21 Charlemont Square East, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

No. 21 Charlemont Square East is a two-storey, two-bay mid-Victorian terraced house built between 1862 and 1866 to designs by an unknown architect. It forms part of Charlemont Square, a formally designed mid-Victorian development consisting of 66 mill workers' dwellings and shops arranged on three sides around a central green, with the eastern terrace (to which this house belongs) comprising twenty-seven similar houses alongside five larger two-and-a-half storey shop buildings to the southeast.

The building has an L-plan form facing southwest, with a single-storey flat-roofed rear return added around 1989. The walls are constructed of generally random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite with painted red brick dressings. Window cills are painted stone with stepped red brick surrounds to gauged-brick cambered window openings. The surrounds of the ground-floor window and doorway at the southwest have been altered, now having painted smooth cement render with imitation brickwork lining to stepped surrounds. The roof is pitched fibre cement with angled black clay ridge tiles. A rectangular-section red brick chimney to the northwest carries a single black clay pot. Flush eaves feature a red brick corbel course; generally half-round guttering discharges to circular section downpipes, with metal rainwater goods to the southwest elevation and uPVC to the rear northeast.

The principal elevation is nearly symmetrical and faces southwest, flush with the main terrace. A modest paved front yard is enclosed by smooth render dwarf walling topped with hooped metal railings, with a similar painted metal foot gate to the southeast. A quarry tile and concrete path from the gate leads to a four-panelled painted timber door to the southeast of the facade, with a semi-circular glazed section to its top and black iron door furniture; a rectangular fanlight sits above the door. A window to the northwest side completes the ground-floor fenestration. Two first-floor windows align with the ground-floor openings, comprising double-hung 1/1 sliding timber sash windows with horns and exposed sash boxes. The building is attached on the northwest to No. 22 Charlemont Square East.

The rear elevation faces northeast and is enclosed by smooth rendered stone walling to the boundary of the yard, accessed through a planked painted timber door leading from the rear access route. The rear yard has a mixture of quarry tile and concrete flooring. At the southwest end of the elevation, at ground-floor level, is an increased-width side opening casement window with replacement concrete cill; a double-hung sliding timber sash window sits at the centre elevation at first-floor level. From the northwest end of the facade, the single-storey rear return projects northeast to the yard boundary walling, with a flat felt-covered roof. The southeast side of the rear return has a painted timber door with glazed top half, a top-opening timber casement window to its right, and a separate boiler house to the right of the window, accessed from the yard through a painted planked timber door (the boiler house appears to incorporate an earlier outbuilding retaining its original planked timber door). The rear elevation generally has a smooth rendered finish with concrete cills and timber casement windows at ground-floor level, with pebble dash walling at first-floor level; the rear return has smooth cement render finish and uPVC rainwater goods. The building is attached to the southeast to No. 20 Charlemont Square East.

Charlemont Square was a planned arrangement comprising mill workers' dwellings and shops in 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. Each dwelling typically has a larger rear yard enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with a square-headed door opening onto a wide rear access route. Front facades are nearly uniform along the East and West terraces; rear facades are much altered with various extensions of different shapes and sizes. The northern terrace consists of only eight houses in width but comprises 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, which includes a monument to the installation of electric lighting in 1911; Bessbrook's War Memorial is centrally located to the southeast of the playground.