Water tank at former station, 8 Drumagarner Rd, Kilrea, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT51 5TB

A cast-iron water tank on a stone tower erected around 1879 as part of Kilrea Station complex. The tank is not listed but is noted for its industrial archaeological interest.

The structure comprises an open-topped rectangular cistern made of painted cast-iron panels bolted together, sitting atop a single-storey stone tower. The tower is constructed from random rubble basalt brought to courses with dressed sandstone wall heads. A semicircular-headed doorway trimmed with purple brick is located on the east side, with an identical but taller doorway on the west elevation. A small lean-to structure with a monopitched corrugated cement-fibre roof and concrete block walls abuts the west elevation.

On the east side, to the left of the doorway, a handle and rod linkage extends to the top of the tower, presumably to operate the valve on the outlet orifice (now capped) just below the cistern. To the right of the same doorway stand two vertical timbers, possibly remnants of a water level gauge assembly. The marking '10/60' is painted on the north end of the tank.

The tank stands a short distance north of Kilrea station building, originally positioned alongside the railway track. To the north is a tarmaced yard belonging to a house adjacent to the station premises. A mid-20th century shed lies to the west, with the station house yard to the south.

Kilrea Railway Station was designed by James Barton, the Derry Central Railway's architect and engineer. A contract for its construction, along with stations at Maghera, Upperlands, Garvagh, Aghadowey and Macfin, was signed with Messrs Dixon & Co in April 1879. The tank was built at the same time as the station. The Derry Central Railway line, which ran between Magherafelt and Macfin Junction, opened in February 1880 and was worked by the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway, connecting its Belfast-Londonderry line near Coleraine with its Antrim-Cookstown Branch at Magherafelt. The station complex, including this tank, appears on the 1905 Ordnance Survey 25-inch map. The Belfast & Northern Counties Railway acquired the Derry Central Railway's assets in 1901 and was taken over by the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1903. This company was reconstituted as the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1923. At nationalisation in 1949 the line was taken over by the Ulster Transport Authority. All services were axed in 1950 except goods traffic on the Magherafelt-Kilrea section, which survived until 1959.