Survey Data
Reg No
31306607
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Original Use
Station master's house
Historical Use
House
Date
1890 - 1900
Coordinates
82942, 296754
Date Recorded
24/11/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached two-bay single-storey railway station master's house with half-dormer attic, designed 1895; built 1895-6[?]; occupied 1901, on a T-shaped plan with single-bay (three-bay deep) full-height gabled projecting end bay. Closed, 1934. Reopened, 1936. Closed, 1937. In private residential use, 1965. Disused, 2006. For sale, 2007. Dismantled, 2008. Now in ruins. Pitched roof on a T-shaped plan dismantled, 2008, retaining sections of timber construction with red brick Running bond chimney stacks including paired red brick Running bond central chimney stacks on chamfered cushion courses on red brick Running bond bases having corbelled stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, remains of timber bargeboards to gables on timber purlins, and no rainwater goods surviving on dismantled red brick eaves retaining some cast-iron downpipes. Red brick English Garden Wall bond walls with bull nose-detailed red brick quoins to corners. Square-headed window openings in tripartite arrangement to platform (north) elevation with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and red brick voussoirs framing timber pivot fittings having square glazing bars. Square-headed window openings (remainder) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and red brick voussoirs framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Interior in ruins retaining carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters. Set in unkempt grounds.
Appraisal
The shell of a railway station master's house identified as an integral component of the late nineteenth-century built heritage of Mallaranny on account of the connections with the extension of the Mayo Branch of the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) line (opened 1894) by the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) Company with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary Bellavary Railway Station (opened 1894), Laghtavarry (see 31307021), confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form; the construction in a vibrant mass-produced red brick; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual effect with the parlour defined by a handsome bay window; and the high pitched roofline once showing decorative timber work demonstrating good quality craftsmanship. Although recently (2008) reduced to ruins, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with interesting remnants of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thereby upholding much of the character of the composition. Furthermore, a ruined passenger shelter (extant 1915); and an opposing water tower (see 31306608), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a neat self-contained ensemble making a picturesque, if increasingly forlorn visual statement in a rural village streetscape.