2 LAKEVIEW

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey three-bay stone-built semi-detached dwelling with painted lined render walling, projecting porch and a two storey bay window to front, built c. 1875 to designs by an unknown architect. L-plan form facing SE having a single storey return and a two storey narrowly projecting block to rear yard. No. 2 is attached to the earlier but similar No.1 Lakeview (HB16/22/010A) to the NE and forms part of 'Lakeview' this being the collective name for two pairs of semi-detached dwellings, each pair with significant differences in detailing and all facing SE towards Bessbrook Lake, a former mill pond associated with Bessbrook Mill (HB16/22/039).

Hipped natural slate roof with roll top black clay ridge tiles and two rectangular chimneys, both with painted smooth cement render and buff clay pots. Projecting eaves with paired decorative moulded timber corbels. Generally metal RWGs; aluminium ogee guttering discharging to circular section cast iron downpipes. There is a rectangular hopper to front.

Typically painted lined cement render walling with raised quoins and stone window cills; square-headed opes with 2/2 sliding timber sash windows with horns.

Principal elevation
Front elevation faces SW and consists of a two storey three bay block with a two storey three part canted bay window to SW and a single storey hipped roof side entry porch to centre bay; projecting eaves to porch with moulded timber corbels. Fixed light three-part window to SE side of porch has two rectangular panels beneath cill. Four panel painted timber door opens onto a granite step, on NE side of porch, having a square-headed fanlight and brass furniture. FF opes are reduced height. Bay window to SW has three windows to GF and similar windows to FF; continuous stone cills with 2/2 timber sash windows flanked by 1/1 timber sash windows to canted sides.

Front elevation faces Bessbrook Lake and is fronted by a modest sized front garden having a low granite verge; garden is gravelled to SW and paved to NE. There is a shared gravelled access road running from Prospect Place at the NE to the front elevation of No.4 at its SW end.

Southwest elevation
Limited access to SW facing elevation but, where visible, consists of a two storey hipped roof block facing towards NE gable of No. 3 Lakeview (HB16/22/010C) there being a shared alley between the two houses which leads to their respective rear gardens. Alley has a set of timber gates to front SE. SW elevation generally has a painted lined cement render finish and raised quoins. No visible opes.

Northwest elevation
Limited access to rear NW facing elevation but, where visible, consists of a two storey three bay hipped roof block fronted by a lower two storey narrowly projecting monopitched block to centre bay. Monopitched block has red brick quoins and a small window visible at FF level. There is a single storey pitched roof rear return to NE and a blocked window ope to its NE now facing NW into rear yard of No.1 (red brick jambs to blocked ope and gauged red brick head). NE wall of single storey rear return has a lime wash finish to stone rubble walls. No access to rear yard.

Central projecting block is flanked by equally spaced 2/2 sliding timber sash windows at FF; window to NE has a diminutive 1/1 sliding timber sash to its SW. Generally random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite stone walling with smooth cement render to window surrounds. Walling abuts and is flush with rear elevation of earlier No. 1 Lakeview to NE.

Northeast elevation
Building is attached on its NE to No. 1 Lakeview (HB16/22/010A).

Setting
No. 2 is attached to the earlier but similar No.1 Lakeview (HB16/22/010A) to the NE and forms part of 'Lakeview' this being the collective name for two pairs of separate semi-detached dwellings. No.3 (HB16/22/010C) and No. 4 (HB16/22/010D) are similar in style but are two-and-a-half-storey dwellings with gables and some significant differences in detailing. Each house shares access from Prospect Place to the NE; a gravelled road leads SW from a set of painted metal vehicular gates composed of vertical irons with ball finials, hung on slim dressed granite pillars with pyramidal caps, and flanked by similar foot gates and railings with spearhead finials. Each dwelling faces SE towards their respective gardens, which generally have areas set to lawn and mature shrubs and trees. Gardens are enclosed by stone walling at their SE extent and run down towards Bessbrook Lake, a former mill pond associated with Bessbrook Mill (HB16/22/039).

Materials:

Roof: Natural slate
RWGs: Metal
Walling: Newry Granodiorite with some painted lined cement render
Windows: Timber sash

Historical information

No. 2 Lakeview, a two-storey three-bay Victorian dwelling possessing a two-storey bay window, was constructed in c. 1875. The building was the last to be erected along Lakeview and filled the gap between No. 1 Lakeview (which may date from pre-1830) and the adjoining nos 3-4 Lakeview (c. 1865). The laying out of housing at Lakeview formed part of the expansion and industrial development of Bessbrook, which had been undertaken by the Richardson family as early as the 1840s and continued through the 19th century.

