23 Charlemont Square East, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

A two-storey, two-bay mid-Victorian terraced house built between 1862 and 1866 by an unknown architect. The building has an L-shaped plan facing southwest with a single-storey monopitch rear return. It forms one of twenty-seven similar houses that, together with five larger two-and-a-half storey shop buildings to the southeast, comprise the eastern terrace of Charlemont Square—a formally designed mid-Victorian square of 66 buildings arranged on three sides around a central green, primarily accessed from Fountain Street to the southeast.

The external walls are constructed of random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite with painted smooth render dressings. Window and door surrounds are finished in stepped smooth render, while stone cills are painted. The roof is pitched fibre cement with angled black clay ridge tiles and has flush eaves with a red brick corbel course. A rectangular-section red brick chimney serves the northwest side. Rainwater goods are generally uPVC with half-round guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

The principal southwest-facing elevation is near symmetrical and flush with the main terrace. A modest paved front yard is enclosed by smooth render dwarf walling topped with hooped metal railings and a painted metal foot gate to the southeast. A concrete path from the gate leads to a panelled painted timber door set to the southeast of the facade, which has an oval glazed section at its top half and brass furniture. A rectangular fanlight with replacement glazing sits above the door. A window is positioned to the northwest side. The facade displays a regular fenestration pattern with two windows at first-floor level aligned with ground-floor openings; all feature top-opening timber casement windows.

The building is attached on the northwest to No. 24 Charlemont Square East and on the southeast to No. 22 Charlemont Square East. The northeast elevation comprises the rear, enclosed by rock-faced random-coursed stone walling with some smooth cement render sections facing a yard boundary accessed via a planked painted timber door. A single top-opening timber casement window at first-floor level has a stepped red brick surround with painted smooth render. The single-storey monopitch rear return projects northeast from the northwest end of the facade towards the yard boundary. The rear elevation predominantly features smooth rendered finish at ground floor with original stone walling retained at first-floor level; the rear return is similarly cement rendered with uPVC rainwater goods.

As part of Charlemont Square East, this house is one of a planned arrangement of mill workers' dwellings and shops comprising a formal square with east, west, and north terraces arranged around a central green. Each house is set back from the perimeter public road with a modest front yard typically enclosed by dwarf walling topped by hooped metal railings. The terraces are stepped in groups of two dwellings to respect the site's subtle relief. Each dwelling has a larger rear yard enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with a square-headed door opening onto a wide rear access route. The central green is now laid to lawn and enclosed by hooped galvanized metal railings with established trees at its boundary, a children's playground to the southeast, and Bessbrook's War Memorial centrally located to the southeast of the playground.