WW2 Structures, in field to N of 6&8 Annalong Road, Ballymartin, nr Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4PG

World War II Radar Station Structures, Ballymartin

A group of six structures forming the core of a World War II radar station located in a field to the north of 6 and 8 Annalong Road, Ballymartin, near Kilkeel. The complex is believed to have served Greencastle Aerodrome near Kilkeel and is potentially associated with the former radar station at Maghereagh townland. The structures date from the period 1940–1959 and are recorded as derelict.

Structure A is a single storey, single bay picket post positioned in the south-west corner by the access lane. It has a pitched corrugated asbestos roof aligned north-south with the rear pitch off, and no rainwater goods. The walls are single skin red brick, cement rendered, with a buttress at either end, sitting on a concrete base. The front (west) elevation has a sheeted timber door to the right (off hinges and rotten) and a blocked-up window to the left. The right (south) gable contains a pair of eight-paned steel casements in a single opening with a sloping brown tile cill. The rear wall has a single eight-paned casement with tiled cill. The left (north) gable has an infilled window. The walls appear to have been formerly painted black.

Structure B is a large rectangular single storey, single bay shed to the north of the picket post. It has a pitched corrugated asbestos roof aligned south-west to north-east, with later perspex roof panels supported on four metal trusses. The walls are double skin red brick with buttresses at regular intervals, on a concrete base. The front (south-west) gable has a large rolling corrugated metal door (of later date) hung over an original opening. The left and right elevations are blank, although the left (north-west) is embanked with earth to approximately 1 metre high and the right is now abutted by a large concrete blockwork shed. The rear (north-east) gable is canted forward in a prow and appears to have been rebuilt at the gable apex. It is abutted by a single storey, single bay structure (possibly blast walling) which now has a roughly constructed corrugated asbestos roof, a central door, and an embanked earth wall on its right (north-west) elevation.

Structure C is a single storey, single bay store building immediately to the north of building B. It has a flat concrete roof with bituminous coating and no rainwater goods. The walls are red brick on a concrete base. The front (south-east) elevation has a pair of original sheeted timber doors to the right and a pair of eight-paned steel casements with tiled cill to the left. The left (south-west) elevation has a louvred timber vent on the left. The rear (north-west) elevation has a small hatch-sized hinged metal door on the right. The right (north-east) elevation is blank.

Structure D is a single storey, single bay air raid shelter to the north of the group. It has a rectangular flat concrete roof aligned west-east and projecting to the east end as a porch. The walls have an inner and outer brick skin with a concrete core, all blank. At the east end, the porch is supported by a blank blast wall and is accessed from the front and rear (north and south). Within the porch, leading into the shelter, is a single doorway without a door. This is the first surveyed air raid shelter in the area to be only one bay; other examples at Cranfield are two bays.

Structure E is a single storey, two bay latrine block at the east side of the group. It has a pitched lean-to corrugated asbestos roof aligned north-west to south-east. The walls are single skin red brick on a concrete base. The front and rear walls (south-west and north-east) are identical, each with a sheeted timber door and an eight-paned steel casement window with obscured glass and tiled cill to the left. The end walls are blank.

Structure F is a ruinous single storey, single bay structure to the south-west of building E. Only three red brick walls remain on a concrete base.