Nissen Hut adjacent to, 124 Altanaveragh Road, Eskragh, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT78 2EP

A detached single-cell Nissen hut, built circa 1940, located on the north side of Altanaveragh Road near Eskragh. The building is rectangular in plan and comprises a single-skin corrugated metal half-barrel structure supported by steel sections and timber purlins, with a steel chimney or vent. The principal elevation faces south and consists of vertically-sheeted walling, now partially removed. Windows are square-headed timber-framed casement dormers. The west elevation contains three windows, each within a dormer with cat-slide roof; the east elevation is similarly fenestrated. The north elevation is constructed in brick and contains a square-headed entrance opening to the right. A wall-mounted lamp-post is present on the principal elevation.

The hut retains its original form and structure largely intact, though the removal of interior fabric has compromised its historic and architectural character. It is set in farmland in a rural area, bounded to the road at the south by remains of hedging with access through a farm gate, and bounded to other elevations by vegetation and hedging.

The building is first recorded on the 1980 Ordnance Survey map, though Valuation Records show it entered in 1963 with exemption status, probably indicating use as some form of public building. Currently in use as a hall.

The Nissen hut was invented by Lieutenant Colonel Peter Norman Nissen of the Royal Engineers in response to the army's need for an economical, portable, prefabricated building during the First World War. Over 100,000 were fabricated during that conflict. During the Second World War, the design was further developed by designers at Quonset Naval Base in the United States following the transfer of British properties in Scotland and Northern Ireland to American military use in 1941. These American-manufactured variants became known as Quonset Huts. An order of 2,488 such huts was authorised by the U.S. Bureau of Yards and Docks for Scotland and Northern Ireland in April 1941, later increased to 4,000 and then 8,000. Nissen huts continued to be manufactured after the Second World War and were used throughout Northern Ireland for various purposes, including housing and internment.