OLD SCHOOL

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey five bay former school building in painted lined render, built in 1853 to designs by an unknown architect, enlarged in 1875 and further extended, with the additon of a single storey extension to NW, and converted for used as a Day Resource Centre in c.1984. The building is now known as the Millview Resource Centre and underwent a further renovation in c.1993.

L-plan form facing NE onto College Square having a flush flat roofed extension to rear and a single storey extension to NW, added c.1984, which projects into enclosed yard.

Generally, painted lined render walling with stucco raised quoins and label mouldings to openings. Typically square-headed window openings having double hung 3/3 sliding timber sash windows with horns to front and side elevations; casement windows to rear with top opening hopper lights; stone cills (all unless otherwise stated).

Pitched natural slate roof with angled black clay ridge tiles. Projecting eaves with decorative painted timber bargeboards and facia. Metal RWGs; half-round guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

Principal elevation
Front elevation is symmetrical, faces NE onto College Square and consists of a central recessed three bay entrance block accessed from a flight of four granite steps, having a panelled painted timber double leaf door, flanked by sash windows, opening onto a covered porch formed by over-sailing eaves supported on two cast iron pillars 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. Central block is flanked by single bay gabled blocks with decorative timber bargeboards and blind lancets above GF windows (boys and girls school rooms). Gabled blocks both have an entrance door to side wall opening onto front porch; six panel painted timber doors. Enclosed yard to NW

Elevation is set back from the public road with a paved yard to front of school building and a garden with mature shrubs to SE of paved yard, both enclosed by hooped galvanised metal railings. Garden adjoins those of the former school teacher’s dwellings to SE (HB16/22/008A-B) and contains a victorian style lamp standard with single brass lantern. There is a similar foot gate hung on square-section rendered pillars, with pyramidal caps and ball finials, to centre of elevation opening into paved yard and leading straight to steps of recessed central bay. A set of vehicular gates are located to NW end of front yard.

Southeast elevation
Side elevation faces SE into garden of No. 6 Fountain Street (HB16/22/008B) and consists of a five bay facade with label moulds to windows and decorative timber scrollwork fascia to projecting eaves. First window from SW has small rectangular panes and a hopper light to top.

Southwest elevation
Rear elevation faces SW directly onto rear access route to College Square West, adjacent to Thomas Street, and consists of a three bay pitched roof block flanked by projecting gabled blocks to NW and SE; central block has attached flat-roofed infill block which extends to SW boundary forming a flush facade. Modern galvanized metal grills and painted stone cills to window opes. Generally plain painted timber soffit and facia.

Central block has asphalt finish to flat roof with a hipped skylight to roof centre; two gabled attic dormers to pitched roof. Central block has two windows both with multiple panes and hopper lights to top; painted flush timber door to SE of windows.

Gabled block to SE has a window to GF and a triangular arched diminutive window, with lattice glazing, to attic level. Gabled block to NW has a window with multiple panes and a hopper light at GF, a similar taller window to FF and a diminutive double hung sliding timber sash window to SE of GF window.

NW gabled block has a flush three bay extension to NW with multiple panes and a hopper lights to windows. Stone yard boundary walling extends to NW site boundary; lower pitched roof boiler house to NW end of three bay extension, on yard side of boundary wall; square-headed ope to NW of boundary wall has modern galvanized metal gate.

Northwest elevation
NW elevation faces into a paved yard enclosed by random coursed rock-faced local stone walling with random stone coping. Elevation consists of a four bay block with a three bay block to SW extending NW and attached at a right angle. Two windows to NE of four bay block are paired casements with lattice glazing to top half and plain glazing to bottom half having a vertical glazing bar; painted timber door to SW has glazed top and bottom half.

Three bay block at SW of elevation has a painted timber door to SE with glazed top and bottom half, side lights and a square-headed fanlight. Pitched roof boiler house attached to NW side of three bay block has a painted sheeted timber door with louvers to top half. Generally plain painted timber soffit and facia.

