War Memorial

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Polished white marble obelisk style war memorial, erected c. 1934 to designs by Emerson Sculptors Newry (signed). Octagonal-section spire has swags to bottom, shield bearing 1914-18 in relief to front and a moulded draped shroud to top. Moulded panels to square base have applied lead lettering; main inscription to front SE. The names of the 85 men of Bessbrook and the surrounding district who died in the First World War are listed in two columns to the remaining three sides.

Main inscription to front faces SE towards Fountain Street and displays:

'To Bear to Succeeding Generations the Names of the Men of
Bessbrook and District who Fell in the Great War,
And as a Testimony to their Noble Sacrifice.

They shall grow not old As we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the Sun And in the morning
We will remember them.'

Stepped polished granite plinth below bears ‘1939-1945’ and moulded granite scroll to its front SE records 16 names of those who died during WW2.

On the NE side ‘EMERSON, NEWRY’ is signed to the base of the marble section.

Setting
Monument is enclosed by dwarf walling of dressed granite blocks topped with plain painted metal railings, with some scrollwork panels. Modern painted metal hooks on metal bars surround base of memorial. The memorial is located to the SE end of Charlemont Square; a formally designed square arranged of three sides around a central green.

Historical information

The War Memorial at Bessbrook, a marble memorial on a granite base located in Charlemont Square, was constructed in 1934 as a permanent memorial to 85 men from the village who gave their lives during the Great War (the names of an addition 11 men were subsequently added to the memorial following the Second World War). The Ulster War Memorials website records that 410 men from Bessbrook and the immediate vicinity enlisted to fight during the conflict, including local Protestants, Roman Catholics and Quakers (UWM; Tyrrell).

The structure was commissioned by a local War Memorial Committee who contracted a Mr. J. E. Emerson of Newry to design and build the memorial. John Edmund Cook Emerson was born in Banbridge in c. 1877 and worked at his uncle’s stone works in Newry (Emerson’s uncle, Hugh Emerson, had established the factory but had died in 1882). The Ulster Town Directories note that J. E. Emerson was recorded as proprietor of the Newry Granite Polishing and Monumental Works factory (located on Sugar Island) by at least the 1890s, and that Emerson’s factory was the principal stone works in the region (UTD).

Emerson constructed the memorial pinnacle at Bessbrook in imported marble but used locally quarried Newry Granodiorite for the structure’s base. The completed memorial stood approximately 17ft in height and was installed at Charlemont Square where is was officially unveiled by Francis Needham, the Earl of Kilmorey, on 7th April 1934. At the end of the official ceremony, the Bessbrook Spinning Co. accepted the custodianship of the memorial. There have been few changes made to the memorial since the 1930s but, following the end of the Second World War, an additional 11 names were inscribed at the base of the structure (NSD; UTD). In 1983 the war memorial was included in the Bessbrook Conservation Area which was designated in recognition of Bessbrook’s ‘historical significance as a planned mill village and its distinct form and character’ (NIEA HB Records; Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/2/26/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1861)
2. PRONI OS/6/2/26/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1906)
3. PRONI VAL/3/G/38/1 - First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland Town Plan (1935-56)
4. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
5. First Survey Record – HB16/22/038 (1969)
6. NIEA HB Record – HB16/22/038

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide’ Belfast: Department of the Environment (N. I.), 1983.
2. Tyrrell, C., ‘The war dead of Bessbrook’ in ‘The local impact of the First World War’ (Booklet; 2015).

Online Resources
1. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com/
2. Ulster War Memorials website - http://www.ulsterwarmemorials.net/html/bessbrook__county_armagh.html

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Polished white marble obelisk style war memorial with moulded draped shroud to top of octagonal-section spire with swags to bottom; shield bearing 1914-18 in relief to front; and moulded panels to square base bearing the 85 names of those 'men of Bessbrook and district who fell in the Great War'. Erected c.1934 to designs by Emerson Sculptors Newry. Stepped polished granite plinth bears ‘1939-1945’ and moulded granite scroll to its front SE records the 16 names of those who died during WW2. The War Memorial is of local historical and social importance and has well designed proportions and detailing. The quality of the memorial and its prominent central setting in Charlemont Square adds to the architectural character of and to the historic significance of Bessbrook. Although it was constructed much later than the original planned layout of the village it has group value with the planned squares and public buildings.