WW II Watch office (control tower ), in field on west side of Slatemill Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4JW

A World War II watch office (control tower) standing in a field on the west side of Slatemill Road near Kilkeel, Co Down.

This structure represents the austerity architecture of the Second World War, which sought to minimise materials while maximising practical utility. The building is not an architectural masterpiece, but rather derives its interest from its historical context, its brief operational lifespan, and its deliberately austere 'temporary' construction methods.

The watch office is a two-storey building constructed from red brickwork in English garden bond with a 200mm thick cement render. It features a flat concrete roof with a slight overhang, which extends as a canopy over an opening on the left (west) elevation. A cantilevered concrete observation platform projects from the front elevation at first floor level, wrapping around the front third of both side elevations and retaining the remains of a thin tubular metal balustrade.

The front elevation contains three equally spaced linear window openings on each floor, with all window and door openings either blocked, partially blocked, or fitted with new windows. The left (west) elevation has a central partially boarded-up door with two window openings to its left and a linear window opening to the extreme right. At first floor, a doorway to the right with an integral window provides access to the observation platform; a window opening sits at the extreme left, with another positioned just below the cantilevered canopy. The rear elevation has a central boarded-over door with transom, two rectangular windows to its left, and a tall window of similar width rising to first floor to its right. A small square window sits at ground floor extreme left, with a small rectangular window above the door at first floor and two sets of paired windows to its left. The east (right) elevation contains five rectangular windows at ground floor level, with a boarded-over doorway and integral window at the extreme left of first floor leading to the observation platform, and a further first-floor opening to the right of centre.

This is the most common type of watch office constructed on the temporary airfields built during World War II, identified by Air Ministry drawing number 12779/41. The 1946 Air Ministry map of Greencastle Aerodrome shows this structure positioned with three runways to its north-west, south-west, and east.

At the end of World War II, Britain operated over 600 airfields, with 29 in Northern Ireland. Construction at Greencastle commenced in spring 1942, with Carmichael of Edinburgh as the main contractor. Kilkeel RAF Station was commissioned on 30th July 1942 and handed over to the United States Army Airforce on 3rd August 1943, becoming Station 237, one of twelve American airfields in Northern Ireland. The station's principal buildings were of utility construction and dispersed around the local area to minimise bomb damage; its radar station was located remotely 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. From 20th December 1943, it also functioned as a Combat Crew Replacement Centre training aircrews arriving from America, a role that continued until the centre's disbandment in autumn 1944. The base was returned to the RAF on 31st May 1945 and decommissioned shortly after, remaining in Air Ministry ownership until sale in the early 1960s.