Station Platforms

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The platforms are aligned E-W on both sides of the double track Belfast-Bangor railway; the south one is ‘up’ and the north one the ‘down’.
The platforms are faces with rubble blackstone, squared sandstone and bricks, each material reflecting various extensions and repairs. There are several flat-headed openings, possibly for points levers. Both platforms have also been raised in brick, edged with stone and cast concrete blocks. Their decks are paved with concrete tiles. However, their E ends are at their original levels and are gravelled.
Part of the up platform is retained on its south side by a quarried blackstone wall, now leaning out and propped with timber trusts. The right-hand end of this wall is slightly advanced to accommodate the entrance from Clandeboye Avenue of a pedestrian tunnel under the line. This doorway has a semicircular head and is trimmed with concrete.
On entry to the underpass, concrete stairs at right rise to the up platform. The soffit is of reinforced concrete and the walls are plastered and painted. At the north end of the tunnel, stairs at left lead up to the down platform. The tops of both staircases are enclosed by quarried blackstone walls, now heightened in concrete and with flat profiled metal roof over (glazed canopies originally). There is also a modern painted steel waiting shelter on each platform.

Setting:

Located adjacent to the Belfast-Bangor railway tracks in Helen's Bay close to the Clandeboye Avenue to the south of the listed railway station (HB23/15/039A) and east of the associated coach yard (HB23/15/039E) and railway bridge (HB23/15/039D). The former station master's house (HB23/15/039C) is located to the north with the related road bridge (HB23/15/039F) further to the north.

Walling: brick/stone

Historical information

The railway from Belfast arrived in Holywood in 1848, but it was not until 1862 that the Belfast, Holywood & Bangor Railway Company (BHBR) began construction of the Holywood-Bangor section. Because of land access difficulties and extensive rock blasting, it took three years to complete, opening on 19 May 1865. The BHBR's consultant architect was Charles Lanyon and it was he who probably designed the platforms; the actual station building (HB23/15/039A) was the work of Benjamin Ferrey at the behest of the 1st Marquis of Dufferin & Ava.
When the line opened, the Belfast & County Down Railway Co (BCDR) sold its Belfast-Holywood section to the BHBR. In 1873, the line was leased to the BCDR and transferred outright in 1884. The following year the station took its present name; it was originally known as Clandeboye.
The station is shown on some versions of the 1858 OS six-inch map, but it should be noted that such maps were re-engraved some years after their original publication to take account of this new line. The railway was not in existence in 1858 despite what some versions of this map may show.
In 1948, the line was taken over by the Ulster Transport Authority and then by Northern Ireland Railways in 1968. It is now operated by Translink as a halt, the station building having closed some years ago.

References – Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/2. Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 1 (1858).

References – Secondary sources:
1. Patterson, E.M. The Belfast and County Down Railway, p.8 (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1958).
2. Green, E.R.R. The Industrial Archaeology of County Down, p.80 (Belfast: HMSO, 1963).
3. McCutcheon, A. Railway History in Pictures: Ireland, vol.1, p.34 (Newtown Abbot: David & Charles, 1969).
4. McCutcheon, W.A. The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, pp 144, 178 and 218 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).
5. Johnson, S. Johnson’s Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, p.109 (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1997).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Helen's Bay railway station platforms built c.1862 to designs by Charles Lanyon for the Belfast, Holywood & Bangor Railway. They have a functional relationship to, and group value with, the adjoining station building and the related railway structures (HB23/15/039A-F) in the vicinity and are also of local historical interest in terms of their several phases of extension which reflect the development of the railway infrastructure along this line.

General comments

Included in Helen's Bay Area of Village Character. This was formerly HB23/15/035. This record was then incorporated in the record HB23/15/039.

HB23/15/039 formerly incorporated the station building, platforms, railway bridge and coach yard. These are now recorded as HB23/15/039A, HB23/15/039B HB23/15/039D and HB23/15/039 E respectively.