Survey Data
Reg No
41309006
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Original Use
Railway station
In Use As
House
Date
1845 - 1850
Coordinates
293453, 307044
Date Recorded
03/04/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached seven-bay single-storey former railway station, built 1849, now in use as house, having later dormer attic. Former stationmaster's house to rear (north-east) elevation, and recent conservatory extension to north-west elevation. Timber canopy supported on cast-iron columns with decorative brackets to front, former track-side (south-west) elevation. Columns removed from adjacent island platform to provide additional support to canopy. Hipped slate roofs with red brick chimneystacks, terracotta ridge tiles and later dormer windows. Pitched double-pile slate roof to stationmaster's house. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls having render quoins and plinth courses. Square-headed window openings with render architraves, tooled masonry sills and replacement two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows. Replacement uPVC windows to rear openings. Square-headed door opening to front elevation having render architrave, timber panelled door, overlight and masonry step. Platform with coursed rubble stone retaining walls, cut-stone coping and concrete surface. Island platform to front of station, concrete surface having cut-stone coping and coursed rubble stone retaining walls.
Appraisal
Part of the Dundalk & Enniskillen Railway, Inishkeen station was opened in 1849, and later remodelled, probably during the opening of the Carrickmacross line in 1886. The complex originally incorporated signal cabins, a water tower, a goods shed, a turntable, and a footbridge, some of which were added about 1886. Later this line became part of the Great Northern Railway. Although this building has been significantly refurbished of late, much of the original character is retained, particularly due to the timber canopy over the platform to the front of the station. The railway was of great social and economic importance to Inishkeen and the surrounding area, providing employment and increased connections between areas of economic productivity. The railway has been mentioned in a number of poems by Patrick Kavanagh, who was born near here, adding further cultural interest to the site.