WW2 Administration site, Mourne Park House, Lurganconary Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4LL

World War Two Administration Site, Mourne Park House, Lurganconary Road, Kilkeel

This is a group of seven Second World War military buildings situated on the front lawn of Mourne Wood House. They were constructed around 1942 and formed the administrative core of Greencastle Aerodrome, also known as Kilkeel RAF Station. The buildings were designed by the Air Ministry and built by the main contractor, Carmichael of Edinburgh. They are recorded as derelict. The architecture makes no claim to beauty — its interest lies entirely in its historical context and the deliberately austere, temporary nature of its construction, which used the minimum of materials in the service of maximum practicality.

The seven structures are: A) an office block, B) a latrine block, C) a second office block, D) a generator house, E) an operations block, F) a second latrine block, and G) a structure of unknown former use.

A) Office Block A linear, single-storey, seven-bay building aligned northwest to southeast. The roof is pitched corrugated asbestos cement with semicircular ridge pieces and circular asbestos cement stops at the ends. The walls are cement-rendered temporary brickwork, only 100mm thick, with a buttress between each bay to support the metal roof trusses. All windows are metal-framed, multi-paned paired casements with flush sills. The northwest gable is three bays wide, with a sliding timber door to the central bay and blank walls to either side. The northeast elevation has a window to each bay except bay five, which is blank. The southeast gable is three bays wide, with a doorway to the central bay and a window on both the left and right bays. The southwest elevation has a window on each bay except the fifth and seventh, which have doorways.

B) Latrine Block A small, single-storey, four-bay block to the northwest of building A. The corrugated asbestos cement monopitch roof, which slopes to the southeast, has partially collapsed. The walls are cement-rendered temporary red brickwork, 100mm thick, with buttresses separating each bay and at either end. The southwest gable is one bay wide with a doorway to the left, formerly fitted with a sliding door. The northwest elevation is four bays wide; the bays at either end are blank, while each of the two central bays has a pair of three-paned metal casement windows with no sills. The northeast gable has a blocked-up door opening to the right. The southeast elevation is four bays wide; the bays at either end are blank, and each of the two central bays has a pair of four-paned metal casement windows, with those in bay two blocked up.

C) Office Block A linear, single-storey, seven-bay block aligned northeast to southwest, situated to the southwest of building A. The roof is pitched corrugated asbestos cement with semicircular ridges and circular asbestos cement stops at either end. The walls are cement-rendered temporary brickwork, 100mm thick, with buttresses between each bay and at either end to support the metal roof trusses. All windows are metal-framed, multi-paned paired casements with flush sills. The northeast gable is three bays wide: the left and right bays each have a doorway, and the central bay has a partially blocked-up metal-framed window. The southeast elevation has a single window on each of its seven bays, all being four-paned paired casements, each with a pair of top-hung two-paned transoms above — all partially blocked up. The southwest gable is three bays wide with a much-altered doorway to the right bay. The northwest elevation is identical to the southeast elevation.

D) Generator House A single-storey, two-bay block abutting the southwest elevation of the operations block (building E). The roof consists of a pair of gables set against one another, with corrugated asbestos cement pitches and semicircular ridges with circular stops at each end. The left gable, as seen from the southwest, is wider than the right. Both gables have a red brick chimney at the point where they meet building E. The walls are cement-rendered temporary brickwork, 100mm thick, with buttresses between the bays to support the metal roof trusses. Windows are metal-framed, multi-paned paired casements with flush sills. The southwest facade has five bays in total: the left gable accounts for three bays and the right gable for two. Reading left to right, bay one has an enlarged doorway, bay two has a blocked-up door, bay three has a window opening, bay four (in the right gable) has an enlarged door, and bay five is blank. The southeast elevation is two bays wide, with a pair of four-paned casements in the left bay and a blank right bay. The northwest elevation is also two bays wide, with a pair of four-paned casements each with a two-paned top-hung transom above in the left bay, and a blank right bay.

E) Operations Block A single-storey, partially double-height block built of permanent red brickwork, 300mm thick, with a flat concrete roof that partially overhangs. The building has two sections: a northern block that is taller, with a double-height roof and a rectangular plan; and a lower southern block that projects further to the northeast. The northern block has no windows and no external door openings, except for a large modern vehicle door on the northwest wall. The southern block is similarly plain, with a single doorway on its advanced northwest elevation screened by a blast wall. Its remaining elevations are blank except for a modern opening on the northeast wall. Where the generator house (building D) abuts this block, ventilation ducts are visible on the party wall between the two structures.

F) Latrine Block A single-storey, single-bay structure aligned northwest to southeast. The monopitch corrugated asbestos cement roof has moulded eaves and no rainwater goods. The walls are cement-rendered temporary red brickwork, 100mm thick, with buttresses at either end. The northwest and southeast gables are blank. The southwest elevation has two four-paned casement windows and a doorway to their right. The northeast elevation has a pair of three-paned metal casements.

G) Structure of Unknown Use A single-storey block, partially collapsed, located on the edge of a sand quarry to the south of the main group. The roof is flat, cast in situ concrete. The walls are rendered red brickwork, 100mm thick. The northeast elevation has a pair of three-paned metal casements with thin metal bars above. The northwest elevation has three four-paned casements set within a single opening; to the right of this is a later red brick addition with a similar roof and a blank wall. The southwest elevation of this addition is blank. The southeast elevation of the whole block has collapsed into the sand quarry.

Historical Context A map in the publication 12 Miles of Mourne identifies this site as an operations block, built on the tennis lawn in front of Mourne Wood House. The seven structures together formed the administrative core of Greencastle Aerodrome. The offices and latrine blocks are typical examples of temporary wartime brick construction, while the operations block is a permanent brick structure that would have been used to plot the progress of aircraft on sortie boards.

Construction at Greencastle began in spring 1942. The station was commissioned as Kilkeel RAF Station on 30th July 1942. On 3rd August 1943 it was handed over to the United States Army Air Force, becoming Station 237 — one of twelve American airfields in Northern Ireland. Its principal building groups were of utility construction and were dispersed across the local area to reduce the risk of concentrated enemy bombing; its radar station was located furthest away, at Maghereagh to the northeast of Kilkeel. The station served as a satellite to Langford Lodge near Antrim, preparing aircraft for operational bases in East Anglia. A second important function was as a training school for aircrews arriving from America. This Combat Crew Replacement Centre was established on 20th December 1943 and disbanded in autumn 1944. The base was handed back to the RAF on 31st May 1945 and decommissioned shortly afterwards, though it remained in Air Ministry ownership until the early 1960s, when it was sold back to local ownership. There were over 600 airfields in Britain by the end of the Second World War, and 29 in Northern Ireland.

Primary source: Air Ministry, Greencastle Record Site Plan (1946). Secondary sources: G. B. Innes, British Airfield Buildings of the Second World War (Leicester, 1995); B. Lowery (ed.), 20th Century Defences in Britain: An Introductory Guide (British Council for Archaeology, 1996); L. Murphy, 'Action Station: The Story of Greencastle Aerodrome', in 12 Miles of Mourne, vol. 3 (Kilkeel, 1989), pp. 33–50.