Saint Patrick’s National School, Gortatooda townland, Tipperary North

January 29, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 5 Comments

Saint Patrick’s National School, Gortatooda townland, Tipperary North

(dated c.1955)

NGR: 198741, 161486

Saint Patrick’s National School is situated in the rural North Tipperary village of Upperchurch. The complex includes the school building, playground shelter and outdoor toilet block. Its design represents the quintessential 1950s style national school in Ireland – simple in form and filling primarily a functional role. Many of the fixtures and fittings appear original. Though this building dates to the 1950s, an earlier school house was present in the centre of the village, as indicated on the First Edition Ordnance Survey sheet for the area. The school building documented here fell out of use in the 1980s – in September 1984 Scoil Ioasgáin officially opened nearby in the village. At this time three local schools amalgamated together to form Upperchurch Central NS.

The school building comprises a detached six-bay double-height national school with a four-bay single-storey flat-roofed block to the rear, flanked by flat-roofed porches at the gable ends with concrete canopies over doors to the side. It has a sprocketed slate roof with roughcast rendered chimneystack and cast-iron rainwater goods.

The exterior of the building has a roughcast render with rendered plinth and a slate date plaque. The windows are square-headed with six-over-six pane timber sash windows and concrete sills. The timber battened doors are original.

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Co. Tipperary, Disused School Houses

Garrycloher National School, Clonmore South townland, Tipperary South

January 26, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 1 Comment

Garrycloher National School, Clonmore South townland, Tipperary South

(dated c.1840)

NGR: 202737, 122441

This is a typical example of a particularly attractive 19th-century rural school building. The entrance doorways on either side of the projecting entrance gave separate access to boys and girls. The masonry is of good quality and the windows, though renewed, echo the former type. Like so many such schools, this building served a functional role but would also have been a focal point for the surrounding hinterland.

The building comprises a detached T-plan gable-fronted single-storey school, built c.1840, with recent extension to rear. It has a hipped slate roof with rendered chimneystack and cast-iron rainwater goods. The walls are constructed of dressed limestone except to the rear rear,which comprises coursed rubble with dressed limestone quoins. The surrounding boundary wall includes a wrought-iron double-leaf gate set to dressed limestone gate piers with caps.

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Co. Sligo, Disused School Houses

Ballintogher National School, Tiratick townland, Co. Sligo

January 22, 2015 Enda O Flaherty Leave a comment

Ballintogher National School, Tiratick townland, Co. Sligo

(dated 1840)

NGR: 176104, 328245

This school house is situated in the townland of Tiratick in the parish of Ballintogher in rural Co. Sligo – just northwest of the village of Balllintogher. The building dates to the 1840s and served the village, though the First Edition Ordnance Survey sheet for the area which dates to the late 1830s, shows an earlier school house marked just to the southwest of Ballintogher village. Sadly the 1840s school house is in a poor condition today, having been crudely converted into a shed. In the nearby village there are two town houses of mid-to-late 19th century date listed as protected structures. At the time of the 1901 census in Ireland, some 41 families lived in Ballintogher, and village included 3 public houses and a shop. The Second Edition Ordnance Survey sheet dating to the late 19th century shows a creamery, post-office, ball court and Temperance hall in the village. A railway line, the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway, which was constructed in the 1870s ran near the village. This railway linked Sligo town with Enniskillen and was in operation until 1957.

Like so many rural villages and towns in Ireland during the 19th and early 20th century, school houses along with buildings such as the local church and public houses were at the centre of rural Irish lifeways. They were an intrinsic part of the social fabric of Irish rural life which nearly every member of a community was familiar with.

