Marker Post, Near 34 Kilfeaghan Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3AW

This is a small stone marker post of local interest, dating from between 1900 and 1919. It marks where a buried water main, supplying Warrenpoint, passes beneath 34 Kilfeaghan Road from its source higher up on Cassy Water. The marker is made of finely-dressed granite and is set into a random rubble wall on the west side of the road. It is 94cm high, with a semicircular top, and rectangular in cross-section, measuring 30cm wide by 22cm deep. Neatly carved into the face of the marker, visible from the road, are the letters W.W.W., denoting the Warrenpoint Water Works. A water trough, unrelated to the marker, is located immediately to its left, supplied by a pipe from the slope above.

The water supply system was approved by Parliament in 1910 and completed in 1912 at a cost of £11,000. The original route of the pipe is shown on Valuation Revision maps from 1895 to 1914. The abstraction point, where the water is taken from the Cassy and Cross Waters (at grid reference J 228 183), consists of a small vertical concrete weir across the stream, with an opening on the right bank leading to a small building with a semicircular roof and smooth cement rendering. Early maps suggest that originally only the weir existed at this location. The marker represents an interesting example of industrial archaeology.