Killashandra Railway Station, Railway Road, Killashandra, Co. Cavan

The walls are built of random rock-faced rubble, meaning the stone blocks are irregular in shape and size rather than cut to uniform courses, yet fitted together with tight, precise joints. Achieving that effect, an intentional appearance of randomness that is actually the product of considerable skill, was a hallmark of good public architecture in the period, and the contrast here between the rough grey stone and the red brick quoins and door surrounds makes it a particularly clear example. Seven bays long, single-storey, with gabled end bays projecting slightly forward of the main block, the station has the compact, functional form typical of smaller Irish railway buildings of its era.

It was built in 1866 as the terminus of a short branch line, just ten kilometres, run by the Midland Great Western Railway, connecting Killashandra to Cavan by way of Crossdoney. Lines like this were built to draw rural communities into the wider national network, giving small towns a direct link to larger urban centres and, through them, to the rest of the country. The station's red brick chimneystacks have since been rebuilt and its roof re-slated, and some openings, including doors on both the west and east elevations, have been altered and partly filled with concrete block, but the building retains its original shape and detailing well enough to still read clearly as a station rather than a converted house. Alongside it survive other pieces of the original railway infrastructure: a former goods shed to the south, and the abutments of a railway bridge nearby. Together, these fragments still define the character of the site even though the trains themselves are long gone, and the station building itself is now used as offices.