Bessbrook

• Bessbrook Library
  • Church Road, Bessbrook, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland BT35 7AQ, Tel: 028 3083 0424 (BessbrookLibrary[at]NI-Libraries[dot]NET)
• Abbreviations used in these GENUKI County Armagh, and library notes
  • AIGS = Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies
  • FHL = Family History Library (LDS)
  • LDS = Latter Day Saints
  • NLI = National Library of Ireland
  • PRO = National Archives (formerly, the Public Record Office) at Kew, England
  • PRONI = Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
  • QUB = Queen's University, Belfast
     
  • Before visiting a Library to consult a book or other reference, please check with Library staff to ensure that the book is actually available. You may wish to try borrowing a book from the national libraries in Australia, Canada, England, the U.S., etc., either directly or via inter-library loan.

• ---, Bessbrook Spinning Company. - 100 years of progress marked by notable celebrations : their Excellencies th ... , The Bessbrook Spinning Company associated with J.N. Richardson, [Bessbrook], 1945
  • QUB: Main Lib., Belfast Campus (Special Colls) - h p DA994.B5/RICH
• Bessbrook Mill and Millhouse, from BBC's Your Place and Mine
• Blum, Richard H., Bessbrook; a record of industry in a Northern Ireland village community and of a social experiment, 1845-1945, issued by the Bessbrook Spinning Co., Ltd.,; and J.N. Richardson, Sons & Owen, Ltd., Belfast, [1945?]
  • LDS: FHL BRITISH Book 941.66/B1 H2
  • NLI: Ir 677 b 8, Coll. Ir
• Fell-Smith, Charlotte, James Nicholson Richardson of Bessbrook; introduction by Mrs. J. G. Maynard, Longmans, Green, New York & London, 1925
  • NLI: Ir 92 r 15, Coll. Ir.
  • QUB: Main Lib., Belfast Campus (Special Colls) - h DA958.R5/SMIT
• Northern Standard, and Monaghan, Cavan And Armagh Advertiser, "Destruction of Bessbrook Spinning Mill", 26 January 1837.
• Ritchie, James Ewing (1820-1898), Bessbrook and its linen mills: a short narrative of a model temperance town, W. Tweedie & Co, London, 1876
  • QUB: Main Lib., Belfast Campus (Special Colls) - h p DA994.B5/RITC

• Church of Ireland
  • The Church of Ireland - Find a church page 
    • Parish Church of St Luke, at Mullaghglass -- 2 Maytown Road, Bessbrook, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland  BT35 7LY;  Tel: 028 3083 0301
  • Representative Church Body Library
    • Braemor Park, Churchtown, Dublin 14;  Tel: +353 (0)1 4923979
• Methodist Bessbrook
  • Website
• Presbyterian
  • Bessbrook Congregation
  • Presbyterian Historical Society
    • The Presbyterian Church in Ireland publishes a directory of synods and assemblies, boards and committees, congregations and ministers, annually, for a nominal cost. The directory includes maps of presbyteries and congregations.
    • The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Church House, Fisherwick Place, Belfast  BT1 6WD;  Tel: 028 9032 2284
• Roman Catholic
  • Historically, the R.C. Parish of Killeavy Lower consisted of the northern part of the civil parish of Killevy
    • Church of St Peter and St Paul (1874), at Bessbrook -- Parochial House, 11 Chapel Rd, Bessbrook, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland;  Tel: 028 3083 0206, or 028 3083 0331
  • Modern R.C. pastoral areas are shown on this Pastoral Area Map
  • Refer to Parish of Bessbrook (Killeavey Lower) at CatholicIreland.net for a current directory listing

