Survey Data
Reg No
15317033
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Original Use
Signal box
Date
1870 - 1900
Coordinates
218448, 238796
Date Recorded
02/09/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding two-bay two-storey signal box, built c.1885. Now disused. Pitched natural slate roof with overhanging eaves having decorative timber barge boards and timber finials to gable ends (east and west) and a red brick chimneystack to the centre of the south pitch of roof. Constructed of brick to ground floor with timber cladding over to first floor observation level. Square-headed window openings to first floor with replacement windows and segmental-headed openings to ground floor openings, originally with cast-iron windows but now mostly blocked. Square-headed doorway with timber door at first floor level to the east side, accessed by an external metal staircase. Located adjacent to Moate Station (15317037).and to the north of Moate town centre.
Appraisal
A pleasing small-scale railway structure representing an important element of the transport and civil engineering heritage of County Westmeath. Well-designed, with red brick ground floor, timber superstructure and decorative finial to gable, this building is ornate for a functional structure and is of architectural merit. This signal box probably dates to the late nineteenth-century but it may have been rebuilt, c.1925, as many signal boxes in Ireland were damaged or destroyed during the Civil War of 1922–1923. This signal box is an interesting feature in the landscape to the north of Moate and forms part of interesting collection of buildings/features associated with Moate Railway Station (15317037).