Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB15/06/064

Address :
Signal box Poyntzpass Railway Station Railway Street Poyntzpass Newry Co Armagh BT35 6SN

Townland:
Brannock

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
02/03/2015 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Railway Station Structures

Former Use
Railway Station Structures

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
237-06

IG Ref:
J0604 3942

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Poyntz Pass Station comprises the signal box, former weighbridge room, platforms (with waiting canopies and stone walling), goods siding, and roadside boundary walls. 1. Signal box This signal box, erected by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) in the 1890s, facilitated control of the points on the track, of the signal posts, and of the level crossing gates at Poyntz Pass Station. It is situated at the NW end of the level crossing over the double track, just south of the ‘down’ (Belfast-bound) platform. It is a two-storey, single-bay building aligned N-S parallel with the track. It has a pitched roof covered with replacement hexagonal felt tiles over plywood. There are plain bargeboards with drop finials to both gables. Half-round black plastic rainwater goods. The GF is of brick with a chamfered brick base course and slightly recessed panels to all sides. A three-panel timber door is set within the recess on the S gable, and a 3x2-paned timber window (with segmental head and flush granite cill) is likewise inset on the E elevation. The panels on the N and W sides are blank. There was originally a slit opening along the base of the E wall for the signal and point linkages, but it was infilled with brick after they were removed. An advanced brick chimney breast runs up the middle of the W elevation and through the roof, with single stack protruding therefrom. The FF is timber framed and clad with white-painted overlapping horizontal boards. The bottom string and corners of the frame are exposed and painted in contrasting grey. There are timber-framed multi-paned windows to all elevations: at N is a 2x3-paned window; at E is a 2/3 window flanked to each side by a pair of 1x3 horizontally-sliding windows; at S is a 3x3 window; and at W is a 1x3 window. The FF is accessed on its N gable by a six-panel timber door at the top of a flight of replacement steel stairs. A narrow single-plank balcony runs left from the small landing at the top of the stairs around the N, E and S sides of the cabin (to facilitate window cleaning). This balcony has a metal handrail and is supported on metal brackets attached to the base of the timberwork. Metal capital letters reading ‘Poyntzpass’ were formerly affixed to the gable apexes. At the time of survey, they had been removed for cleaning and painting and will be reinstated shortly. Roof: Felted tiles. RWG: Plastic. Walling: Brick and timber. Windows: Multi-paned timber. 2. Toilet (formerly weighbridge office) This small single-storey building is aligned N-S a short distance W of the signal box. It has a small return at its N end. Monopitched concrete roof but no rainwater goods. The walls of the S section of this building are of purple engineering brick, but the remainder are a later addition in yellow brick. There is a plain timber doorway and infilled window ope (with brick head and flush concrete cill) to the E elevation, and a small door (with concrete head) on the E gable of the return. On the S elevation is a 1/1 top-opening timber casement window (brick head and concrete cill). The W elevation is blank. On the N elevation is an infilled window ope (cill removed; concrete head). Immediately N of the toilet is a relatively recent fenced-off area originally erected to contain LPG tanks. Roof: Concrete. RWG: None. Walling: Brick. Windows: Openings infilled. 3. Platforms The double-track line is served by a platform to E and W. Both are tarmaced and edged with concrete over rubble masonry walls heightened with brick. There is a modern signal post at the N end of the ‘down’ (W) platform, and another the S end of the ‘up’ platform. Each platform is served by a modern steel-and-glass waiting shelter. There is also a defunct earlier waiting room on the up platform. It has a monopitched felted timber roof and rubble masonry walls embellished with brick quoins. Its platform elevation is now completely sheeted over in timber, with a double-leaf door set therein (it would have been glazed or open originally). Both platforms are bounded along their backs by walls of random rubble brought to courses and coped with both irregular and vertically-set stones. Towards the N end of the down platform was the former station building and integral station master’s house, both long demolished. There exact positions are still evident by a timber wall which fills the void in the boundary created by their removal. Towards the S end of both platforms, the walls are punctuated by pedestrian access footpaths from the road. Each path has a painted timber fence along one side. 4. Goods siding A single track leads south off the down line into the former goods yard. The track is bounded to W by a rubble stone platform coped with engineering brick. This platform was also used for loading livestock. This line originally ran to a roadside goods shed, long gone. It is now used by ballast wagons to maintain the line. The crushed stone is stored in heaps between the siding and down platform. 5. Boundary wall Along the road are two sunbeam-style wrought-iron gates, one on each side of the line and both hung from square brick piers capped with concrete. Most of the original stone walling has, however, been removed or replaced with modern steel fencing. Setting A minor road runs along the S side of the station premises, with automated barriers where it crosses the line. To W is modern housing, and there are fields to N and E.