• Church of Ireland (C.I.)
  • C.I. Mullaghglass [Armagh diocese]
    • Was a district curacy of Killeavy until 1870
    • Baptisms and burials, 1877-; marriages, 1845-. In local custody.
  • C.I. Camlough [Armagh diocese]
    • Baptisms, 1832-72; marriages, 1835-45; burials, 1833-71; vestry minutes, 1819-82; confirmation lists, 1840-1945, with gaps. PRONI ref. T.679/311-314.
    • Baptisms, 1873-; marriages, 1874-; burials, 1872-. In local custody.
• Methodist Church in Bessbrook
  • Baptisms, 1830-; marriages, 1904-. In local custody.
• Bessbrook Presbyterian
  • Baptisms, 1854-; marriages, 1857-. In local custody.
• Roman Catholic - Parish of Killeavy Lower (Bessbrook) [Archdiocese of Armagh]
  • Baptisms, 1835-81; marriages, 1835-62, 1868-9 and 1874-8; deaths, 1858-62. PRONI ref. MIC.1D/39
  • Baptisms, and marriages, 1835-1860; baptisms, 1860-1880; deaths, 1858-1860; marriages, 1860-1862, 1868-1869, 1875; and deaths, 1860-1862, from Lower Killevy. LDS ref. FHL BRITISH Film 926042
  • Baptisms, 4 Jan 1835 - 27 Jan 1860, 1 Jan 1860 - 29 Dec 1880; marriages, 6 Jan 1835 - 26 Jan 1860, 15 Jan 1860 - 29 Dec 1862, 21 May 1874 - 29 Nov 1878; deaths, Aug 1858 - 30 Jan 1860, 9 Jan 1860 - 24 Dec 1862. NLI ref. P.5588
  • Map of RC parishes in Co Armagh, from John Grenham's Irish Ancestors web site
    • Click on the parish of Killeavy Lower, to obtain a list of parish registers
    • Hold the mouse pointer over the parish to see variant names.
• Sources, for the references given above, included:
  • Guide to Church Records: An Irish Genealogical Source/Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation on behalf of [the] Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 1994
  • LDS FHC Catalogue
  • John Grenham's Irish Ancestors site
  • National Library of Ireland (NLI), Lists of Roman Catholic Parish Registers

• Chambers, S. W., Places of interest in Northern Ireland. No. 1: South Armagh, Newry and the Mourne Mountains, [Belfast: 1941]
  • NLI: Ir 9141 p 106, Coll. Ir.
• Landscape Character Area: Newry Basin - from The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)

• Geograph
• Flickr

• 1910 - Bessbrook, County Armagh, from the Belfast and Ulster Towns Directory for 1910 - hosted by Library Ireland

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Bessbrook to another place.

• ---, Bessbrook: the model village 1845-1995, [Bessbrook 150 Ltd.], Bessbrook,1995
  • QUB: Main Lib., Belfast Campus (Special Colls) - h DA994.B5/BESS
• Newham, Alan Thomas, The Bessbrook & Newry Tramway, Oakwood Press, Tarrant Hinton [Eng.], 1979
  • NLI: Ir 380 p 10, Coll. Ir.
  • QUB: Main Library, Belfast Campus (Special Colls) - h p TF760/NEWH
• Newry Journal e-zine
  • McCullagh, John, Bessbrook: 100 years ago, 20 Apr 2006
  • Last run on the Bessbrook tram
• Pillow, Robert, 1832-, Account of a voyage to Australia 1852-3; Paterson, T. G. F., Presbyterianism in Armagh; and Moryson, Fynes; Authors.
  • Contents: Account of a voyage to Australia 1852-3 / [Robert Pillow] -- Moyry Castle -- Itinerary of Fynes Moryson 1617 (Irish portion) -- Mountnorris -- Account of a voyage to Australia in 1852 introductory -- Eglish parish -- Some townlands of the parish and district, (Eglish), poll tax, 1660; hearth money rolls, 1664 -- Tullysaran -- Armagh city streets -- History of Loughbrickland -- Presbyterianism in Armagh / by T.G.F. Paterson -- Stewartstown -- Local rhymes and jingles -- Bessbrook -- Killylea, parish history -- Ballymoyer -- Ballymacdermot -- Annaghmar -- Richhill miscellanea. LDS ref. Miscellaneous records of Ulster Province, Ireland
    • Microfilm copy held by the LDS, ref.FHL BRITISH Film 1279352 Item 1
    • Also held by the Armagh County Museum in Armagh City, ref. no. M7

• Sommerfelt, Alf, South Armagh Irish, [H. Aschehoug, Oslo, 1929]
  • NLI: Ir 49162 s 25, Coll. Ir.