Setting
The former school building is located in the Bessbrook Conservation Area at SE the end of College Square West (HB16/22/015A-R): 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 were built in a similar style and are located to the SE of the school. The Institute building, or Town Hall, (HB16/22/009) is located on the opposite side of College Square.

Materials
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: Metal
Walling: Painted render
Windows: Timber sash

Historical information

The Old School at Bessbrook, a single-storey former national school located on College Square West, was originally constructed in 1853 but was enlarged into the current structure in 1875 (a plaque at the site suggests that the first school was erected as early as 1849). The schoolhouse was built as part of the social development of the village of Bessbrook which had been undertaken by the Richardson family from as early as the 1840s.

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 the 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 and 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).

Brett states that the original schoolhouse of 1853 predated most of the surviving houses in the village and was a ‘neat cottage construction, well ventilated, with a sufficiency of light … with eight desks each eight feet long … in 1853 19 boys and 33 girls attended.’ The original schoolhouse was depicted as an irregular-shaped building on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1861). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1862) noted that the schoolhouse was administered under the National School System and was initially valued at £22. The adjoining houses at nos 5-6 Fountain Street (see HB16/22/008) were erected in c. 1862 as residences for the local schoolmasters. With the erection of workers housing on Charlemont and College Squares and the subsequent dramatic increase in the population of Bessbrook, the national schoolhouse on College Square West was enlarged in 1875. Brett states that the schoolhouse owes its current appearance to this refurbishment, noting that the building possessed a surprisingly Regency flavour for such a late construction date. The value of the schoolhouse was increased to £28 following the enlargement of 1875 (Brett, p. 226).

The enlarged schoolhouse was depicted along a H-shape layout on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1906 (the current single-storey extensions to rear had not been added at that time). Brett states that the school was divided into two wings, one of which was occupied as the boy’s schoolroom whilst the other was utilised for girls. There was little alteration to the site over the following decades, although Brett states that the building’s original lattice windows were replaced in the 1920s. Following the Partition of Ireland the schoolhouse was administered by the County Armagh Education Authority and became known as the Bessbrook Public Elementary School. The value of the schoolhouse was increased to £85 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57). The Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1909) and contemporary First Revaluation Town Plan (1936-56) records that the single-storey rear extension (located between the north and south wings of the school) had been added to the building between 1909 and 1936. The single storey building continued to be utilised as a schoolhouse by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time its total rateable value stood at £100.

Brett states that the building continued to be utilised as a schoolhouse until the 1970s when it was badly damaged by a bomb attack. The former schoolhouse 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.’ The NIEA HB Records notes that the former schoolhouse underwent an extensive renovation in c. 1984 which included the construction of the building’s single-storey extension (to the northwest elevation) and the conversion of the former school into a rehabilitation centre and resource centre for disabled adults. The building underwent a further renovation in c. 1993 which included alterations to its interior and the demolition of its original outbuildings (NIEA HB Records - Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide).

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-J – Annual Revisions (1866-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/5A – Annual Revisions (1924-29)
8. PRONI VAL/3/G/38/1 – First General Revaluation Town Plan (1936-56)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/2/20 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. George Bassett: The Book of County Armagh (1888)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
13. First Survey Record – HB16/22/016 (1969)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB16/22/016

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
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
T. Historic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Single storey five bay former school building in painted lined render, built c.1853 to designs by an unknown architect and enlarged c. 1875. The building was further extended, with the additon on a single storey extension to NW, and converted for used as an adult resource centre in c.1984. The former school has well designed proportions and good detailing with fret cut bargeboards, a recessed porch and label mouldings. It has significant group value with the other historic buildings in College Square, particularly the adjacent school teacher’s dwellings (HB16/22/008A-B) built in a similar style. Now known as Millview Resource Centre, the conversion of the former school has maintained its external character and it remains an important building of local historical and social significance.