304 Newry Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4SD

A vernacular composition of mid-19th century origin, located at the roadside facing south on Newry Road in Kilkeel. The complex comprises a single-storey range to the west and a two-storey block to the east, all now vacant and blocked up. The buildings are harled and colour-washed throughout.

The single-storey western section consists of three bays with an abutting outhouse at right angles to the west gable, projecting forward into the street. Immediately to the right is the post office, occupying one bay, followed by the dwelling which takes up the final two bays. The roofs are natural slate with local shale stone visible at the rear, blue clay tiles to the ridge, and cement fillet securing the verge. Two smooth rendered chimneys sit on the cross walls, the eastern one having been raised, presumably to overcome downdrafts following the addition of the two-storey section. Gutters are galvanised metal. The front elevation features a sheeted door to the outhouse, a window and gabled slated projecting porch (with front window and sheeted entrance door to the east flank) to the post office, and a further window. A blocked opening remains visible on the left gable at ground floor level. The rear shows a parallel pitched stone porch with local slate roof, a sheeted door in the east gable, and a 3/3 sash window, part of which has been rebuilt in concrete brick following previous collapse.

The two-storey section is one bay wide and two bays deep, with a roof running at right angles to the main range, also in natural slate. A plain rendered chimney rises from the rear gable, doubled or superseded by a cast iron flue pipe bracketed externally up the wall. A further tall rendered chimney rises from the left side eaves, aligned with the ridge of the single-storey block. The road-facing gable contains only a first-floor window. The east wall has a ground-floor 1/1 sliding sash window in the first bay and a modern top-hung casement window at ground and first-floor level in the second bay. The rear gable contains a single first-floor window offset to the right.

Various detached outbuildings of varying scales are scattered across the site.

Cartographic and valuation records indicate the complex probably originated in the mid-19th century. A small building was marked at this location on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, though it is uncertain whether it forms part of the existing range. The 1861 map shows two buildings, both described as single storey in the 1861 Valuation, with one cited as a shop. The two-storey section first appears in the 1873 Valuation, at which point the house rating increased from £3 to £4 10s 0d. A further rise to £6 10s 0d occurred in 1878 when offices were added. By 1901 the complex was identified on the Ordnance Survey map as Lisnacree Post Office.