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Co. Galway, Disused School Houses

Loughwell National School, Laughil townland, Co.Galway

Image January 21, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 4 Comments

Loughwell National School, Laughil townland, Co.Galway

(dated mid-1950s)

NGR: 117846, 228891

May – Driving between Moycullen and Spiddal in Co. Galway: Loughwell is a townland of Moycullen in the Galway Connemara Gaeltacht. Loughwell school stands on the Moycullen Spiddal road there. The school house that stands there today dates to the mid-1950s, but replaced an earlier building that stood on the site. The earlier building is identified on the Second Edition Ordnance Survey sheet for the area:

The two-classroom school was constructed probably during the first decade of the 20th century. In the 1970s the small national school at Loughwell closed and was amalgamated with Scoil Mhuire in Moycullen when the new central school was built there and opened in 1979.

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Co. Limerick, Disused School Houses

Gortavalla National School, Gortavalla East townland, Co. Limerick (Scoil Náisiúnta Gort an Bhaile)

January 19, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 1 Comment

Gortavalla National School, Gortavalla East townland, Co. Limerick (Scoil Náisiúnta Gort an Bhaile)

(dated c.1880)

NGR: 180869, 149139

The townland of Gortavalla East is located in the parish of Doon, to the east of the village Doon in Co. Limerick. The Slieve Felim and Mauher Slieve mountains lie just a few kilometres to the northwest but the lands surrounding the school are relatively flat. This is a rural area with fine grassland. The school building that stands here today is believed to have been constructed c.1880 though an earlier school existed in the area constructed by Danaher Brothers of Doon in 1831.

At the time of the 1901 census in Ireland, 13 families lived in the townland of Gortavalla East. Local family names included; Gallagher, Ryan, O’Donnell, Lonergan, Aherne, Buckey, Kearney, O’Brien, Real [sic] and Franklin. Undoubtedly the children of each of these families would have attended Gortavalla National School.

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Co. Sligo, Disused School Houses

Crossboy National School, Crossboy townland, Co. Sligo

January 13, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 4 Comments

Crossboy National School, Crossboy townland, Co. Sligo

(dated late 19th century)

NGR: 177316, 329561

Crossboy National School is situated in the townland of Crossboy in the parish of Killerry near Lough Gill on the Sligo/Leitrim border. I passed this school house by chance and managed to take a few snaps before the rain came down. The building comprises a detached L-plan (extended to the rear from the original building at possibly a later date) single-storey structure located at the Crossboy junction.

Much of the external surface of the building is overgrown with ivy and no name/date plaque could be found. Drawing on a comparison with other school houses of similar design, a late-19th/early-20th century construction date for this building is suggested here. There are two entrances to the front of the school house, and two corresponding gateways in the boundary wall with stepped approaches to the building – like many of the school houses of this date, these are probably segregated entrances for boys and girls. Internally, the building comprises two classrooms separated by a partition wall. At the time of my visit the later extension was inaccessible. Continue reading Crossboy National School, Crossboy townland, Co. Sligo →

Co. Leitrim, Disused School Houses

Carrigeencor National School, Carrigeencor townland, Co. Leitrim

January 9, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 2 Comments

Carrigeencor National School, Carrigeencor townland, Co. Leitrim

(dated 1872)

NGR: 184325, 333970

Carrigeencor National School is located in the townland of Carrigeencor in Co. Leitrim. The surrounding landscape comprises rural blanket bog with a sparse population. Nonetheless, Carrigeencor is one of two school houses located in the area, the other being Kilcoosey National School just 1.5 km away. Leitrim has suffered from rural depopulation more than most counties and today it is difficult to imagine that this area once required two schools.

The school house comprises a detached single-storey one room building with a lower projecting pitched-roof gable porch, and a rear extension with a lean-to roof. It has a pitched roof and the walls are rendered and scored to imitate cut-stone blocks. It was constructed in 1872. There is a low coarsely built rubble and mortar wall to the front with a wrought-iron gate. To the rear is the former toilet block. It is a simple stone and mortar construction with brick lintels over the doorways and a sheet-metal roof that has managed to stand the test of time. Continue reading Carrigeencor National School, Carrigeencor townland, Co. Leitrim →

Co. Cork, Disused School Houses

Ballykinealy/Kilmacdonogh National School, Ballykinealy townland, Co. Cork

January 4, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 1 Comment

Ballykinealy/Kilmacdonogh National School, Ballykinealy townland, Co. Cork

(dated 1930)

NGR: 205929, 070231

Ballykinealy/Kilmacdonogh national school is situated in the rural East Cork townland of Ballykinealy. The surrounding landscape comprises rolling rich farmland with deep soils, and the area has a strong tradition of both tillage farming and animal husbandry.

