8 DERAMORE (DERRYMORE) TERRACE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay late-Victorian terraced house, built c. 1892 to designs by an unknown architect. L-plan form facing SW having a later single storey rear return. No. 8 Deramore Terrace forms part of a row of ten houses, all of a similar design and detailing, which are set back from Derrymore Road, a main approach leading to Bessbrook Village.

Generally random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite stone walling with stepped red brick dressings to jambs, square-headed gauged-brick door and window opes.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled black clay ridge tiles. Rectangular-section red brick chimney to NW (rebuilt in rustic brick) has four buff clay pots; similar chimney to SE has two. Flush eaves with separate red and buff brick eaves courses with an alternating red and buff brick corbel course above. uPVC half-round guttering to front SW with circular section cast iron downpipe. Fibre cement guttering on rise and fall brackets to rear elevation and uPVC half-round to return; all discharging to uPVC downpipes.

Principal elevation
The front elevation faces SW being flush with the rest of the terrace. It is near symmetrical having a regular fenestration pattern; two windows to FF level in-line with GF openings, all windows being double hung 1/1 sliding timber sash, with horns. GF has a window to NW side of door.

Modest sized gravelled front yard has some mature shrubs and is enclosed by dwarf stone walling topped by vertical painted metal railings with pointed finials. There is a similar foot gate hung on circular section cast iron posts to the SE. A concrete path from the gate leads to a varnished sheeted timber door; painted metal furniture to door and a square headed fanlight with modern leaded glass above.

Northwest elevation
To the NW the building is attached to No. 7 Deramore Terrace (HB16/23/007G)

Northeast elevation
Rear elevation faces NE having a single storey flat roofed extension to SE end of elevation projecting into enclosed rear yard. Random-coursed rock-faced local stone boundary walling to yard has a uPVC door to SE leading from rear access route. Elevation has original stone walling to FF level with a window to centre; double hung 1/1 sliding timber sash window. GF of elevation has a three part timber casement window with slim concrete cill to NW of projecting rear return. NW elevation of rear return has a varnished sheeted timber door, with small glazed section to top, opening onto a set of three concrete steps. Top opening casement window to NE of door. Concrete rear yard is split into two levels by a single step. Monopitched outbuilding to N corner of yard. Rear return, GF and internal face of yard boundary walling all have a smooth cement render finish.

Southeast
To the SE the building is attached to No. 9 Deramore Terrace (HB16/23/007I).

Setting
No. 8 Deramore Terrace is part of a planned row of ten mill workers dwellings located on the NE side of Derrymore Road; each house being set back from the footpath with a modest sized front yard typically enclosed by dwarf stone walling topped by metal railings. Rear yard to each dwelling is typically enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling, having a square-headed door opening onto wide shared rear access route which is orientated NW-SE and accessed at both ends of the terrace. Rear facades and rear yard boundary walls are now generally much altered. To NE of shared access route each dwelling has a rear garden many of which have later outbuildings. No. 8 has a modern rectangular plan corrugated metal outbuilding to gravelled back garden to NE of rear access route. Terrace overlooks parkland, associated with Derrymore House (HB16/23/010), to SW having stone walling to roadside and mature trees.

Materials:

Roof: Natural slate
RWGs: uPVC and Cast iron
Walling: Newry Granodiorite
Windows: Timber sash and timber casement

Historical information

Deramore Terrace, a row of ten two-storey two-bay houses located on the Derrymore Road to the south-east of Bessbrook, was originally laid out in c. 1892. The terrace, which is also known as ‘Richardson’s Terrace,’ was constructed as part of the continuous industrial 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 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. Workers continued to flock to the village and by the turn of the 20th century the population of Bessbrook stood at approximately 4,000 (Harrison, pp 100-101; UTD).

The Annual Revisions record that nos 1-10 Deramore Terrace (Richardson’s Terrace) was constructed in 1892 and was leased out to tenants by the Richardson estate. The First Survey (1969) suggests that Deramore Terrace was constructed specifically for elderly residents. The row is contemporary with a number of other worker’s terraces in Bessbrook (such as Maytown Terrace – HB16/22/018), however Deramore Terrace was laid out in the countryside approximately half a mile to the south-east of Richardson’s mill and the majority of the other housing in Bessbrook on a plot of land near Woodhouse (HB16/23/013), Derry House (HB16/23/010) and the Friend’s Meeting House. However, despite the suggestion that the row was erected for the elderly residents of the village, at the turn of the 20th century the Census of Ireland recorded that the majority of the terrace’s early tenants were under the age of 50 or remained employed by the Bessbrook Spinning Co. The architect of the terrace is unknown, although the majority of housing in Bessbrook was built by masons and joiners employed by the Bessbrook Spinning Company. The Natural Stone Database records that most structures in the village were constructed of Newry Granodiorite. This granite was produced locally at a quarry opened on the former Charlemont Estate; Bessbrook granite is of a high quality and was used to build Manchester Town Hall and the great steps of St. George’s Hall in Liverpool (NSD; Bessbrook Conservation Area Guide).

No. 8 Deramore Terrace was constructed in c. 1892 and was valued at £4 by the Annual Revisions. The valuer noted that the house was initially leased by Richardson to a Mr. Thomas Williamson. The valuer records that ownership of the terrace passed from the Richardson estate to the Trustees of the neighbouring Friends Meeting House in 1900 (with William Davies, a local magistrate and Richardson’s land agent, acting as secretary). Following the change in ownership the terrace was renamed ‘Richardson’s Terrace’ in 1901. In that year the Census of Ireland noted that Thomas Williamson (46) was employed as a local labourer and car owner. The accompanying census building return described the house as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of five rooms and possessed a stable, coach house, piggery and a shed amongst its out offices to rear. The site was first recorded on the third edition Ordnance Survey map (1906) which depicted the building along its current layout.

During the 20th century the mill at Bessbrook continued to expand gaining the Bessbrook Spinning Co. international fame. During 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 dwellings in the village began to be sold 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). Ownership of Deramore Terrace reverted to the Bessbrook Spinning Co. by the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72). The valuer increased the total rateable value of No. 8 Deramore Terrace to £7 and 10 shillings and noted that a Mr. John Morrow occupied the house during this period until c. 1961 when Alexander Galbraith (occupant of the adjoining No. 7) inhabited the site. No. 8 Deramore Terrace was listed in 1985 and continued to be utilised as a private dwelling at the time of the Second Survey.

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 VAL/12/B/15/22A-F – Annual Revisions (1866-1929)
5. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/13 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57 - MISSING)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/2/21 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. George Bassett: The Book of County Armagh (1888)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
9. Census of Ireland (1901: 1911)
10. First Survey Record – HB16/23/007
11. NIEA HB Record – HB16/23/007H

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. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com/
2. 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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A modest two-storey two-bay late-Victorian terrace house, built of local granite in c. 1892 to designs by an unknown architect. L-plan form facing southwest having a single storey later rear return. Originally designed as mill workers housing for nearby Bessbrook Mill (HB16/22/39), No. 8 Deramore Terrace has well designed proportions, good detailing and good quality external walling of locally quarried stone. The building retains its external character and original front and rear boundaries, despite the addition of a flat-roofed extension and modern internal finishes. Being one of ten similar houses along the row (HB16/23/007A-J), No.8 has group value with its neighbouring houses. Set in a prominent location along a main road to Bessbrook and similar in character to the historic buildings found in the Bessbrook Squares (HB16.22.001-004) & (HB16.22.013-015), the terrace 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'.