Survey Data
Reg No
40832017
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical
Original Use
Goods shed
Date
1900 - 1910
Coordinates
222054, 401449
Date Recorded
16/10/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay single-storey former railway goods shed, built c. 1909, having two loading bays with rubble stone with cement coping to platform to the centre of the south elevation adjacent to former railway line. Originally built to serve the Strabane to Letterkenny narrow gauge railway line, now out of use (railway line closed in 1960). Pitched natural slate roof having clay ridge tiles, wooden fascia boards, and with a brick chimneystack to the west end. Randomly coursed rubble stone walling with raised chamfered block-and-start quoins to the corners. Round-headed (to gable ends and to centre of the north elevation) and semi-circular window openings (to north and south elevations), now mostly blocked with timber and corrugated metal sheeting, having raised chamfered block-and-start surrounds and voussoirs, sandstone sills, and remains of metal-framed multi-pane windows. Two central square-headed doorways/loading bays to the centre of the main elevations (north and south) having raised chamfered block-and-start surrounds, lintel lintels, and with remains of sliding door mechanisms over; doorways now mainly blocked. Set well back from road in own grounds to the east of the centre of Convoy. Former railway line adjacent to the south. Possible former railway station house, now altered, adjacent to the east.
Appraisal
This simple but well-built former railway goods shed retains its early form and character despite being out of use for a considerable period. It is robustly built in local rubble sandstone, and its survival in relatively good condition is testament to the quality of its original construction. Its visual expression is enhanced by the retention of the natural slate roof, while a number of the original metal-framed windows surviving behind the modern shuttering. The good-quality block-and-start quoins to the corners, the block-and-start surrounds to the openings, and the round-headed and semi-circular window openings all help to give this utilitarian structure a strong architectural character that is indicative of the long-term ambitions of the various railway companies operating in Ireland during the late-nineteenth and into the first decades of the twentieth century. This structure was originally built as a railway goods shed associated with the former Convoy Railway Station, and its relatively large scale provides an interesting historical insight into the level of freight passing along this line during its heyday (which included raw material and processed goods coming to and from the large-scale former woollen factory (see 40832018) located a short distance to the south). This former railway goods shed was originally constructed by the Strabane to Letterkenny Railway Company (worked by the Donegal Railway Company Joint Committee) as part of the Strabane to Letterkenny narrow gauge railway line (three foot gauge), which opened in January 1909 and closed on the 1st of January 1960. This was the final railway line built in Donegal and formed part of an extensive network of railway lines and narrow gauge railway lines that served the county up until the mid-twentieth century. This unassuming structure now acts as an interesting historical reminder of this former extensive railway network, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area and of the wider transport heritage of the county.