Donaghmore Station 39 Castlecaulfield Road Donaghmore Dungannon Co Tyrone BT70 3HF

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

1. Station building
A two-storey, two-bay former station house opened by the Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Railway Company in 1861, but now unoccupied and derelict.
Shallow hipped natural slate roof with two brick chimneys (one towards west end, one on east gable), oversailing eaves with exposed rafter tails, and vestiges of ogee cast-iron gutters.
Walls of rendered rubble sandstone, embellished with stepped, vee-jointed and margined rusticated sandstone quoins to exposed corners. All openings are trimmed with brick (also rendered over), and all windows are 2-over-2 timber sliding sashes with dressed sandstone cills.
Aligned east-west, its north elevation is four openings wide, with a single-storey entrance porch on the third opening from left. The porch’s roof is pitched but otherwise detailed as the main block. It has a double-leaf 4-panel door with rectangular overlight and remnants of an electric light over, all in a moulded stucco surround. Segmental-headed window to each cheek (that at right is missing and sheeted over). There is a window to the right of the porch and two to the left, all with flat heads; the left window also has vertical metal security bars. There are four window openings to the first floor, all in line with those below.
East gable is abutted by a single-storey building and the exposed wall over is devoid of openings.
South elevation (facing on to platform) has a segmental-headed doorway to centre, with moulded stucco surround and vestiges of electric light over; now sheeted over with corrugated metal. Window to its left, and two to right (both sheeted over), all with flat heads. Between the latter is a small round-headed opening, probably for a stove flue and possibly a later insertion. Four windows to first floor, detailed as north elevation. Between the two floors is the ghost of the canopy which once ran the length of the building and extended out over the platform.
West gable is blank. At its right-hand end a rubble stone wall, with brick-trimmed opening through, extends across the end of the platform and then returns parallel with the track up to the base of the approach to the bridge over the line. There was also a flight of steps down from the road, no obvious traces of which are now evident.

2. Outbuildings and yard
Originally there was an enclosed yard between the station building and goods shed, along the inside north side of which was a single-storey outbuilding and at the south-east corner of which was a toilet. The yard’s north and south walls, both of which are of rubble masonry, were incorporated into a later large single-storey shed with pitched, sky-lit natural slate roof. None of the original structures survives except the north and south walls.
The yard’s north election is now externally rendered, with a doorway at each end; that at left has been infilled and a window inserted. On the south elevation is an infilled brick-trimmed opening (possibly originally a doorway into the former toilet within the yard) and modern metal-framed window.

3. Goods shed
The goods shed lies at the east end of the north platform. It has been extensively modified, notable with the addition of lean-to animal sheds along its north and east elevations. The sky-lit natural slate roof has been extended over this later lean-to addition (this pitch may have been entirely re-slated). There is also a later concrete-brick chimney on its east gable. No rainwater goods. Walls are unrendered and of squared rubble masonry (with plain quoins).
The north elevation still retains is wide doorway (but no doors) in what is now the party wall with the lean-to but is otherwise blank.
The goods wagons entered the building through a segmental-arched opening at the south end of the east gable, but only the dressed stone head is now obvious. A later doorway has also been inserted into this gable at ground floor level, and also at first floor right; both have concrete heads and jambs. There is a brick trimmed oculus to the gable’s apex.
The south elevation is devoid of openings except for a small hole which has been crudely punched through at a later date. A later roofless concrete-block lean-to spans the former track on this elevation.
The west gable is also blank except for a later door giving access to the adjoining byre in the former yard.

4. Line and platforms
All remnants of the actual railway track are long gone, but traces of both platforms survive immediately south of the buildings. Although mostly now buried or covered with overgrowth, traces still evident in the form of vertical rubble masonry walls topped with oversailing concrete decks.
The line continued west of the station under a segmental masonry stone bridge which still carries the road over the former line. The bridge survives but its arch is now largely infilled.

Setting: This complex lies on east side of main road, ½ mile south of Donaghmore village. Now part of a farmyard accessed from north and south via lanes off road and which has a large Dutch corrugated-metal barn at its east end. The original complex comprised the station building, associated outbuildings and yard, goods shed, platform, weighbridge and siding along the north side of the line, and a platform, waiting room, and signal cabin on the south side. Only the station building, goods shed and platforms now survive.

Historical information

This station lay on the Dungannon-Omagh railway, opened by the Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway Company in September 1861. At Omagh, it joined the existing Londonderry-Enniskillen line. Donaghmore Station served the nearby village of the same name and was opened at the same time as the line, which was operated under lease by the Ulster Railway Company.
The station played a key role in the success of Messrs Brown’s Soap Works, one of the village's several industrial enterprises in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. Tallow was apparently imported from Poland and Germany, and the soap exported throughout Britain and Ireland.
Although Donaghmore Station is explicitly captioned on the 1854 OS map, this is an undated revision of the original plate (the station came seven years later). The station building is shown along with its outbuildings and goods shed on all subsequent editions. It is also cited in the valuation books as “station house and store” from 1863 onwards.
The Ulster Railway and Northern Railway amalgamated in 1875, and the Portadown-Omagh line was incorporated into the newly formed Great Northern Railway (Ireland) in 1876.
The Valuation note books describe the station building as measuring 45ft x 18ft in plan by 22ft high; it had a 45ft long by 10ft deep canopy on its platform side. The station master’s part contained a kitchen, sitting room and four bedrooms. In the adjoining yard was an outhouse (35ft x 9ft x 8ft) along its north side, and a small (?public) toilet (9ft x 3ft x 8ft) at its south-eastern corner. The goods shed measured 44ft x 34ft x 20ft and the platforms were over 350ft long.
In the 1930s, the Dungannon-Donaghmore section of the line was singled, resulting in the line along the south platform being given over to goods traffic. The goods shed appears to have become largely redundant at the same time, but the new goods siding was used until 1961.
In 1958, the line was taken over by the Ulster Transport Authority. Although it did not close officially until in February 1965, the station buildings and north platform were sold to Mr Herbert H Sinnamon in 1962. Thereafter, the station became a request stop, with only its south platform being retained for “trains carrying children from the Convent School [in the village], stopping twice a day”. In 1967, this platform was also transferred to Mr Sinnamon.
A photograph dated 1964 shows the north platform fenced off and the single-storey infill shed within the original yard to have been extant by then (whether it was erected by Mr Sinnamon or the GNR is uncertain).
All the buildings are shown but uncaptioned on the 1974 OS map; additions to the goods shed are also depicted on this map. Field inspection shows these to have been animal sheds.

References – Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/6/46/1. OS six-inch map, Co Tyrone sheet 46 (1854).
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/38/15A-F. Valuation revision books (1860-1929).
3. PRONI OS/10/6/46/14/1. OS 25-inch map, Co Tyrone sheet 46-01 (1906).
4. PRONI VAL/11/40. Valuation book relating specifically to Donaghmore Station (1913-67).
5. PRONI OS/10/6/46/14/2. OS 25-inch map, Co Tyrone sheet 46-01 (1935).
6. PRONI OS/11/160/5/1. OS 25-inch IG map sheet 160-05 (1974).

References – Secondary Sources:
1. Johnson, S.M., Johnson’s Atlas and Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, p.98/ entry 53 (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1997).
2. Photograph dated 1964 on Donaghmore Historical Society web site, .
3. McCutcheon, W.A., The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, chapter 3 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).
4. FitzGerald, J.D., The Derry Road, p.2 (Omagh: Colourpoint Press, 1995).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Although the building was associated with Ulster’s mid-19th C railway network, and with the Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway in particular, it does not meet the criteria for listing.