Sallins and Naas Railway Station

Detached three-bay single-storey Tudor Gothic-style former railway station with half-dormer attic, opened 1846, on a symmetrical plan with single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch to centre, single-bay single-storey gabled recessed flanking end bays and single-bay single-storey canted bay window to ground floor platform (north-west) elevation. Now disused with openings blocked-up. Gable-ended roofs with slate (gabled to porch, dormer attic windows and to flanking end bays behind parapet walls). Clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Rendered walls to front (south-east) and to side (south-west and north-east) elevations. Ruled and lined. Painted. Rendered dressings including shield over door opening and inscribed motifs to gables to flanking bays. Cut-stone coping to parapet walls to gables with finials. Red brick Flemish bond walls to platform (north-west) elevation. Cut-stone dressings including quoins to corners. Square-headed window openings (including canted bay window to ground floor platform (north-west) elevation). Stone sills. Rendered hood mouldings over. Now blocked-up with render over. Ogee-headed door opening to porch with chamfered reveals and hood moulding over. Boarded-up. Ogee-headed door opening to platform (north-west) elevation. Cut-stone surround with hood moulding and gable over. Boarded-up. Set back from road in own grounds. Tarmacadam carpark to front (south-east). Platform to rear (north-west) with concrete cobbling.

Sallins (and Naas) Railway Station is a fine and imposing structure on a symmetrical plan, and in terms of stylistic treatment the building can be compared with the railway station at Athy (not included in survey). Although now disused, the building is well-maintained retains most of its original form and character – the construction remains in good condition. An ornate composition, the railway station is dressed with numerous gables that serve to articulate the skyline, while the facades are treated with rendered dressings including shields and hood mouldings to the openings. Each primary elevation is also given its own importance – the front (south-east) elevation, treated with ruled and lined render, is dominated by an attractive gabled porch while the platform elevation to north-west is composed of fine, early red brick and furnished with cut-stone dressings including a canted bay window and a doorcase that retains a crisp intricacy to its detailing. The railway station is of considerable social and historical significance, having been built as part of the Great Southern and Western Railway network development in Ireland that improved the efficiency of public transport and linked remote areas of the country with larger urban settlements and ports.