Waiting Room, Former Ballyward Railway Station, adj to 26 Station Road, Ballyward, Castlewellan, Co Down, BT31 9TU

Waiting Room, Former Ballyward Railway Station

This is a long, plain timber-clad railway station waiting room of 1906 with a slated gabled roof and segmental headed sash windows. It is located to the north of Station Road, approximately five miles northeast of Castlewellan in County Down, and forms part of an unusually well-preserved collection of contemporary structures originally belonging to Ballyward Station.

The entire building is timber clad and painted, resting on a moulded painted concrete base. The gabled roof is slated with an overhang, plain barges, and boxed-in eaves and verge. Three yellow brick chimney stacks with bevelled bases, moulded courses and low pots rise from the roof. Moulded cast iron gutters and PVC downspouts complete the exterior.

The asymmetrical south-facing front elevation features the main entrance to the right of centre, comprising a modern partly glazed timber door with a narrow sidelight to the left and a segmental arched fanlight, all with patterned glazing and a raised timber surround. To the left of the doorway are three unevenly spaced segmental headed sash windows with vertical glazing bars in a 2/2 configuration; the furthest window to the left has patterned glazing. To the right of the doorway are two similar windows. The east and west gables are blank.

The rear elevation features a large timber lean-to extension with a corrugated iron roof, added after 1955 when the property was converted to a dwelling. The lean-to has a plain sheeted door on its west face and a 2/2 sash window to the east. To the immediate left and right of the lean-to on the main building facade is a six-light flat arch window with curved corners to the upper lights, each accompanied by a plain timber entablature and cornice, with a pilaster-like timber piece to the right of the right-hand window. These windows appear to be remnants of a much larger glazing area that once lit the waiting room. Further right is another window matching the front elevation, surrounded by the same surround as the front entrance, suggesting a former doorway, followed by another matching window and a panelled door with segmental fanlight and surround identical to the front entrance.

To the north of the building, stretching approximately 92 metres, lies the disused platform, now largely grass-covered. Its north face, facing the former railway bed, remains visible, consisting of squared stone with reinforced concrete coping, with sloped ends at each extremity. An identical platform stands to the north side of the cutting, with a small brick shed located just to the north of this.

Ballyward railway station formed part of the line between Ballyroney and Newcastle. The line opened in 1906 and was jointly operated by the Great Northern Railway and the Belfast & County Down Railway. The station buildings are believed to have been designed by William Henry Mills, the Great Northern Railway's company engineer. The line operated for 49 years until it closed in 1955, the final five years under sole Great Northern Railway operation. Following closure, the station buildings were acquired by a private owner, and the former waiting room was subsequently converted to a dwelling. The survival of the building and platform structures, relatively unchanged and as a complete ensemble, is unusual and of considerable group value and industrial archaeological interest.