The Meeting House is situated on the Deramore Road, on the outskirts of the village, adjacent to Bessbrook Mill (which now serves as an army barracks).
Bessbrook is a model village that was built for the mill workers in the mid 1800s by the Quaker Richardson family who owned the linen mill.
Bessbrook Meeting is part of Lurgan Monthly Meeting.
Bessbrook tore into their rivals right from the start and after four minutes Lee McKay sent over a terrific cross to Philip Hughes who saw his header brilliantly palmed over the bar by Paul Ramsey in the Enniskillen goal.
Bessbrook kept surging forward and were rewarded after 28 minutes when a Maurice Harte free kick was flicked on by Philip Hughes to Stephen Feehan who was on hand to tap the ball in to the net.
Bessbrook fans were in jubilant mood as their team trooped of at halftime with a nice two-goal cushion.
The quaint town of Bessbrook is a very early Quaker settlement and model village.
The layout remains as it was in that time with the local granite stone - of which it is made, and the original streets, terraces and squares.
Bessbrook can also boast the Craigmore Viaduct, an 18 arch viaduct sweeping across the valley of the Camlough River, as well as the National Trust's Derrymore House - an elegant 18th century thatched cottage built as a country retreat.
Bessbrook, to those who have never travelled through the village - which sits quietly up the road from Newry - might be thought of as a border backwater which is probably best known for the kind of headlines associated with the South Armagh region in general, over the course of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The Bessbrook Development Company campaigned for it to stand in the square for all to see the history of its main employer for so many years.
I grew up in Bessbrook or the Brook as we knew it, in the 1950s It was a great place to grow up in at that particular period of time.
Bessbrook History(Site not responding. Last check: )
Bessbrook was not on a main road and Richardson believed that, with this isolation from the major towns and their distractions, he would have a temperate and controllable colony.
The Bessbrook Spinning Company by this time had control over the large linen factory at Bessbrook, a weaving factory at Craigmore and other smaller mills including a bleach mill, a beetling mill, a scutch mill and a foundry.
By an ingenious arrangement of the rails the goods wagons, which had flangeless wheels, could be made to run on both road or rail, and so it was not necessary to build a line through Newry.
BESSBROOK virtually came to a standstill recently for the funeral of one of its most respected residents, Winston Anderson.
He lived in Bessbrook all his life and everyone who knew found him to be a warm and courteous man. Like all Brook men, he had a great passion for football but he also loved to buy and sell cars as well as being a first class mechanic.
Sometimes the people in Bessbrook can be a little lackadaisical in their approach to these matters but maybe on this issue they should voice their opinion as it concerns everyone in the village.
The Bessbrook Working Group was glad to welcome her to the Bessbrook Community, to discuss the best way to use the money raised on Saturday 5th February.
Bessbrook United will be there in force to support team-mate Sean Canavan, who will be donning the role of Tom Jones.
There are a lot of bald men running around Bessbrook at the minute and this is due to their heads being shaved in Dans Bar last Sunday week in aid of the Tsunami disaster.
A native of Bessbrook, Mrs Kennedy was the third of six children born to John and Martha Black, of Thomas Street and later College Square in the village.
She was educated at Bessbrook Public Elementary School and for a number of years before her marriage worked in Bessbrook Spinning Mill.
She is also mourned by two sisters, Mrs Sybil Davies (England) and Miss Gertrude Black (Bessbrook); five daughters-in-law Sally, Doreen, Anne, Margo and Karen; two sons-in-law Mac Gilmore and Michael Graham; 20 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, as well as a wide family circle.
The beautiful model village of Bessbrook was the setting for a Lay Witness mission in the Methodist Church.
Bessbrook should be so proud of them and thankful to God for them.
It is our prayer that Bessbrook will go from strength to strength and be a light set on a hill drawing many needy people into a personal knowledge of the Saviour.
::: Newry Journal ::: - Bessbrook: 100 years ago(Site not responding. Last check: )
Bessbrook however, is the largest village nearest to Newry.
“Bessbrook is a large manufacturing village, the population of which is about 4,000 — the same number as are employed in Mr Richardson’s linen manufacturing enterprises there.
Bessbrook is remarkable for its yarn and linen manufactories, a process from flax-growing to the finished product — be it family linen, a pocket handkerchief of a table cloth - carried on locally.
Bessbrook still has many traces of the model village shaped by a Quakerlinen manufacturer, John Grubb Richardson, around the middle of the 19th Century.
Its founder believed that alcohol was the main cause of poverty and crime and decided that Bessbrook has no need for licensed premises, a pawn ship or a police station.
Construction began on Craigmore Viaduct in 1849 and the bridge was opened in 1852.
A man broke into a house in Bessbrook on 5 August 2000 and committed a serious sexual assault on a female resident.
Police are seeking the assistance of members of the public who may have seen any suspicious individuals in the area of Camlough Road and John F Kennedy Park either late on the evening of Friday 4 August through to about 4am on Saturday 5 August 2000.
Any information will be treated in the strictest confidence by contacting detectives at Newry on 028 3026 5500 or using the confidential Crimestoppers line 0800 555 111.
