Waiting Room

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Long, plain timber-clad railway station waiting room of 1906 with slated gabled roof, segmental headed sash windows and a large lean-to extension. The building is one of a collection of contemporary structures originally belonging to Ballyward Station and is located to the N of Station Road, roughly 5 miles NE of Castlewellan.

The whole building is timber clad (and painted) and rests on a moulded (and painted) concrete base. The gabled roof is slated and has an overhang with plain barges and boxed in eaves and verge. There are three yellow brick chimneystacks with bevelled bases, moulded courses and low pots. Moulded cast iron gutters and PVC down spouts.

The asymmetrical front elevation faces S. To the right of centre is the main entrance, which consists of a modern partly glazed timber door with narrow sidelight (to left) and a segmental arched fanlight. All of these lights have patterned glazing. The door has a raised in-out timber surround.

To the left of the doorway are three unevenly spaced segmental headed sash windows with vertical glazing bars (2/2). The window to far left has patterned glazing. To the right of the doorway are two similar windows.

The E and W gables are blank.

To the left on the rear elevation there is a timber lean-to extension with a corrugated iron roof; this was added post 1955 when the property was converted to a dwelling.. To the W face of the lean-to there is a plain sheeted door, with sash window, (2/2), to the E. To the immediate left and right of the lean-to (on façade of main building), there is a six light flat arch window with curved corners to the upper lights. There is a plain timber entablature and cornice above each of these windows, with a pilaster-like timber piece to the right hand side of the right window. It would appear that these windows were once part of a much larger area of glazing, which probably lit a waiting room. To the right of this is a window as front, then a surround the same as that to the front entrance (suggesting there was once a door here). To right of this there is another window, as before, then a panelled door with segmental fanlight and surround as front entrance.

Setting

To the N side of the building, and stretching for roughly 92m, is the disused platform. This is now largely grass-covered, but the N face (facing in the former railway bed) is still visible, consisting of squared stone with reinforced concrete coping. The ends of the platform slope in the usual manner. There is an identical platform to the N side of the cutting, with a small brick shed just to the N of this.

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 company 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, and the former waiting room later converted to a dwelling.

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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Long, plain timber-clad railway station waiting room of 1906 with slated gabled roof, segmental headed sash windows and a large lean-to extension- the latter added post 1955 when the property was converted to a dwelling. On the north side of the building are the platforms. The collection of buildings is unusual both in the survival, relatively unchanged, of each structure and of the whole ensemble.