Carrickfergus Railway Station, 10 Victoria Street, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 8AQ

Carrickfergus Railway Station

A well-detailed and proportioned multi-bay single-storey Arts and Crafts-styled late 19th-century railway station with a number of well-preserved contemporary ancillary structures. The station's principal entrance on Victoria Street is on axis with North Street, allowing travellers to leave the station and follow the downhill North Street into the old North Gate through the old city walls and into the city centre. The well-preserved interiors of the station, signal cabin and the subway encapsulate the rich railway heritage of one of the best-preserved railway stations in Northern Ireland.

A detached multi-bay single-storey Arts and Crafts-styled railway station, built in 1895 to designs by Berkley Deane Wise, located at the north end of Victoria Street and south of Carrickfergus Avenue. The building is rectangular on plan with an offset projecting bay facing south. It has a diminished hipped brick return to the west gable and a catslide canopy to the north. The roof is gambrel clay tile with roll-top red clay ridge tiles and red brick chimneytstacks with corniced caps. Replacement metal gutters with rectangular downpipes bear the foundry mark "ALUMASO". The walling is rendered with applied decorative timber framing over a raised Flemish-bonded red brick plinth.

Windows are painted timber mullion-and-transom casements with modern metal grilles. Doors are square-headed. The principal south elevation is dominated by the projecting bay, with the remainder divided by projecting brick chimneytstacks and a variety of mullion-and-transom casements. The oriel window to the projecting bay sits on a brick corbel. The projecting bay has a fixed timber sign surmounted by a multi-light casement with central cartouche. The right cheek features a double-leaf diagonally sheeted timber door accessed by a flight of concrete steps with curved brick railing and stone coping. The left cheek is detailed similarly but with a ramp instead of stairs and non-curved railing.

The west gable is abutted by a lower return with a hipped roof, timber boxed eaves and brick walling. Three horizontal slit windows pierce this section. The right cheek has a timber-panelled door accessed by concrete stairs with brick railing. The left cheek has a plinth, moulded sill-course, and a moulded six-panelled timber door to the right with a round-headed window to the left.

The rear north elevation opens onto the platform and is detailed as the return section. It is contained under a deep overhanging canopy supported on decorative cast-iron columns with Composite capitals and filleted spandrels. The soffit exposes the timber roof structure. The left section is enclosed by modern glazing, whilst the right section has two raised-and-fielded six-panelled doors with overlights and four windows.

The east gable is detailed as the west gable.

The station is situated north of the town centre and is accompanied by a two-storey signal cabin to the west. An additional North Platform is located to the north and connected to the station by a north-south subway tunnel with modern lift pavilions on both platforms.

The North Platform is sheltered by a freestanding canopy with pitched clay tile roof and sheeted timber exposed roof structure on cross-braced queen post trusses, supported on chamfered timber piers with scalloped fascias. It contains modern glazed partitions and an information kiosk. The subway entrance on the North Platform is enclosed by decorative cast-iron railings. The subway is entered at four points by stairs at the north and south of the station, internally and from the North Platform, as well as by both lifts. The subway walling is white glazed brick with green glazed brick trim to corners, arches and railings. The floor tiles are replacement.

The signal cabin has a hipped roof with deeply projecting timber-sheeted box eaves with brackets and replacement moulded metal gutters. A brick chimneystack with moulded cap sits at the southeast corner. The walling is English Garden Wall-bonded brick over a plinth with a moulded stringcourse between ground and first floors and engaged pillars to the ground floor corners. Windows are six-light timber horizontal-sliding sashes with metal security grilles over timber-sheeted panelling.

The principal north elevation of the signal cabin has the first floor projecting on carved timber jetties, with three windows to this level. The east elevation has two windows to the right end. The rear south elevation is blank, without stringcourse or plinth, and has two brick-blocked segmental-arch-headed windows at ground floor. The west elevation is detailed as the east but with a single panelled door to the left at ground floor and, at first floor, a projecting timber porch accessed by an external timber stair, a moulded six-panelled door to the left and a single window to the right.

Historical records indicate that a building of similar plan and orientation existed at this location and is shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857, captioned "station". The third edition Ordnance Survey map from 1902 shows additional buildings and developments around the station. Carrickfergus station was opened in 1862. The Griffiths Valuation Map of 1857 numbers the station, though the corresponding fieldbook entry was not located. The earlier building was therefore most likely built in the late 1850s, between 1832 and 1857. The current station was built in 1895 by Berkley Deane Wise to replace the existing station, which had been gutted by fire. It has been described as "an exceptionally fine mock Tudor style erection, with a main and island platform". In the booking hall is a free-standing stone and bronze war memorial that records the names of all those employees in Northern Ireland of the Midland Railway company who served and returned. According to the station controller, the station doors are steel with painted timber panelling laid over.