Pavillion, Manse Park, Manse Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4BW

Single storey pavilion aligned northeast to southwest on the south side of Manse Park, Manse Road, Kilkeel. Dating from the early 20th century, probably between 1920 and 1939, it is a typical example of a building type now becoming scarce, though it has been extensively remodelled and upgraded and does not merit statutory protection.

The pavilion has a pitched felt roof with oversailing eaves at the front that form a veranda, continuing over a return at the rear. Plain painted timber barges finish the gables, with a turned timber finial surviving on the left gable. The painted timber eaves board to the veranda has five decorative shallow segments cut out, aligned with the openings on the main wall behind. Semicircular cast iron rainwater goods are fitted with a painted plastic downpipe. Half-round rain gutters serve the rear return and right lean-to return.

The walls are painted horizontal broad modern tongue-and-groove sheeting on a cement rendered base. The front elevation is five openings wide, each opening separated by an advanced timber upright, with matching uprights at either end. From these rise scalloped painted timber diagonal brackets that support the veranda roof. The underside of the roof is sheeted with older narrower sheeting than that used on the walls. A sheeted plywood door at the centre, between the second and third openings from the left, is accessed by two cement rendered steps. The remaining openings contain single windows, each with a timber cill and fixed window pane with a small top-hung transom above; all have hinged plywood security shutters. The left gable has a single window of the same type, set to the right of centre. The rear return, which abuts the whole of the rear wall, is tongue-and-groove sheeted with a narrow window in each of its cheeks and a blank rear elevation. To the right gable of the main block is a single storey lean-to return with a felted roof and half-round metal gutters. It has painted tongue-and-groove walls over a rendered cement base, a window opening on its front wall in line with the main block, and a painted corrugated iron wall to its end face with a tongue-and-groove door at the left up two concrete steps.

To the front is a large lawn. Along the street stands a random rubble wall with a metal semicircular-headed sign reading 'Manse Park'.

Although Manse Park was in existence during the 19th century, no pavilion appears on any Ordnance Survey map up to and including the 1919 edition, confirming the building's later date. According to local residents, the park was donated by Mr Samuel Shannon, the builder of 4-12 Manse Road, to the town of Kilkeel for use as a tennis court. The 1886 County Down Directory records that "Lawn tennis is the only game that seems to have taken hold of popular fancy. A club was established about three years ago by the officials of the Belfast Bank."