WW2 technical site, Greencastle Road / Slatemill Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4JW

A group of six Second World War structures that formed the core of the technical site of Greencastle Aerodrome, situated around Greencastle Road and Slatemill Road.

Structure A: Mechanical Transport Office and Lorry Bays

This compound consists of two connected elements aligned northwest to southeast, positioned to the north of Greencastle Road opposite number 115. The structure was demolished as of 22 January 2002.

The office block is a low single-storey building with five bays, each approximately 3 metres wide. It has a pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof with a semicircular ridge. Three cement-rendered, coped chimneys with two pots each are positioned on the left gable, between bays two and three, and between bays four and five. Semicircular asbestos cement rainwater goods rest on buttresses. The walls are temporary red brick (100mm thick), rendered, with buttresses at either end and between each bay.

The northeast-facing front elevation shows, from left to right: bay one contains a single window opening with a pair of eight-paned metal casements; bay two has a painted sheeted timber door to the left with an eight-paned casement to the right; bay three has a pair of eight-paned casements; bay four has a single eight-paned casement; bay five has a sheeted door and an eight-paned casement to its right. The right gable abuts the lorry bays. The left gable has two buttresses and no openings. The rear elevation shows bays one and two each have a pair of eight-paned casements, bay three has a two-paned casement and a three-paned casement, bay four has a three-paned casement, a sheeted door and a two-paned casement, and bay five has a pair of eight-paned casements.

The lorry bays abut the right gable of the office block and stand higher. They comprise six identical bays, each separated by a buttress that supports a lintel formed by a pair of iron bars upon which the bricks are built. The walls are cement-rendered permanent red brick (200mm thick). The roof is pitched corrugated asbestos cement with a semicircular asbestos ridge and circular asbestos cement stops. Between each buttress at eaves level is a plain timber eaves board. Each front opening has the remains of a timber doorframe but no doors remain. Modern concrete block walls have been built abutting each front buttress, with concrete blocks featuring chamfered fronts and holes in each cheek that appear original. The right gable is blank with two buttresses. The left gable abuts the offices, with the remaining wall blank. The rear wall of each lorry bay is identical, featuring a pair of 2/2 metal casement windows between each buttress.

Structure B: Plant Structure

A single-storey, single-bay rectangular structure aligned northwest to southeast in a field to the north of Greencastle Road. It has a flat, overhanging cast in-situ concrete roof. The walls are permanent red brick (200mm thick) laid in alternate header and stretcher courses in English garden wall bond, set on a concrete plinth.

The northwest elevation features a sheet metal door protected by a brick blast wall to the front and right. The northeast elevation is blank except for four wall vents and a circular pipe approximately 10 centimetres in diameter that rises from ground level and turns at a 45-degree angle joint into the wall at approximately 75 centimetres high. The southeast elevation is blank except for two vents. The southwest elevation is blank but has two vents and four pipes of similar design to that on the northwest elevation, each pipe S-shaped in section, advancing from the wall, rising parallel to it and turning away from it.

Structure C: Sheds

A group on the south side of Greencastle Road consisting of two main sheds aligned parallel to one another northwest to southeast, linked by two smaller link blocks aligned southwest to northeast.

Both main blocks have pitched corrugated asbestos cement roofs with semicircular ridges and circular stops. The right block has a red brick chimney rising from its right pitch. The link blocks have similar lower roofs that tie into the main roofs. The walls are temporary red brick (100mm thick), rendered, with buttresses every approximately 3 metres on the side elevations.

The northwest-facing elevation consists of a gable to the left and right linked by a lower block. The right gable advances forward by one bay. Both have a pair of sheet metal doors to centre, flanked by infilled window openings. The link between the two is three bays wide with a sheeted door to centre and blocked-up windows to the left and right bays. The left block, flush with the link block on the façade, is eight bays deep with a blocked-up window opening to each bay. Its rear gable has a timber sliding loading door at centre. To the rear, this block advances one bay ahead of the link block, with the exposed bay of the southeast elevation having a blocked-up window opening.

The rear link block has a small lean-to porch to its central bay with blocked-up windows to the left and right bays. The right block advances two bays forward of the central link block; these exposed cheeks have blocked-up window openings. It is ten bays deep with a blocked-up window opening to each bay, and its rear gable has a large modern loading bay that advances two bays beyond the rear link block, both windows to these exposed bays being blocked up. A small central yard between the two link blocks was not inspected.

Structure D: Speech Broadcast Building

A small single-storey, one-bay structure positioned in a corner of a field. It has a flat, slightly overhanging concrete roof. The walls are permanent red brick (200mm thick) laid in English garden wall bond, set on a concrete plinth.

The entrance on the northeast elevation consists of a doorway with a concrete lintel, protected by a 1½-brick-deep blast wall to the front and right. Each remaining wall has four small vents.

Structure E

A single-storey, six-bay structure aligned west to east. It has a pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof with semicircular ridges and no rainwater goods. The walls are cement-rendered temporary red brick (100mm thick) with buttresses between each bay and at either end.

The west gable has two buttresses and a blocked-up door to the left. The north elevation has a blocked-up window opening (each probably containing a pair of steel casements) on each bay. The east gable has two buttresses and is blank. On the south elevation, the first, second and sixth bays have window openings as on the east elevation; the third and fifth bays have single narrow windows (probably containing single steel casements); the fourth bay contains a pair of modern corrugated metal doors in an original opening.

Structure F

A single-storey, ten-bay structure aligned north to south. It has a pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof with a semicircular ridge, circular asbestos cement stops and a raised asbestos cement vent to the southern end of each pitch. There are no rainwater goods. The walls are cement-rendered red brick, temporary (100mm thick), with buttresses between each bay.

The north gable has two buttresses and a pair of internally hung sliding timber doors. The east elevation is ten bays long but much altered. The fourth and ninth bays appear to have contained doorways, with window openings in the remaining bays. The south gable has two buttresses and is blank. The west elevation has window openings to bays two, four, six and ten (all infilled). Bays seven and nine have doors, and the remaining bays (one, three and five) are blank.