Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Former Kinnahalla Youth Hostel
Goward, Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Hotel
- Date of construction
- 1940 - 1959
- Address
- Former Kinnahalla Youth Hostel, 78 Kilkeel Road, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5XH
- Townland
- Goward
- Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.19161, -6.09183
- Date of survey
- 23 February 1999
- HB reference
- HB16/07/033
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesNational Library of Scotland
Shown on 2 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1922 "Ireland - northern section." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Two and half storey mid 20th century building aligned NW-SE with a two-storey block abutting its NW gable. Painted wet dashed walls, uPVC window frames and modern render architraves. Thoroughly modernised, extended and renovated, it retains few original features. Polished granite datestone on façade states, “The Richmond Fellowship 1991 / Kinnahalla / Alan Cook Architects / Annvale Construction”. Its Youth Hostel origins are recalled in the triangular stucco pediments above each of the first floor windows.
Historical information
Designed by Phillip Bell in 1956. It was the first of a number of King George VI Memorial Hostels to constructed in the UK. A grant of £10,000 was given towards its construction and the Youth Hostel Association of Northern Ireland (YHANI) raised an additional £2,000 to cover costs. Construction began in 1956 and it was opened by Lady Wakehurst, wife of the Governor of N. Ireland, on 3rd October 1959.
Designed ‘along Continental lines’, looking like a ski chalet, with shallow, overhanging pitched roofs, a rubble stone ground floor and wet dashed upper floors (similar in detailing to many schools of the period); three storeys high. It had balconettes to each floor on the end gable (serving the male and female dormitories), and steel framed windows, variously grouped. The accommodation catered for 44 people and included a drying room, suntrap porch, bicycle store and electricity generator. The warden occupied the ground floor of the wing.
Belfast News-Letter article dated 26/05/1956 shows the architects model and another article dated 3/10/1959 shows a contemporary photograph.
Ceased operating as a YHANI hostel in 1989. Reconfigured in 1991. One of the main changes was steepening the roof pitches to give the appearance of a two and a half storey building.
Primary Sources:
1. Article in Belfast News-Letter 26/05/1956.
2. Article in Belfast News-Letter 03/10/1959.
3. YHANI HQ employee 1999.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
Altered beyond recognition and thus not worthy of consideration for statutory protection.
Nearby in the register
- Farmhouse up lane off Sandbank RdHouseunder 1 mi
- New Bridge, Sandbank Rd, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down BT34 5XXBridgeunder 1 mi
- Boundary marker on Bryansford RdBoundary Markerunder 1 mi
- Lime kiln off Bryansford RdRural Industryunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.