Bessbrook 2000

Page Three



Marathon House, at the end of Church Road, was the site of the first police station in Bessbrook.



The Spar Supermarket was originally the Bessbrook Cooperative Stores.



Another view



Just around the corner is Lake View, a terrace of large houses with long gardens leading down to the Mill Pond. They were occupied by senior management of the Spinning Company.



The Beehive Centre, on Church Road, is one of the newest buildings in Bessbrook. It houses three shops and a coffee-shop. Beside it is the Tirzah (from a Turkish word meaning "beautiful place"). The original tirzah was a memorial to Helena Richardson and contained seats under a covered verandah where the people of Bessbrook could sit and relax.



Across the road is the Rent Office. As well as the workers houses the Spinning Company owned a great deal of land. They grazed a dairy herd on some of it but most of it was let to local farmers who came to pay their rents at this office. In its original state it had bars on the windows. In the yard beside it the company chauffeur kept the car for the Richardson Family. In earlier days there may have been stabling here since facilities do not seem to have existed at the Woodhouse.



Richardson Terrace or Derrymore Terrace, on the Derrymore Road, formed a separate community. The houses were probably built for workers in the nearby forest and farm, as well as the foundry.The rents from these houses provided funds for the Friends' Meeting House.



The Woodhouse was built in the second half of the 19th century for the Ricardson Family who were major shareholders in the Bessbrook Spinning Company. It is built on the site of a herd's house which existed in 1827. The house had a large conservatory and extensive outhouses. At the basement level to the north was a Gothick grotto. After the death of the last owner the house became derelict. It was acquired by Mid Ulster Housing Association who built a sympathetic extension. It is now divided into 20 apartments.



Derrymore House was built about 1770 for Isaac Corry who was the last Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Irish Parliament. The Act of Union is said to have been drafted in the front room. After the Union the house was acquired by a Colonel Young and the Richardsons bought it when they came to Bessbrook. Later it was presented to the National Trust and is now open to the public.

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