Killevy Post Office and Outbuildings, 2 Drumintee Road, Meigh, Newry, Co Armagh, BT35 8JT

Killevy Post Office and Outbuildings

A mid-19th century two-storey building prominently sited on the corner of Drumintee Road and Railway Road at Meigh, Newry. The building has been extensively altered and extended, losing much of its historical plan form and interior character, though most original external features remain visible.

The building is constructed of red machine brick laid in English garden wall bond. It has a pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiling and two brick chimneys: one to the left side of the front pitch on the north-west elevation and one parallel with the ridge of the north-east elevation. Both chimneys retain original moulded cornice bricks and central moulded brick bands, though they have cement rendered upper coping. Boxed eaves support ogee metal rainwater goods with a downpipe to the north-east elevation. All openings except those to the shopfront have granite cills and brick jack arches to the head.

The north-east elevation contains the main corner feature: a canted bay with natural slate roof and chamfered base course. Ground-floor windows to all three cheeks are 1/1 sliding sashes with horns, set in stop-end chamfered reveals with granite cills. A six-panelled timber door with plain transom rests on two granite base blocks and is sheltered by a moulded timber canopy supported on moulded granite corbels. The canted corner contains the main recessed entrance with stop-end chamfered reveals. Original decorative timber brackets supported on moulded granite corbels fill the head of the opening. This entrance holds a pair of modern three-panelled doors with transom over and four-panelled timber sidewalls, with a tiled threshold reached by a single granite step and a cast-iron folding lattice gate. The soffit is modern tongue-and-groove pitch pine. A modern traditional-style shopfront flanks the corner entrance, featuring a timber fascia board with hand-painted lettering, fluted timber pilasters, and a top-hung casement window. Above the shop, three windows to the first floor are 1/1 top-hung casements with lower panes in decorative frosted glass, separated by window baskets and reproduction light fittings. Two new traditional-style metal hanging signs flank the canted corner with a third above the shop.

Extensions have been added to each elevation. The left bay of the north-east elevation is a new extension; the right bay is another new extension incorporating a shop with a central window flanked by fluted timber pilasters on granite blocks, timber six-panelled double doors to either side, and three windows above matching the first-floor style.

The north-west elevation has two large casement windows to the ground floor within a shopfront, with a six-panelled timber door and plain transom to their right. To the right of this door is a diminished-height window formerly contained within a single-storey abutment, which has been raised and incorporated into the extension. The left gable is rendered; the rear elevations are rendered and blank; the right gable is cement blockwork and blank.

An outbuilding to the south-east is single-storey with a pitched natural slate roof and granite rubble walls. A timber eaves course supports cast-iron rainwater goods. The principal south-east elevation has five openings: two timber tongue-and-groove sheeted doors placed between three side-hung timber casement windows with concrete cills. The right and left gables are blank, and the rear is incorporated into modern kitchen areas.

The building is recorded on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map and subsequent editions. Its all-brick construction indicates a rebuild in the late 19th century (dated 1860-1879). The post office was relocated in the late 1990s. The building has been delisted and is no longer considered of special architectural or historic interest owing to extensive alteration and loss of historical plan form and interior features.