Former Station master's house (and waiting room), 148-150 Ballydugan Road, Tullymurry, Downpatrick, County Down, BT30 8HH

Former Station Master's House and Waiting Room, Tullymurry

This is a good example of a large two-storey former station master's house of 1897 with an attached single-storey former waiting room, all designed in typical late Victorian railway style with polychrome brick and overhanging gables. The building now contains two dwellings, with one situated in the former waiting room.

The property is located on a slight rise to the south side of Ballydugan Road, approximately four miles south-west of Downpatrick. The station itself closed in 1950, and the former railway cutting to the rear has been filled in. The platform edging has been retained to the rear.

The north-facing front features a two-storey gabled bay to the right which projects forward slightly. The front door is located to the right of this bay within a small projecting gabled porch. It is set in a brick segmental arch-headed opening with chamfered reveals, with a plain fanlight and a four-panel door, each panel infilled with diagonal boarding. The verge is finished with an overhanging decorative bargeboard. To the left of the porch is a segmental arch-headed window with sash frame without astragals. The first floor has two similar evenly-spaced windows. To the right of the two-storey bay is the side of a further two-storey gabled bay whose gable faces west. Both ground and first floors have a single window as before. To the right of this is a single-storey flat-roofed projection with one window. To the left of the two-storey bay extends the long former waiting room area, which is single-storey and gabled. At the centre of its front is a door opening with a modern glazed door and side. Either side of the door are two windows as before. To the far left is a partly demolished wall that appears to have been a screen wall to a small yard. To the right of the waiting room door is an Edward VII wall-mounted post box. The east gable of the waiting room has a right-of-centre door opening. To the left of this, marks on the wall suggest that a lean-to was recently removed. At the apex of the gable is an oculus feature with a ventilation grill infill. The exposed east sections of the main house showing above the waiting room roof are blank. The west gable of the two-storey section showing above the single-storey flat-roofed section is blank. The west gable of the single-storey flat-roofed section has a left-of-centre window opening with chamfered reveals but no drip moulding.

The rear south face of the waiting office has eight openings. That to the far left is a door opening with a modern door with glazed panel. To the right of this are two windows as before. Further right are three door openings as before, but the openings are now built up with concrete blockwork. To the far right are two further window openings. To the left of the single-storey section is a projecting two-storey gabled section with a ground floor window to the right side and two evenly-spaced first floor windows. To the left of the ground floor there was a door which was blocked in with matching facing brick some time ago. To the left of this is the side of a two-storey gabled section with a window each to ground floor and first floor. To the far left is a flat-roofed single-storey section with a modern window to the left and a modern panelled door to the right.

The building is finished in red facing brick with numerous string courses formed in dark blue engineering brick. The string courses at ground and first floor window level are paired and slightly projecting. The roof is covered with Bangor Blue slate and the overhanging eaves have decorative bargeboards. The ridge is finished with fire clay coxcomb-style ridge tiles. The two-storey section has one large chimney stack, which may have been altered some time ago with the loss of some brick detailing. The single-storey waiting room has two chimney stacks, each with brick corbelled details. The facing brick of that on the east side has been badly eroded.

Historical Context

The station was built in 1897, probably to designs by Belfast and County Down Railway engineer G.P. Culverwell. It replaced an earlier station of 1871, constructed a short distance to the north by the Down, Dromore and New Buildings Railway, and was intended to cope with increased traffic to and from Ballykinlar army base. The goods sidings were extended for military traffic during the First World War. Following the station's closure in 1950, the station master's house became a private dwelling, with the former waiting room converted to residential use. The building is of industrial archaeological interest and represents the social and cultural importance of railway infrastructure to local communities.