38 Dunnaval Road, Dunnaval, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4HW

This is a simple vernacular shop building located at the junction of Dunnaval Road and Ballynahattan Road in Dunnaval, near Kilkeel. The construction date is estimated between 1840 and 1859. It was originally shown on an 1834 Ordnance Survey map as a one-storey building, but was subsequently rebuilt as a two-storey structure during the mid-19th century.

The building has a pitched natural slate roof with dashed brick verges and rendered coped chimneys on each gable; one chimney has asbestos-cement slate smokestacks, the other terracotta pots. It features half-round plastic rainwater goods, some of which are missing. The walls are painted wet-dash, with projecting eaves, and a painted granite wheel stone at the corner on the road junction. The north-facing facade is slightly asymmetrical, with the right bay wider than the left. The main entrance is slightly to the right of centre, incorporating a framed and sheeted door with an additional hinged half leaf leading to an internal vestibule and a boarded-up mouth-organ transom above. Ground-floor windows are exposed 6/6 box sliding sashes with painted granite cills; corresponding first-floor windows are also present, but are now boarded up. The left and right gables are blank.

A one-storey annexe abuts the rear elevation along its full length, having a tarred natural slate roof which aligns with the main block’s eaves. The annexe’s walls are smooth-lined render and feature a 1/1 sliding sash window at each end, both boarded up, and a t+g sheeted painted timber door towards the right end; its cheeks are blank. A gravelled area at the front-right contains a postbox from the reign of Elizabeth II, mounted on a cast-iron post. A small, overgrown garden is on the left side. The rear includes a small yard with a derelict outbuilding, partially enclosed by the gable of an adjoining barn. Wrought-iron railings and a pedestrian gate flank the barn gable, and a corrugated metal gate between dashed square piers marks a vehicle entrance along Ballynahattan Road.

Historical records indicate the building was initially owned by Henry Reilly and served as a small post office. Later fireplaces and the staircase suggest some modernisation in the 20th century. The building was delisted on 27th September 2002.