Survey Data
Reg No
40401006
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Ballyconnell Railway Station
Original Use
Store/warehouse
Date
1880 - 1890
Coordinates
227451, 317904
Date Recorded
12/07/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached single-bay single-storey former railway goods shed, built c.1885, extensively extended to rear, now in use as a metal workshop. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, brick chimneystack to north with decorative clay chimney pot, replacement uPVC rainwater goods. Quarry-faced squared and coursed rubble limestone walls with three decorative brick courses to barges, dressed limestone arrises to corners. Single segmental arched window openings to gables having brick arch, roughly punched stone sills with drafted margins to and multiple-paned cast-iron windows. Full height opening to south elevation with replacement sliding door and canopy above.
Appraisal
A well-built railway goods shed, which forms part of an important collection of structures associated with Ballyconnell Railway Station. This fine building retains its form and some of its early fabric, including multiple-pane metal windows and chimney pot. The former Ballyconnell Railway Station was part of the narrow-gauge Cavan and Leitrim Railway which opened in October 1887. Serving the Arigna coalmine, the line outlived most of the other Irish narrow-gauge lines and ran on coal until its closure in 1959, giving a further lease of life to redundant engines after the introduction of diesel. The shed is a reminder of the now disused narrow-gauge railway line that was once an important feature of the social and economic life of Ballyconnell, and is a good example of nineteenth century railway architecture.