Former Station Master's House, 26 Station Road, Ballyward, Castlewellan, Co Down, BT31 9TU

This is a small, plain railway station master's house built in 1906, located north of Station Road approximately 5 miles northeast of Castlewellan. It forms part of a collection of contemporary buildings originally belonging to Ballyward Station, which operated on the line between Ballyroney and Newcastle. The station line was opened in 1906 and jointly operated by the Great Northern Railway and the Belfast & County Down Railway before closing in 1955. The buildings are believed to have been designed by William Henry Mills, engineer for the Great Northern Railway. The collection survives relatively unchanged as an unusual and intact ensemble of railway structures from this period.

The house is a relatively modest structure with a gabled roof and small porch. The walls are finished in painted roughcast, and the roof is slated with an overhang featuring plain barges, collar beams and finials. Two rendered chimneys serve the building: one positioned west of the main ridge and another east of the ridge of the return section.

The front elevation faces south and is asymmetrical in composition. To the right of centre stands a small gabled porch with a slated overhanging roof matching the main building's detailing. The porch features a panelled and glazed door set within a segmental arched recess on its west face. The south gable face of the porch contains a plain sash window of nearly square proportion with a segmental arch head. To the left of the porch on the main façade are two sash windows with segmental heads; the frames incorporate vertical and horizontal glazing bars, with the horizontal bar following the curve of the arch head. The east gable has two windows: the left matching the porch window type, the right matching those on the main façade. The west gable is blank. Cast iron rainwater goods serve the building throughout.

The rear elevation is dominated by a large gabled return with a small lean-to projection on its west face. The east face of the return features an arched window matching the front façade pattern. The north-facing gable of the return has a flat arched window with a plain sash frame positioned to the right. To the left on the east face is a small lean-to shed projection with a timber-sheeted door to its south face and a small window to the north. A timber-sheeted door serves the east face of the return just right of this projection. The rear façade of the main section contains a window to the right matching those on the front elevation.

After the railway line closed in 1955, the Ballyward station buildings were acquired by a private owner. The building is of local historical interest and industrial archaeological significance.