Outbuildings, Hawthorn Hill, Wood Road, Killevy, Co Armagh, BT35 8DE

An early 19th-century rectangular courtyard enclosed on all sides by former stables and related farm buildings, located within Slieve Gullion Forest Park on the former grounds of Hawthorn Hill. Built around 1815 by Hunt Walsh, the eastern side of the courtyard assumed its present form between 1861 and 1907. Although little internal fabric remains, the courtyard retains most of its external form, constructed using traditional building materials.

The courtyard is entered at the south-east corner through a large elliptical-headed arch set within a high rubble stone wall. The archway advances slightly from the wall and is constructed in granite ashlar with voussoirs, projecting spring stones and keystone, topped with stone coping. Plainly detailed cast-iron gates provide access. The courtyard floor is finished with brick pavers, decorative planting beds and gravel.

All buildings are constructed in coursed granite rubble with natural slate roofs. They have been refurbished by the Forest Service as offices, apartments, a conference centre and restaurant/service block.

The apartment block to the south is a two-storey, three-bay former coach house aligned west-east, with a central projecting bay to the north elevation flanked by lean-to single-storey wings. It has a hipped roof with cat-slides over the projecting bay and contains seven large modern skylight windows to the north pitch and six to the south pitch. The principal north elevation facing the yard is largely blank except for the projecting central bay, which contains a large glazed entrance door in a segmental arched opening. To either side, each floor has a segmental-headed opening with voussoirs and concrete cills; those to ground floor have quarry-glazed timber lattice windows with narrow mullions; those to first floor are slightly diminished in height and infilled with rubble stone. Each wing has a rectangular fixed-pane lattice window to its extreme end. The rear south elevation has a slightly advanced central bay containing a large central semi-elliptical-headed opening with voussoirs, infilled with tongue-and-groove sheeting with two fixed-pane windows. Above is an infilled window opening with granite cill. The left and right bays mirror each other, each with an infilled door opening (tongue-and-groove sheeted with a fixed window) and a fixed-pane lattice window to each floor. The right west gable is rendered with a modern tongue-and-groove sheeted door to its centre.

The office block to the west is a single-storey former stable block aligned north-south. Its principal east yard elevation features a two-storey central bay with a half-hipped roof, ridge tiles and a tall brick chimney to the right side. The flanking single-storey wings have monopitched roofs, each with five skylights. The central bay contains a modern timber-sheeted door with narrow transom and granite lintel, above which is a timber fixed-pane window with granite cill and lintel. The exposed left and right cheeks each have a lattice window to the front end. The left wing has a large segmental-headed opening to its left gable, while its east elevation contains three door openings. The right wing has five openings: that to the left is a modern timber-sheeted door with granite lintel, whilst all others are semi-elliptical-headed openings with glazed doors. The rear west elevation is blank and forms a low boundary wall to gardens beyond. The central bay is exposed at first-floor level and contains a central modern timber door with an infilled door opening bearing a large granite lintel to its immediate right. The right north gable is blank and is abutted by modern steps leading to an elevated orchard to the rear, with a modern metal handrail affixed to the wall.

The conference centre to the north is a two-storey block aligned east-west with a half-hipped roof featuring a brick eaves course and brick-dressed openings. Its principal south yard elevation has a large segmental-headed glazed doorway set to the left of centre, with two equally spaced segmental-headed windows with granite cills to its right—all lattice framed. Aligned above at first-floor level are four small window openings containing pairs of lattice windows with a central 1x4 panel. Ghost marks indicate a former lean-to that once abutted the left end before the west block was truncated to accommodate stairs. The left west gable is blank and is abutted by a modern glazed walkway that wraps along the rear elevation. The rear north elevation has six door openings, all now opening onto the modern glazed walkway. The right east gable has a segmental-headed window opening with granite cill to each floor, both containing metal-framed lattice windows, with a small modern fixed-pane window at the gable apex.

The restaurant/service block to the east is a single-storey structure aligned roughly north-south, curving slightly to the south, with a monopitched roof and pairs of modern skylights to the right end. Its principal west elevation (yard-facing) contains, from left to right: a pair of glazed doors with a tongue-and-groove panel, six segmental-headed openings (all glazed except that to the right end, which has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door), and three flat-headed tongue-and-groove sheeted doors to the right end, with those at centre being larger. The left north gable abuts the conference centre. The rear east elevation has a large pair of segmental-headed doors to the right of centre and an infilled doorway to the extreme right end. The right south side has a doorway just left of centre.

The courtyard is set at the foot of Slieve Gullion with a walled garden to its north-west and Hawthorn House to its south. The complex includes two gate lodges: a much-altered back lodge to the north and a restored gate lodge to the east, opposite the entrance gates to the park. The property was sold to the Forestry Commission in 1968. The present buildings were developed to provide resources for the local community and tourists, opening to the public in 1995. The complex was taken over in 1999 by Clanrye Employment and Training Services, Newry. The outbuildings are associated with the main house and gate lodges.