WW II structures, west of 47 Kittys Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4EJ

These Second World War structures stand west of 47 Kitty's Road as evidence of austerity wartime architecture. Built to minimise materials whilst maximising utility, they represent the temporary, practical construction methods of their era rather than architectural refinement. Their significance lies in their historical context, short operational lifespan, and austere character.

Block A is a single-storey ablutions block of nine and a half structural bays, aligned south-west to north-east across the field. It is built on a concrete plinth with each bay approximately 10 feet wide. The pitched corrugated asbestos cement roof features semicircular ridges with circular asbestos stops. Moulded asbestos cement barge boards and upstanding asbestos cement vents crown the structure, with no rainwater goods installed. The walls are temporary red brick construction, 100 millimetres thick and cement rendered, with buttresses at intervals corresponding to each bay and supporting the roof structure. The north-east gable contains three bays with a large doorway set to centre and blocked single casement window openings to the left and right bays. Each side elevation has a single steel window per bay, typically three-paned casements without cills, most now altered or infilled. Doors throughout are timber framed and sheeted, painted. A single door occurs on the second bay from the left on the south-east elevation. The south-west gable is abutted at centre by a rendered brick water tower rising above the roof ridge with a flat, overhanging concrete roof. The tower has a doorway at ground floor on its left cheek and the tank is visible through an opening on its north-east face. A door and window, both now infilled, occupy the gable to either side of the tower.

Block B is a small single-storey picket post of two bays, aligned south-west to north-east to the north-west of Block A. It stands on a concrete plinth with pitched corrugated asbestos roof with semicircular ridges and circular asbestos cement stops. Moulded asbestos cement barge boards are present and no rainwater goods. The walls are temporary red brick, 100 millimetres thick with smooth cement render and buttresses at either end and between bays. A single door forms the main entrance on the right, narrower bay of the north-west elevation. The left bay contains a pair of casement windows, now infilled, without cill. The north-east gable is three bays wide with infilled single casements to the left and right bays. The south-east elevation has a door to the left, narrower bay and two paired casements to the right bay, both infilled. The south-west gable contains a door left of centre flanked by single-paned shoulder-height windows and a fixed window to the right.

According to the 1946 Air Ministry map of Greencastle Aerodrome, these buildings formed part of Living Site Four. The ablutions block is almost identical to one illustrated in Lowery (Figure 64a, page 118), whilst the picket post matches Air Ministry design number 14294/40. Living Site Four contained approximately 70 structures excluding air raid shelters, of which only these two remain. The vast majority of the others were Nissen huts, sold after the war. Over 600 airfields existed in Britain at the end of the Second World War, with 29 in Northern Ireland. Construction at Greencastle began in spring 1942 under main contractor Carmichael of Edinburgh. Kilkeel RAF Station was commissioned on 30th July 1942 and handed over to the United States Army Air Force on 3rd August 1943, becoming Station 237, one of 12 American airfields in Northern Ireland. Principal building groups employed utility construction dispersed around the local area to avoid concentrated enemy bombing, with the radar station positioned furthest away at Maghereagh to the north-east of Kilkeel. The station served as a satellite to Langford Lodge near Antrim, preparing aircraft for operational bases in East Anglia, and housed a Combat Crew Replacement Centre from 20th December 1943 to autumn 1944 for training American aircrews. The base was returned to the RAF on 31st May 1945 and decommissioned shortly after. Air Ministry ownership continued until the early 1960s when the structures were sold back to local owners.