The development of industry in the area dates from 1761 when the first woollen mill and bleach green were opened by a Mr. John Pollock. The site was simply known as ‘The Green’ but was renamed Bessbrook after Pollock’s wife Elizabeth (Bess) and the nearby Camlough River (Brook). The first edition Ordnance Survey map records that few buildings had been erected at Bessbrook by the 1830s. The only significant structures to be depicted upon that map were Mount Caulfield House (the residence of the Nicholson family – see HB16/22/024) and a number of thread manufactories and bleach mills. The village of Bessbrook was effectively founded in 1845 when John Grubb Richardson (1813-1891), a linen merchant from Lambeg, purchased one of the derelict mills at the site and began to build housing for his factory workers in the immediate vicinity. Richardson, in his own words, ‘had a great aversion to be responsible for a factory population in a large town, so on looking around, fixed upon a place near Newry … with water power and a thick population around, and in a country district where flax was cultivated in considerable quantities’ (Harrison, p. 50).

Bessbrook was established as a ‘model village’ in a number of phases beginning with the laying out of Fountain Street in the 1840s. The architect of the majority of the housing in Bessbrook is not known, however Richardson’s layout of the village was influenced by the work of William Penn, an American Quaker who had been responsible for the planning and development of Philadelphia in the late-17th century. Richardson was also a member of the Religious Society of Friends and, according to Harrison, possessed a ‘typical Quaker mix of pragmatic and altruistic expectation to provide jobs and good working conditions for his employees.’ By providing his workers with good standards of living Richardson hoped to ensure good relationships between employers and those they employed. He therefore established the village as a social experiment where his workers could both live and work in contentment. Harrison states that Richardson’s philanthropic spirit led him to bring the poor, the unqualified and beggars from the surrounding countryside to work and live at Bessbrook, hoping that he could encourage them to improve themselves and excise old habits. Bessbrook is often referred to as a village without the ‘Three P’s’ due to Richardson’s stipulation that there would be no ‘Public House’ or ‘Pawn Shop’ in the settlement and therefore no need for ‘Police’ to be stationed there. In exchange for keeping the village free of alcohol Richardson provided recreational and educational facilities at the Institute (HB16/22/009), a number of well-stocked shops (located at nos 1-5 Charlemont Square East) and also had milk, tea and cocoa distributed to his mill workers. The strategy was effective as the majority of the population voted to preserve the ordinance in the 1870s and, to this day, there remains no public house at Bessbrook. Police were not stationed at the village until the turn of the 20th century (Harrison; Brett, p. 243).

In 1863 Richardson became the sole owner of the Bessbrook Spinning Company following the purchase of his brother’s shares in the company. The local linen industry experienced a boom during the American Civil War (1861-65) as access to American cotton was cut off. Richardson took advantage of this opportunity by greatly enlarging his factory at Bessbrook whilst also increasing the size of his workforce. Lord Charlemont sold the remainder of the Camlough Estate to Richardson in 1865 and so by the mid-1860s Richardson was the main employer and the principal landowner at Bessbrook. Richardson had Charlemont Square laid out between 1862 and 1866 to accommodate the influx of new workers to the factory; between 1861 and 1871 the population of Bessbrook rose from 637 to 2,215 with the number of houses rising from 73 to 296 (Harrison, pp 100-101).

Whereas the majority of housing constructed in the village during this period was built for Richardson’s factory workers, the four houses along Lakeview were occupied by members of Bessbrook’s professional classes as several of the recorded occupants were employed as linen merchants, doctors or as senior managers in Richardson’s mill. The architect of the row is not known with certainty. Brett suggests that John Hardy, a civil engineer who was appointed company architect in 1881, may have carried out some work in Bessbrook in the 1860s, although his role may have been limited to the expansion of the mill buildings (Brett, p. 243).

