ARCHWAY

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single pointed arch with castellations and granite dressings located between Nos. 60 and 61 Fountain Street, built c.1912 to designs by Herbert Dowell, mechanical engineer at Bessbrook Mill (HB16/22/039). Arch spans a tarmaced path known as Park Lane which leads from Fountain Street towards Bessbrook Mill to the SE. Two similar polished marble plaques are located on seperate gables of No. 60 and No. 61 Fountain Street. Park Lane now provides additional pedestrian access to rear of houses along Fountain Street.

Principal elevation
Front elevation faces NW onto Fountain Street and consists of a pointed arch with panelled smooth dressed granite abutments, moulded projecting springers, painted rough cast finish to spandrels and castellated walling above with splayed coping. A dressed granite keystone displays 'PARK LANE 1912'. Painted smooth render to inner surface of arch with moulded panels and painted smooth render band to voussoirs. Two painted metal gates hung on abutments are Stamped ‘...Dublin’. Gates are composed of vertical irons with spearhead finials to top and impost level; tighter grouping of irons from ground to impost level and top bar mirrors curve of arch. Lock to gate with scrollwork to top and bottom. A second set of gates is located along the tarmaced path to SE; modern galvanized metal gates.

Northeast elevation
Arch is attached to No. 60 Fountain Street to the NE. Gable of No. 60 has a painted textured render finish and a rectangular polished white marble plaque with the following inscription in lead writing:

‘PARK LANE WAS CONSTRUCTED A.D. 1912 in LOVING MEMORY OF SOPHY RICHARDSON BY HER HUSBAND, SHE WAS WELCOMED IN 1867, AS A BRIDE BY THE PEOPLE OF BESSBROOK, TO WHOM SHE BECAME MUCH ATTACHED, BUT AMONG WHOM SHE WAS ONLY PERMITTED TO LIVE FOR ABOUT 16 YEARS, NEVER STRONG HERSELF, SHE SYMPATHISED GREATLY WITH ALL WOMEN WORKERS HENCE THIS SHORTENED PASSAGE FROM THE VILLAGE TO THE WORKS, AS A MEMORIAL OF HER.’.

Southwest elevation
Arch is attached to No. 61 Fountain Street on the SW. Gable of No. 61 has a painted smooth render finish and a rectangular polished white marble plaque with the following inscription:

‘THE CONSTRUCTION WAS SUPERINTENDED AND CARRIED OUT BY HERBERT DOWELL A.M.I.M.E

JOHN JACKSON, HEAD MASON
WILLIAM MAGOWAN, HEAD CARPENTER
WILLIAM JACKSON, MASON
JOHN MCCANN, ..
JAMES MCCANN, ..
GEORGE MORRISON, MACHINIST’

Rear elevation
Rear elevation faces southeast and consists of a pointed arch with panelled dressed granite abutments, moulded projecting springers, painted rough cast finish to spandrels and castellated walling above with splayed coping. Dressed granite keystone and painted smooth render band to voussoirs.

Setting
Archway and Park Lane are located within the Bessbrook Conservation Area to the SE side of Fountain Street, between Nos. 60 and 61. The arch and path now provide an additional pedestrian access to rear of houses along Fountain Street, the remainder of the path towards the historic mill (HB16/22/039) being blocked by a set of modern galvanized metal gates.

Materials:

Roof: N/A
RWGs: N/A
Walling: painted rough cast finish with granite dressings
Windows: N/A

Historical information

This castellated archway and lane, located between nos 60 and 61 Fountain Street, was constructed in 1912 in order to facilitate the passage of workers between the village and Richardson’s linen mill. The lane was known as Park Lane and formed a late addition to the industrial development of Bessbrook.

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 in the village rising from 73 to 296. Each house at Bessbrook was owned by the Bessbrook Spinning Company and possessed between three and five rooms. The occupants of the houses were required to adhere to a number of clauses regarding their lease. Bassett states that each house in Bessbrook possessed ‘a garden [or yard] containing an eighth of an acre, and when the tenant enters into possession he is required to sign an agreement which contains certain stipulations in regard to the keeping of fowl and pigs, so that they may not be found in the quarters occupied by the family or in the yard. He can have a pig-stye and fowl-run in the garden if he pleases. Another binding clause places him under obligation to send his children to school until they are old enough for mill work’ (Bassett; Harrison, p. 16, pp 100-101).

The Annual Revisions records that the site of the archway and Park Lane was originally occupied by a worker’s house (occupied by a Ms. Margaret McKee and valued at £3 and 10 shillings) which was demolished in c. 1912 to make way for the new passage. A plaque located at the site records that Park Lane was laid out as a memorial to Sophy Richardson, wife of James N. Richardson, who had died in 1886. The plaque reads as follows: ‘Park Lane was constructed A.D. 1912 in loving memory of Sophy Richardson by her husband. She was welcomed in 1867 as a bride by the people of Bessbrook, to whom she became much attached, but among whom she was only permitted to live for about 16 years. Never strong herself, she sympathised greatly with all women workers hence this shortened passage from the village to the works as a memorial of her.’

The archway and passage was designed by Herbert Dowell, a senior mechanical engineer at Richardson’s mill who resided at Bessbrook. A separate plaque at Park Lane notes that the construction of the archway was carried out by John Jackson (Head Mason), William Magowan (Head Carpenter), William Jackson, John McCann and James McCann (Masons), and George Morrison (a machinist). Although the plaque at the site suggests that Park Lane was laid out for Richardson’s female workers, local reminiscences note that the lane was also used by male workers. The archway and Park Lane continued to be utilised as a shorter passageway between the village and Richardson’s mill until the closure of the factory and its requisition by the British Army in 1972.
The archway at Park Lane 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).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/2/26/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1906)
2. PRONI OS/8/31/3 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1906)
3. PRONI VAL/12/E/56/2 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1909-1935)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/16A-J – Annual Revisions (1866-1929)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/5A – Annual Revisions (1924-29)
6. PRONI VAL/3/G/38/1 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland Map (1936-56)
7. First Survey Record – HB16/22/017
8. NIEA HB Record – HB16/22/017

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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Single pointed archway with castellations, granite dressings and metal gates located between Nos. 60 and 61 Fountain Street, built in 1912 in memory of 'Sophy Richardson' to designs by Herbert Dowell, mechanical engineer at Bessbrook Mill (HB16/22/039). Modest detailing and dressed local granite walling add to the interest of the archway which is located on one of the earliest streets in the village of Bessbrook near the main squares, Charlemont Square (HB16/22/001-4) and College Square (HB16/22/013-15). The arch is significant as part of an early planned mill village 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'. Park Lane formed a late addition to the local infrastructure surrounding the industrial development of Bessbrook. The archway, lane and associated marble plaques are also of local historical and social importance, providing a physical connection, both historically and in the present day, between the village and the historic mill complex, as well as a tangible link to those who built it.