• Derrymore House, built by Isaac Corry, M.P. for Newry, 1780+, ref. Mark Bence-Jones, The Country House Database [A Guide to Irish Country Houses, 2nd ed., Trafalgar Square Books, 1996]
• McCullagh, John, Mount Caulfield, published in the Newry Journal e-zine, 12 Dec 2005

• Ordnance Survey of Ireland, Bessbrook, Crossmaglen & Keady, 1906, Godfrey ed., Alan Godfrey, Gateshead, 1986 (Old Ordnance Survey maps. County Armagh town maps)
  • QUB: Main Lib., Belfast Campus (Special Colls) - h p G5790/.O5
  • Reprint of originals published: Dublin : Ordnance Survey Office, 1908-1909. Held by the LDS, ref. FHL BRITISH Book 941.5 E7gbo arm 1906.
  • Also available from Alan Godfrey Maps

You can see maps centred on OSI grid reference J0484228647 (Lat/Lon: 54.19609, -6.394386), Bessbrook which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Copy Bessbrook and paste it along with the county name into the search box at Ordnance Survey Ireland.
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• McCullagh, John, Killeavy Placenames; published by the Newry Journal e-zine, 14 Dec 2004

• IrelandOldNews - an ongoing, volunteer project to transcribe 18th & 19th century Irish newspapers
  • Input "Bessbrook" into the "Find" box
  • Of course, you may also wish to search for your favourite personal and family names!
  • Revisit the IrelandOldNews web site periodically, as transcribers update their county pages regularly
• The Armagh Observer, Co Down ed. & South Armagh ed., no.1691 ,1692; 1,8 Sept.1962
• The Belfast Newspaper Index, 1737-1800; compiled by Dr. John C. Greene of Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S.A.
  • Mentions of Bessbrook in the Belfast Newsletter index

• Bradley, Peter, Bessbrook Mill - reminiscenses of work as a junior clerk; published by the Newry Journal e-zine, 16 Nov 2005

• ---, South Armagh! Your day for Ireland. [Bye-election appeal by Sinn Fein urging constituents to vote for complete separation from Great Britain], [n.p., 1918]
  • NLI: ILB 300 p 3 [Item 110], Coll. Ilb.
• De Valera, Eamonn (1882-1975), To the voters of Armagh, printed for the Candidate, Dr. Patrick McCartan, by O'Loughlin, Murphy & Boland, Ltd., Dublin; and published by the Sinn Fein Election Committee, [Dublin], [1918]
  • NLI: Ms 25,588(57), Manuscript Colls.
• Eye-witness, When McCartan comes marching home, [Dublin?], [1918]
  • NLI: Ms 25,588(58), Coll Ms.
• McCartan, Patrick (1878-1966), Conscription, printed for the Candidate, Doctor Patrick McCartan, by O'Loughlin, Murphy and Boland, Ltd., Dublin; and published by the Sinn Fein Election Committee, [Dublin], [1918]
  • NLI: Ms 25,588(56v), Coll Ms.
• McCartan, Patrick (1878-1966), Which do you choose?, printed for the Candidate at the Wood Printing Works, [Dublin], [1918]
  • NLI: Ms 25,588(60), Coll Ms.
• O'Dwyer, Edward Thomas (1842-1917), The late Bishop of Limerick and John Redmond, printed by P. Mahon, Dublin, and published by the Candidate, [Dublin], [1918]
  • NLI: Ms 25,588(58), Coll Ms.

• Armagh Poor Law Union - from Peter Higginbotham's The Story of Workhouses

• Public records relating to Bessbrook, held at the PRONI in Belfast
  • Bessbrook granite quarry documents, ref. T/1526
  • Bessbrook Spinning Co., Bessbrook & Newry Tramway Co. papers, ref. D/2368
  • Bessbrook YMCA papers, ref. D/3858
  • Richardson family, Bessbrook, papers, ref. D/2375
  • Richardson of Bessbrook document; Friends Historical Society document, ref. MIC/120

• Registers of Bessbrook National School, 1867-88
  • PRONI ref. no.: Sch 460/1/1-3
  • Microfilm copies held by the LDS:
    • Register of male day students, 1867-1888 Register of male evening students, 1872-1882; held by the LDS on FHL BRITISH Film1656972 Items 7-8
    • Register of male evening students, 1887; held by the LDS on FHL BRITISH Film1656973 Item 1

• ---, Exploring living memory [(Slide)], Part 1: South Armagh reminiscence and recall, Confederation of Community Groups, Newry, 1985(Slide)
  • QUB: Main Lib., Belfast Campus - ts/ HV1481.N8/EXPL
• Castleblayney Community Enterprises, Along the Black Pig's Dyke folklore from Monaghan and South Armagh, [Castleblayney Community Enterprises], [1993]
  • NLI: Ir 3991 a 15, Collection Ir.
• McKee, Eddie, A Century of Bessbrook football, Available local bookshops