Former Station Master's House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively small, plain railway station master’s house of 1906 with gabled roof and small porch. The house is one of a collection of contemporary buildings originally belonging to Ballyward Station and is located to the N of Station Road, roughly 5 miles NE of Castlewellan.

The building is finished in painted roughcast. The roof is slated and has an overhang with plain barges, collar beams and finials. There is a rendered chimneystack to W of the main ridge, with another E of the ridge of the return. Cast iron rw goods.

The front elevation is asymmetrical and faces S. To the right of centre is a small gabled porch with slated overhanging roof with plain barges, collar beam and finial. To the W face of the porch is a panelled and glazed door set within a segmental arched recess. To the S (gabled) face of the porch is a plain sash window, almost square in proportion, with segmental arch head. The E face is blank. To the left of the porch (on main façade) there are two sash windows with segmental heads. The frames have vertical and horizontal glazing bars, with the ‘horizontal’ bar following the curve of the head.

To the E gable there are two windows, that to left like that to porch, that to right like that to the main front façade. The W gable is blank.

The rear elevation is dominated by a large gabled return with a small lean-to projection to the W face. To the E face there is an arched window (as front façade). To the N facing gable there is a flat arched window (with plain sash frame) to right. To the left on the E face is a small lean-to shed projection. This has a timber sheeted door to its S face and a small window to the N There is a timber sheeted door to the E face of the return (just right of the projection).

To the rear façade of the main section of the building there is a window to right, as front.

The building is finished in painted roughcast. The roof is slated and has an overhang with plain barges, collar beam and finials. There is a rendered chimneystack to W of the main ridge, with another E of the ridge of the return. Cast iron rw goods.

Historical information

Ballyward railway station formed part of the line between Ballyroney and Newcastle. This line was opened in 1906 and was jointly operated by the Great Northern Railway and the Belfast & County Down Railway. The buildings themselves are believed to have been designed by the GNR’s engineer, William Henry Mills. The line (which for the last five years of its life was run solely by the GNR) closed in 1955. After this, the Ballyward station buildings were acquired by a private owner.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/6/2/35/4 OS map, 6in County series, Co Down, sh 35, 1921

Secondary sources
1 S. Maxwell Hajducki, ‘A railway atlas of Ireland’, (David & Charles, Devon, 1974), map 9
2 H.C. Casserley, ‘Outline of Irish railway history’ (David & Charles, Devon, 1974), p.225
3 W.A. McCutcheon, ‘The industrial archaeology of Northern Ireland’ (Belfast, 1980), p.161

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Small, plain railway station master’s house of 1906 with gabled roof, roughcast façade, small porch and large return. The house is one of a collection of contemporary buildings originally belonging to Ballyward Station. The collection of buildings is unusual both in the survival, relatively unchanged, of each structure and of the whole ensemble.