative timber bargeboards and blind lancets above ground-floor windows, marking the former boys' and girls' school rooms. Both gabled blocks have entrance doors to the side wall opening onto the front porch; these are six-panel painted timber doors.

The northeast elevation is set back from the public road with a paved yard to the front of the school building and a garden with mature shrubs to the southeast of the paved yard, both enclosed by hooped galvanised metal railings. The garden adjoins those of the former school teacher's dwellings to the southeast and contains a Victorian-style lamp standard with single brass lantern. A similar foot gate, hung on square-section rendered pillars with pyramidal caps and ball finials, is positioned at the centre of the elevation, opening into the paved yard and leading straight to the steps of the recessed central bay. Vehicular gates are located at the northwest end of the front yard.

The southeast elevation faces into the garden of an adjacent property and consists of a five-bay facade with label moulds to windows and decorative timber scrollwork fascia to the projecting eaves. The first window from the southwest has small rectangular panes and a hopper light to the top.

The southwest elevation, facing directly onto a rear access route to College Square West adjacent to Thomas Street, consists of a three-bay pitched-roof block flanked by projecting gabled blocks to the northwest and southeast. The central block has an attached flat-roofed infill block extending to the southwest boundary, forming a flush facade. Modern galvanised metal grills and painted stone cills finish the window openings. The soffit and fascia are generally plain painted timber. The central block features an asphalt finish to the flat roof with a hipped skylight to the roof centre and two gabled attic dormers to the pitched roof. This central block has two windows, both with multiple panes and hopper lights to the top, and a painted flush timber door to the southeast of the windows. The gabled block to the southeast has a ground-floor window and a triangular arched diminutive window with lattice glazing to attic level. The gabled block to the northwest has a ground-floor window with multiple panes and a hopper light, a similar taller first-floor window, and a diminutive double-hung sliding timber sash window to the southeast of the ground-floor window. The northwest gabled block has a flush three-bay extension to the northwest with multiple-pane windows and hopper lights. Stone yard boundary walling extends to the northwest site boundary, with a lower-pitched roof boiler house at the northwest end of the three-bay extension, on the yard side of the boundary wall. A square-headed opening to the northwest of the boundary wall has a modern galvanised metal gate.

The northwest elevation faces into a paved yard enclosed by random-coursed rock-faced local stone walling with random stone coping. The elevation consists of a four-bay block with a three-bay block to the southwest, attached at right angles. Two windows to the northeast of the four-bay block are paired casements with lattice glazing to the top half and plain glazing to the bottom half, divided by a vertical glazing bar. A painted timber door to the southwest has glazed top and bottom halves. The three-bay block at the southwest has a painted timber door to the southeast with glazed top and bottom halves, side lights, and a square-headed fanlight. The pitched-roof boiler house attached to the northwest side of the three-bay block has a painted sheeted timber door with louvers to the top half. The soffit and fascia are generally plain painted timber.

The former school building is located in the Bessbrook Conservation Area at the southeast end of College Square West, part of a formally designed late-Victorian square consisting of 53 dwellings in total, arranged on three sides around a central bowling green and playground, primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast. The former school teacher's houses, built in a similar style, are located to the southeast of the school. The Institute building, or Town Hall, is located on the opposite side of College Square.