Signal Box, Ballyward Railway Station, adj to 26 Station Road, Ballyward, Castlewellan, Co Down, BT

Signal Box, Ballyward Railway Station

A substantial two-storey signal box built in 1906, constructed in red brick to the lower storey and horizontal timber cladding to the upper storey. The building stands near the east end of the south platform, approximately five miles north-east of Castlewellan in County Down, adjacent to Station Road. It forms part of an unusually well-preserved ensemble of contemporary structures from Ballyward Station.

The lower storey is built in red brick with large recessed panels to the west, north and east elevations. Each of these panels contains a timber door set to the right of centre. The south elevation is blank except for a projecting brick chimneystack with a pronounced cornice course and a projecting base. The north elevation features a small segmental-headed double sash window set within the recessed panel, its frame partly boarded over and covered by a grille, with vertical glazing bars visible to the upper lights.

The upper storey is clad in horizontal timber and has extensive glazing. The west elevation contains a large six-light horizontally sliding window with curved corners to the upper lights, positioned to the left of the entrance door. Above the doorway, raised letters spell 'Ballyward'. The upper storey glazing is arranged with mullions and transoms creating three lower windows of two, three and two lights respectively, and larger upper windows of six, nine and six lights. The central upper window has a horizontally sliding opening section.

The east elevation mirrors the west in its lower storey arrangement. The upper storey here has two small lower windows of two lights each and a large nine-light upper window with central horizontally sliding section. Raised lettering spelling 'Ballyward' appears above this window. The west side of the building is accessed by an external timber stair without rails leading to a panelled door.

The gabled roof is slated with a pronounced overhang supported on decorative brackets. The barge boards are shaped and pierced with spike finials. The right-hand glazing bars to the windows are missing.

The signal box was designed by William Henry Mills, the Great Northern Railway's company engineer. Ballyward Station formed part of the railway line between Ballyroney and Newcastle, which opened in 1906 and was jointly operated by the Great Northern Railway and the Belfast & County Down Railway. The line closed in 1955, after which the station buildings were acquired by a private owner. The building is of particular interest as an example of early 20th-century railway architecture and for its survival as part of a rare, relatively unchanged ensemble of contemporary station structures.