WW2 Administration site

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

WW2 Administration site, on front lawn of Mourne Wood House. These seven buildings formed the core of the administration site of the Greencastle Aerodrome. A) Office block, B) Latrine block, C) Office block, D) Generator house, E) Operations block, F) Latrine block, G) Structure (use unknown).

A) Office block
Linear, single storey / seven bay office block aligned NW-SE. Pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof, with semicircular ridge and circular asbestos cement stops. Cement rendered walls in temporary brickwork (100mm thick) with buttress between each bay (supporting metal roof trusses). All windows are metal framed, multi-paned paired casements with flush cills.

NW gable is three bays wide with a sliding timber door to centre. Left and right bays are blank.

NE elevation has a window to each of its bays with the exception of bay five, which is blank.

SE gable is three bays wide with doorway to central bay and a window on both left and right bays.

SW elevation has a window on each bay with the exception of the fifth and seventh which have doorways.

B) Latrine block
Small single storey / four bay block to NW of block (A). Partially collapsed corrugated asbestos cement monopitch roof (slopes to SE). Cement rendered temporary (100mm thick) red brick walls with buttresses separating each bay and to either end.

SW gable is one bay wide and has a doorway to left, formerly with sliding door.

NW elevation is four bays wide, those to left and right ends are blank and each remaining bay has two three paned metal casement windows with no cills.

NE gable has a blocked up door opening to right.

SE elevation is four bays wide, those to left and right ends are blank and each remaining bay has a pair of four paned metal casement windows (blocked up to bay two).

C) Office block
Linear single storey / seven bay block aligned NE-SW to SW of block A. Pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof, and semicircular ridges with circular asbestos cement stops to either end. Cement rendered walls in temporary brick (100mm thick) with buttress between each bay (supporting metal roof trusses) and to either end. All windows are metal framed, multi-paned paired casements with flush cills.

NE gable is three bays wide. Left and right bays each have a doorway. Central bay has partially blocked up metal framed window.

SE elevation has a single window on each of its seven bays. All are four paned, paired casements, each with a pair of top-hung two-paned transoms over (all partially blocked up).

SW gable is three bays wide, with much altered door way to right bay.

NW elevation identical to the SE one.

D) Generator house
Single storey / two bay block, abutting the SW elevation of building (E) Operations block (see later). Roof consists of a pair of gables abutting, with corrugated asbestos cement pitches and semicircular ridge with circular stops to each end. The left gable (as viewed from SW), is wider than the right one and both have a red brick chimney to the join with block E. Cement rendered walls in temporary brick (100mm thick) with buttress between each bay (supporting metal roof trusses). Windows are metal framed, multi-paned paired casements with flush cills.

Left gable of façade is three bays wide and right gable has two bays. From L-R, enlarged doorway on bay one then a blocked up door on bay two, and a window opening on bay three. Bay four (in right gable) has an enlarged door and bay five is blank.

The SE (right) elevation is two bays wide, the left one has a pair of four paned casements and the right one is blank. The NW (left) elevation is two bays wide, the left one has a pair of four paned casements, each with a two paned top-hung transom over; right one is blank.

E) Operations block
Single storey, partially double height block. The northern section is rectangular in plan with a higher roof (double height), than the southern block. Flat concrete roof, partially overhanging. Permanent red brick walls (300mm thick).

North block has no windows and no external door openings with the exception of a large modern vehicle door on NW wall. The south block is lower and similarly plain and projects further to NE than the first block does. The advanced NW elevation of the south block has a single doorway screened by a blast wall. Its remaining elevations are all blank but for a modern opening on the NE wall. Where this block is abutted by the generator block there are ventilation ducts on the party wall between the two.

F) Latrines
Single storey single bay structure aligned NW-SE. Monopitch corrugated asbestos cement roof with moulded eaves and no rainwater goods. Cement rendered temporary red brick walls (100mm thick) with buttresses to either end. NW and SE gables are blank.

SW elevation has two four paned casement windows and a doorway to their right.

NE elevation has a pair of three paned metal casements.

G) Structure
Single storey block, partially collapsed, on edge of sand quarry to south of group. Flat cast in situ concrete roof. Rendered (100mm) thick red brick walls. NE elevation has a pair of three paned metal casements with thin metal bars over. NW elevation has three four paned casements set in a single opening and to right is a red brick structure (later addition) with similar roof and blank wall. SW elevation of brick structure is blank. SE elevation of whole block collapsed into sand quarry.

Historical information

A map in ‘12 Miles of Mourne’ shows this site as an ‘operations block’, built on the tennis lawn in front of Mourne Wood House and serving the Greencastle Aerodrome. This however, is only the principal structure, the others are likely to have completed the administrative core of the Aerodrome. The offices and latrines are common temporary brick structures and the operations block is a permanent brick structure which would have been used to plot the progress of the planes on sortie boards.

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. However, it remained in Air Ministry ownership until the early 1960s when it was sold back to locals.

Primary Sources:
1. Map: ‘Greencastle Record Site Plan’, (Air Ministry, 1946).

Secondary Sources:
1. G. .B. Innes, ‘British Airfield Buildings of the Second World War’ (Leicester 1995) , p. 83.
2. B. Lowery (ed), ‘20th Century Defences in Britain, an introductory guide’ (British Council for Archaeology 1996).
3. L. Murphy, ‘Action Station: The story of Greencastle Aerodrome’, in 12 Miles of Mourne vol. 3 (Kilkeel1989), 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 are not architectural masterpieces. Their interest lies in the historical reasons for their construction (WW2), their short practical lifespan, and their austere ‘temporary’ construction.