The school building itself comprises a detached five-bay single-storey former national school, built c.1930, having single-bay gabled porch to front (south) elevation and single-bay flat-roofed extension to rear (north) elevation. It has a pitched slate roof with rendered chimneystacks to gables. There are roughcast rendered walls with smooth render plinth, and a cut stone name plaque to east gable. Also included are square-headed window openings throughout, with timber sliding sash windows, six-over-six pane to front and rear elevations and gables, two-over-two pane to porch and extension. There are square-headed openings to porch and extension with timber battened doors (probably original). Surrounding the building is a rubble stone boundary wall to the north, and a rendered boundary wall with stile to east. Continue reading Ballykinealy/Kilmacdonogh National School, Ballykinealy townland, Co. Cork →

Co. Waterford, Disused School Houses

Ballynacourty National School, Ballynacourty townland, Co. Waterford

January 3, 2015 Enda O Flaherty Leave a comment

Ballynacourty National School, Ballynacourty townland, Co. Waterford

(dated 1885)

NGR: 229596, 092581

Ballynacourty National School is situated just a few miles outside the seaside town of Dungarvan in Co. Waterford. The school lies in the townland of Ballynacourty, just a few hundred metres from the shore with the former Coast Guard Station lying to the southwest. During the early part of the 20th century, a row of terraced houses lined the nearby pier, and undoubtedly the local children who lived there attended Ballynacourty school. In 1937 the Irish Folklore Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, initiated a revolutionary scheme in which schoolchildren were encouraged to collect and document folklore and local history. At this time, the Irish language was considerably stronger in the area and entries for Ballynacourty (recorded as Baile na Cúirte, Dúngarbhán – the school master being Muiris Breannóc) were in both the Irish and English language:

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Co. Waterford, Disused School Houses

Affane/Sluggara National School, Sluggara townland, Co. Waterford

January 2, 2015 Enda O Flaherty 2 Comments

Affane/Sluggara National School, Sluggara townland, Co. Waterford

(dated 1914)

NGR: 212065, 98137

Affane/Sluggara National School is situated in the townland of Sluggara just east of the Blackwater River in Co. Waterford, not far from the N72 national route, and just southeast of the village of Cappoquin. Today this small village straddles Bóthar an Mhachaire and comprises little more than a church, the former school house, and the ruins of the former school masters house on. At the time of the 1911 census in Ireland, just five families are recorded living in the townland. Providing further social and historical context to the National School is Affane House situated nearby. It was the property of Samuel J. Power in 1906 and valued at £32. Brady notes that the house incorporates material from the late seventeenth century house owned by the Greatrakes famly.

The school building remains in use today as a parish hall, and comprises a detached four-bay single-storey national school, dated 1914, on a T-shaped plan retaining original fenestration with two-bay single-storey gabled projecting lower shared porch to centre. It has a pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan with red clay ridge tiles, red brick running bond chimney stacks, cut-stone coping to gables, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber corbels. There are unpainted rendered walls with cut-limestone corbels supporting gables, and cut-stone date stone/plaque. The windows are square-headed openings with cut-stone sills, and 6/9 timber sash windows. There are square-headed door openings with tongue-and-groove timber panelled doors. The building is set back from road in its own grounds with a random rubble stone boundary with lime mortar, and red brick quoins to the ends, cut-stone coping, and rubble stone piers with wrought iron gate. To the rear, a high dividing wall runs down the centre of the schoolyard segregating boys and girls. Continue reading Affane/Sluggara National School, Sluggara townland, Co. Waterford →