WW2 Structure, In field to south of 45 Lurganconary Road, Kilkeel, Newry, BT34

World War II Structure

A single-storey, three-bay structure aligned north-south in a field south of Lurganconary Road, Kilkeel. Built during the Second World War as part of the austerity building programme, which aimed to minimise materials while maximising utility, this building exemplifies the temporary construction methods of that era rather than architectural refinement. Its historical significance lies in its wartime origins, brief practical use, and austere design.

The structure consists of narrow first and third bays flanking a central single room. It is constructed of temporary 100mm red brick with cement render walls, and is roofed with pitched corrugated asbestos cement with a semicircular ridge and circular asbestos cement stops. A single square red brick chimney rises on the ridge between bays two and three.

The north gable (front) contains a central doorway and a single narrow window opening to either side. The door and frame are missing, though surviving timber suggests the windows originally held plain side-hung casements with bottom-hinged transoms above and narrow timber cills. The east elevation features buttresses at either end and two on the wall face; abutting the southernmost bay is a low square rendered water tank supported on brick piers. The central bay contains two blocked-up window openings, double the width of those on the front. The south gable is identical to the north, while the west elevation mirrors the east but without the water tank. A concrete track links the structure to the road; at its junction stands an assortment of concrete blocks, possibly aerial anchors or remains of a picket post.

Although the 1946 Air Ministry map of Greencastle Aerodrome does not show this building, its construction details, materials, and location suggest it dates from the Second World War and likely formed part of the Greencastle complex to the south and east. Construction at Greencastle began in spring 1942 under the main contractor Carmichael of Edinburgh. Kilkeel RAF Station was commissioned on 30 July 1942 and handed over to the United States Army Airforce on 3 August 1943, becoming Station 237, one of twelve American airfields in Northern Ireland. The station's principal buildings were utility construction, dispersed around the locality to minimise bombing risk. The base served as a satellite to Langford Lodge near Antrim, preparing aircraft for operational bases in East Anglia, and from 20 December 1943 housed a Combat Crew Replacement Centre training American aircrews, which operated until autumn 1944. The RAF reoccupied the station on 31 May 1945; it was decommissioned shortly after and remained in Air Ministry ownership until the early 1960s, when the land was sold back to local owners.

The structure is recorded as derelict and is of industrial archaeological interest.