1776 – Derrymore House, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
Architect: John Sutherland
A late 18th century thatched house in a gentrified style, Derrymore House is owned by the National Trust and open to the public.
Bessbrook
Described in the 19th century: “Bessbrook is a manufacturing village in the County Armagh, about two miles from the town of Newry. Nearly three thousand hands find employment in spinning, weaving, field labour, and in adjunct departments of trade. The factory— a very handsome structure—is built of punched granite. The village is composed of two streets and and an extensive square. The area in front of the houses in the square is neatly empaled with wood, aud is intended for a shrubbery and pleasure-ground. Mountcaulfield and a long street of houses in Derramore group under the generic name ; strangers know it as a whole by the name of Bessbrook. The factory and village’were Built by John Grubb Richardson, Esq., now sole proprietor of Ihe place. It may be fairly called a Quaker colony. Mr. Richardson has Imilt for their acco:nmodation a very commodious meeting-house, capable of holding six hundred. The entire place, for tidiness and good order, is not surpassed in the kingdom, as visitors frequently observe. The wave of prosperity which goes out from this place has swept comfort into the dwellings, once so squallid. along the mountain brow and in the various nooks, where poverty had her haunts. “
1852 – Craigmore Viaduct, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
Architect: Sir John MacNeill
Known locally as the 18 Arches, the bridge was designed by John Benjamin MacNeill, an eminent Irish civil engineer,
1864 – Quaker Meeting House, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
Quaker meeting house built of Bessbrook granite at the expense of John Grubb Richardson. The Richardsons had built Bessbrook as a planned village around their works based on the 3Ps,
1867 – Mount Caulfield, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
Architect: Thomas Jackson & Son
John Grubb Richardson had been responsible for building the nearby village of Bessbrook. He acquired Mount Caulfield,
1875 – Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
Architect: Richard Hynes
“This church, which is to be opened on next Sunday, is built in the form of a Latin cross,
1886 – Town Hall, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
Architect: William J. Watson
“These buildings, designed by Mr. William James Watson, M.R.I.A.I, architect, Newry, have very recently been completed under his supervision.
1890s – The Woodhouse, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh
A late Victorian many-gabled house. The home of the Richardson family until the 1980s, who had developed the village and the mill.
