Clara Railway Station

Detached four-bay two-storey railway station, opened in 1859, with covered canopy and extension to front and outbuilding to side. Hipped slate roof with oversailing eaves, red brick chimneystacks, terracotta pots and cast-iron rainwater goods. Ashlar limestone walls with quoins. Tooled stone surrounds to timber sash windows with tooled stone sills. Segmental-headed door opening with tooled stone surround, replacement timber door and timber spoked fanlight. Slate canopy supported by timber Doric columns. Flanking side wall to railway station with segmental-arched opening and replacement cast-iron gate. Platform to front built on random coursed plinth now covered with modern red brick.

Clara Railway Station was opened in 1859 with both Midland Great Western Railway and Great Southern and Western Railway operating through it. The architectural design is typical of railway station buildings. Tooled, cut limestone façade with tooled window and door surrounds, along with flanking Palladian style walls to either side, are features common to mid nineteenth-century railway architecture. The tall red brick chimneystacks are an interesting feature, forming an aesthetically pleasing contrast with the tooled limestone walls. This station building, together with the associated water tower and railway bridge, form an interesting complex, still in use and providing an important service to the residents of this Offaly town.