South Armagh region. Places of interest On the outskirts of the village is John Macneill's Craigmore Viaduct, known locally as the Eighteen Arches, built in 1851. The viaduct still carries the Dublin-Belfast railway line and with eighteen, (60 ft) twenty metre high arches, spanning about quarter of a mile (500 m), it was for a long time the longest bridge in Ireland. It is constructed from local granite. Derrymore House, a National Trust property open to the public, is nearby. It is an 18th-century thatched house set in over of parkland and woodland. The Act of Union was drafted in the drawing room of the house in 1800. Demography Bessbrook is classified as an Intermediate Settlement by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), i.e. with a population between 2,500 and 4,999. On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 2,750 people living in Bessbrook. Of these: 22.91% were aged under 16 years and 14.76% were aged 65 and over 50.58% of the population were male and 49.42% were female 79.56% were from a Catholic background and 18.00% were from a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' background 18.58% indicated that they had a British national identity, 51.35% had an Irish national identity and 31.13% had a Northern Irish national identity. Education Schools in the area include Bessbrook Primary School, St. Joseph's Primary School, St. Paul's High School and St. Peter's Primary School, Cloughreagh. Notable people Dominic Bradley – former Member of the Legislative Assembly Eddie Carroll (1901–1975) – Irish footballer Samuel George Hobson (1870–1940) – founder member of Independent Labour Party Danny Kennedy – Unionist politician and former Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly Conor McGinn – Labour MP and Shadow Minister John Grubb Richardson (1813–1891) – linen merchant, industrialist and philanthropist who founded the village References NI Conflict Archive on the Internet Culture Northern Ireland Villages in County Armagh Model villages Linen industry in Ireland Planned communities in Northern Ireland