Coastguard station, Adjacent to 52 Leestone Rd, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4NW

This is a mid-19th century Coastguard house constructed in a vernacular style, preceding the more formal designs later produced by the Board of Works. While holding social interest for the local community, it is not considered to have special architectural or historic merit.

The house is a single-storey, two-bay structure facing south-west. It features a slated roof with a rendered stepped chimney on the right gable. Rainwater goods are incomplete. The walls are whitewashed and dashed random rubble with a projecting eaves course. The main elevation has a gabled porch at the left end, with a main door on the right side of the porch. A narrow, rectangular margin-paned casement window is set into the porch gable. A sliding sash window is located centrally on the front elevation. An extension is present on the right gable, incorporating sliding sash windows on that gable. All window sills are of roughly dressed granite. The rear elevation includes a door to the right and a double margin-paned window to the left.

This building is one of two Coastguard houses situated at this location; the one to the west has been modernised and is now of limited architectural interest. Records indicate a building was marked at this location on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, although it is not documented as having a Coastguard connection in the 1834 Valuation book. A Coastguard station is explicitly identified on the 1859 and 1901 Ordnance Survey maps, and it was likely erected during the mid-19th century to replace a nearby watch house. A Waterguard station, recorded on the 1834 map and as a watch house on the 1859 and 1901 maps, was located a short distance south, near the shoreline. This Waterguard station, built in 1827 according to Mayne, has been modernised and bears little resemblance to its original appearance. Both premises were relinquished by the authorities around 1904.