Survey Data
Reg No
15402530
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
Railway station
In Use As
House
Date
1850 - 1860
Coordinates
232827, 245996
Date Recorded
30/09/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey former railway station, built c.1851, with projecting gable-fronted bays to either end (southwest and northeast) and an open veranda supported on cast-iron posts to centre. Now in use as a private house. Single-storey former railway crossing guards house to the northwest, now part of private house, and a single-bay single-storey former storage shed/outbuilding to the southeast, connected to station by a ruled-and-line rendered wall. Modern uPVC porch to entrance bay to northwest elevation. Pitched natural slate roofs with two central rendered chimneystacks. Cut limestone coping to gables of projecting end bays. Constructed of brick over projecting ashlar limestone plinth with raised ashlar limestone quoins to the corners. Square-headed window openings set within round-headed recessed arches to each end bay having stone sills and replacement windows. Blocked square-headed opening to central bay on southwest elevation, overlooking track. Cut stone coping to platforms to either side of track. Located to the southeast of Loughanavally.
Appraisal
An appealing and well-built mid nineteenth-century railway station, representing an important element of the transport and civil engineering heritage of County Westmeath. Built of brick with well-detailed cut stone dressings this building reflects the former wealth and ambitions of the railway company and the level of architectural design that often went into the most modest of rural stations. This station was originally built by the Midland and Great Western Railway Company, to serve the Mullingar to Galway line, which opened 1851 and closed in 1987. Castletown Station itself was closed in 1963, at the same time many other small rural stations were being closed by CIE as part of a major restructuring plan. This former station is of a pleasing design and is similar to that at Moate (15317037), which is along the same line. It is possible that the renowned architect J.S. Mulvany, who was responsible for the designs of a number of the train stations along this line, including that in Athlone (15004151), was also responsible for the designs to this station. However, it is more likely that the company engineer, G.W Hemans, was responsible as he was often entrusted with the designs for the more modest stations for this railway company. To the east is a level crossing (15402531) and signal box (15402532) and to the west, a goods shed (15402529). Collectively these structures make up an attractive railway complex, which is an integral element of the architectural heritage of the area. The former crossing guard’s house, the shed to the southwest and the former platforms, completes the setting of this fine composition.