Architects

W.H. Mills

Historical Information

This signal box lies on the Portadown – Newry section of the Belfast – Dublin Railway. This section was opened in 1852 by the Dublin & Belfast Junction Railway. The entire line, from Belfast to Dublin, opened in 1855 after the completion of the Drogheda Viaduct by the same company (the Belfast – Portadown section was opened by the Ulster Railway in 1842). Following the amalgamation of various companies operating in the north of Ireland, the line came under the control of the Great Northern Railway Co (Ireland) in 1876. William H. Mills was appointed Chief Engineer to the company in 1877 and it was under his direction that the signalling system on the entire GNR network was modernised in the decades either side of 1900. The signal box is first shown on the 1906 OS map. The previous map, of 1860, shows the station buildings, platforms and signal posts, but nothing at the road end of the station. Also shown on the 1906 map is the goods siding leading to a small building near the road. This was evidently a weigh house as it is captioned “W.M.” (weighing machine). The present toilet was probably the annexe to this building. A valuation document dated Feb 1896 notes the signal cabin’s dimensions as 15ft x 12ft x 16ft high; it contained 12 levers. The two platforms and retaining walls are also noted, along with the goods and livestock platform. Another valuation document notes that the weighbridge office (now minus the slightly larger building on its W side) was enlarged in 1947. It measured 11ft x 5ft x 8ft and had a slate roof. It was extended northwards by 2ft, and a 8ft x 5ft x 8ft return added; when the walls were finished it was all roofed with concrete. The 1954 OS map shows no significant changes to the station’s layout since 1906. In 1958, the GNR(I) came under the control of the Ulster Transport Authority. The UTA was succeeded by Northern Ireland Railways, and it in turn by Translink, which continues to operate the line. Although signalling has been automated for some time, the cabin did not become defunct until 1997 when the level crossing, which it had once controlled, was automated. At the time of this survy, the signal box was undergoing minor repairs and painting. References – Primary Sources: 1. PRONI OS/6/2/18/2. Second edition OS 1:10.560 map, Co Down sheet 18 (1860). 2. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/32C. Second Valuation book, p (c.1859). 3. PRON VAL/11/86. Valuation file relating to Poyntz Pass Station (1896 onwards). 4. PRONI OS/8/144. OS 1:1056 village map (1906). 5. PRONI OS/10/2/18/10/2. Second edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Armagh sheet 18-10 (1954). References – Secondary Sources: 1. E.M. Patterson, The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (Usk: Oakwood Press, 2003). 2. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, p.160 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This signal box and many others in the Northern Ireland is the result of a modernisation programme of the railway infrastructure undertaken by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) under the direction of its Chief Engineer, William H. Mills. Appointed in 1877, he was responsible for the installation of the first proper signalling equipment throughout the GNR network in the decade either side of 1900. The construction of this box is typical of many others built at that time – a timber framed upper storey atop a brick base. Its spatial organisation reflects its function – the signal levers etc on the first floor, whence there were clear views up and down the line and of the road across it, and the mechanisms in the enclosed ground floor which linked the levers above with levers and wires running outside and along the track to the various points and signals respectively. The fact that all the internal workings survive greatly enhances the signal box's interest, as does the fact that it is still in its original context (in contrast to the preserved signal box at Moira Station which has been relocated some distance from its original site). From the historical perspective, it retains most of its original fabric (with the exception of the steel staircase). It also illustrates the development of signalling technology on Irish railways, pioneered, as already noted, by W.H. Mills. Most signal boxes have been either removed or their mechanisms replaced with automated electrical signalling equipment. Poyntzpass is now an extremely rare survivor, along with Castlerock, where levers are still used, but which will be superseded when the signalling is automated on that line.

General Comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.

Date of Survey

19 August 2014