Nos 3-4 Lakeview were constructed between 1861 and 1866. However, No. 2 Lakeview was not erected until c. 1875. In that year the building was first recorded in the Annual Revisions which set its total rateable value at £25 and noted that it was leased to a Mr. James Fennell by the Bessbrook Spinning Co. Fennell continued to reside at No. 2 Lakeview until c. 1884 at which time the house passed to William J. Wonfer who was employed at Richardson’s mill as a manager. At the turn of the 20th century the house was occupied by Edward Jeffers, a ‘Fancy Linen Draper’ who held commercial premises at Jocelyn Gardens in Belfast (UTD). The 1901 Census of Ireland described No. 2 Lakeview as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1906) depicted the building along its current layout although the map shows that the building’s original rear outbuildings have been replaced. The next prominent occupant of No. 2 Lakeview was Martin Arnott, a local textile designer and manager at Richardson’s mill. Arnott resided at the address from c. 1911 and in 1929 the house passed to John D. Thompson. The value of No. 2 Lakeview was increased to £31 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) and John D. Thompson continued to reside at the address until c. 1968.

During the 20th century the mill at Bessbrook continued to expand gaining the Bessbrook Spinning Co. international fame. Throughout the Second World War the mill workers were tasked with supplying cloth for uniforms. The Bessbrook Spinning Co. continued to retain ownership of housing in Bessbrook until the 1960s when the majority of its holdings in the village began to be sold off to private individuals and firms. The sale of property at Bessbrook was necessitated by the post-war downturn in the local textile market which foreshadowed the closure of the mill in 1972 (the building was subsequently occupied by the British Army – see HB16/22/039). No. 2 Lakeview was purchased outright from the Bessbrook Spinning Co. in c. 1968 by a Ms. Ellen Margaret [Turismo] and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the house stood at £42.

No. 2 Lakeview was listed in 1981 and was included in the Bessbrook Conservation Area which was designated in 1983 in recognition of Bessbrook’s ‘historical significance as a planned mill village and its distinct form and character.’ The Conservation Area Guide notes that the carefully planned development of Bessbrook, including the uniform terraces at Charlemont Square and College Square, influenced the design of the famous English model villages at Saltaire (1852), Port Sunlight (1888) and Bourneville (developed by the Cadbury family in 1895) ‘which have directly influenced town and country planning all over the world’ (Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide). The NIEA HB Records note that No. 2 Lakeview underwent a renovation in 1994 which included the addition of new entrance doors and the installation of new sliding sash window frames throughout (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/2/26/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1834-35)
2. PRONI OS/6/2/26/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1861)
3. PRONI OS/6/2/26/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1906)
4. PRONI OS/8/31/3 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1906)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/37D – Griffith’s Valuation (1862)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/6A-6J – Annual Revisions (1866-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/5A – Annual Revisions (1924-29)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/2/20 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
10. George Bassett: The Book of County Armagh (1888)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901: 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB16/22/010
14. NIEA HB Record – HB16/22/010B

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Bessbrook: A record of industry in a Northern Ireland village community and of a social experiment, 1845-1945’ Belfast: Nicholson & Bass Ltd., 1945.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of County Armagh’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999.
3. Harrison, R., ‘The Richardson’s of Bessbrook: Ulster Quakers in the linen industry (1845-1921)’ Dublin: Original Writing Ltd., 2008.
4. ‘Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide’ Belfast: Department of the Environment (N. I.), 1983.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Ulster Biography - http://www. ulsterbiography.co.uk/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest
R. Age
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Two-storey three-bay stone-built Victorian semi-detached dwelling with painted lined render walling, projecting porch and a two storey bay window to front, built c. 1875 to designs by an unknown architect. L-plan form facing SE, towards a private garden and the former mill pond associated with Bessbrook Mill (HB16/22/39). The building has a single storey rear return and a two storey narrowly projecting block to rear yard. The building has well designed proportions and detailing, retaining its external character. The houses are of significant historical and social interest as part of the early planned mill village of Bessbrook, begun in the 1840s by the prominent linen merchant John Grubb Richardson (1813-1891) from Lambeg and contemporary to the other English model villages of Port Sunlight (1888) and Bourneville (1895), which latterly went on to contribute to 'town and country planning all over the world'. As part of a terrace of 4 no. houses, the building forms an important group with the former shop and Quaker meeting house (HB16/22/007), in the centre of the village. No. 2 Lakeview was the last of the four Lakeview houses to be built and is of significant interest as an example of a middling size house, typically built for Mill Managers and the professional classes in the village.