World War II Structures

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Group of eleven WW2 structures that formed part of Greencastle Aerodrome’s living site II. Eight of these are air raid shelters:

A-H) Air raid shelters.
Single storey rectangular structure built on a concrete plinth. Flush cast in-situ concrete roof, corrugated iron framework overhanging to either end where it rests on brick blast walls. Main walls are red brick in stretcher bond and laid on sides, 200mm deep with central cavity filled with concrete. There are two doorways to either end, sheltered under the concrete roof and protected by the end blast walls. Shelter (G) has windows inserted in front (SW) wall. Shelter (H) has some internal alterations.

I) Picket post.
Small single storey / two bay picket post, aligned NW-SE. Constructed on a concrete plinth. Pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof, semicircular ridges with circular asbestos cement stops. Moulded asbestos cement bargeboards and no rainwater goods. Cement rendered temporary brickwork (100mm thick) walls with buttresses forming bays and supporting the roof structure.

A single door forms the main entrance on right (narrower) bay of SW elevation. On left bay is a window opening (no cill) now containing a modern louvred vent. NW gable has three bays and on either side is a narrow blocked up window opening. NE elevation has a blocked up door to left (narrower). Infilled window to right. SE gable has a blocked up door to left of centre now with a modern louvred window, flanked by single paned shoulder height windows (both blocked up) and a fixed window to right.

J) Ablutions block
Single storey, nine and a half bay , aligned NE-SW. Constructed on a concrete plinth, each bay is approximately 10ft wide.

Pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof, raised ventilators, semicircular ridges with circular asbestos cement stops. Moulded asbestos cement bargeboards and no rainwater goods. Cement rendered temporary brickwork (100mm thick) walls have buttresses at regular intervals forming bays and supporting the roof structure.

NE gable has three bays with buttresses with a pair of sheeted top hung doors to centre. On side bay is a single three paned steel casement window.

NW elevation has a single three paned steel casement window, with no cills, to each bay; some infilled. SE elevation is abutted by a modern silage bay, leaving only the right 3 ½ bays exposed, each of which has a single window (some infilled); exposed left bay has sliding door.

SW gable has been totally demolished and a large pair of corrugated doors erected. It is likely that this gable once held a water tower (as others in the locality).

K) Latrine block
Single storey / two bay block aligned NE-SW Smooth cement walls over temporary brick. Gable roof altered and is now monopitched corrugated asbestos cement. SE elevation has 2x3 metal window and plywood door to left bay and infilled window to right bay. SW elevation is blank. NW elevation has, at left, a three paned modern vent. Former door on right bay is partly infilled. To right is an infilled window. NE gable blank.

There may be other WWII buildings on this site, but the remaining buildings have been refurbished for modern farm use.

Historical information

The 1946 map of Greencastle Aerodrome shows this group of buildings to be part of ‘Living site Two’. These structures are all typical of those constructed on temporary airfields built during WW2. The picket post matches Air ministry drawing number 14294/40, the latrine block is design 9026/41, and the ablutions block is similar in design to one illustrated in Lowery (Fig. 65). Living site Two had approximately 60 structures (not including the air raid shelters), of which only these buildings remain. The vast majority of the others were Nissen huts which were sold after the war.

There were over 600 airfields in Britain at the end of WW2, and 29 in Northern Ireland. Construction work began at Greencastle in spring 1942, the main contractor being Carmichael of Edinburgh. Kilkeel RAF Station (as it was known) was commissioned on 30th July 1942, and handed over to the United States Army Airforce (USAAF) on 3rd August 1943, becoming Station 237, one of 12 such American airfields in N. Ireland. Its principal building groups were of utility construction, and dispersed around the local area to avoid concentrated enemy bombing; its radar station being furthest away, located at Maghereagh to NE of Kilkeel. The station was a satellite to Langford Lodge (near Antrim), preparing aircraft for operational bases in East Anglia. Its second important role was as a training school for aircrews arriving from America; this Combat Crew Replacement Centre (CCRC) was instigated on 20th December 1943, and was disbanded in autumn 1944. The base was handed back to the RAF on 31st May 1945, and decommissioned soon afterwards. They remained in Air Ministry ownership until the early 1960s when they were sold back to the locals.

Primary Sources:
1. Air Ministry Map entitled: ‘Greencastle Record Site Plan; Dispersed sites’ (1946).

Secondary Sources:
1. G.B. Innes, ‘British Airfield Buildings of the Second World War’ (Leicester 1995), p.78.
2. B. Lowery (ed), ‘20th Century Defences in Britain, an introductory guide’ (British Council for Archaeology 1996), p.118
3. L. Murphy, ‘Action Station: the story of Greencastle Aerodrome’, in 12 Miles of Mourne vol.3 (Kilkeel 1989) pp. 33-50.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Austerity architecture of the second world war attempted to simplify construction down to the minimal amount of materials and marry it with the maximum utility. These building is not an architectural masterpiece. Their interest lies in the historical reasons for their construction (WW2), their short practical lifespan, and their austere ‘temporary’ construction. The intact air raid shelters (A-F), all within the same field, illustrate the concentration of huts which once occupied the site.