Primary Education in Kilmore
The First Level education of children in Kilmore
is catered for today in our Central School. This modern establishment
is the present-day institution which represents the beginning
of a new phase in a story which has three distinct chapters.
All civilised societies take particular pains
to ensure that the education of their young generation is
catered for in a responsible fashion. This, in our age, involves
the formal provision of buildings, teachers and other services,
such as teaching aids.
The schools are now the focus of many services
and have become a reflection of the value which we place on
the importance of our children's education. Today's schools,
composed of the children and their teachers engaged in learning
according to modern conception, are at the centre of a sphere
of influences which enrich their work.
The more important of these, the Department
of Education, itself influenced by the politics of the time;
the Board of Management, which is composed of people representing
different interests; the parents, who have the interest of
their children at heart; the schools Inspectorate, who look
to the academic life of the school, and the Diocesan Inspector
and our parish clergy, who look after the religious education
of the children; all and others contribute their own share
towards the well-being of the school.
The school medical service, dental service,
transport service, general cleaning, maintenance and repair
services make our Star of the Sea a complex modern institution
far removed from the simple and rude edifices of mud-walled
huts which were its ultimate origins.
Scoil Réalt na Mara began
its life on 1st February, 1973, when, with a staff of nine,
the pupils of Kilmore, Tomhaggard, Kilturk and Chapel Gardens
moved in. The expansion in the numbers of our thriving community
was reflected in the enlargement of the school in 1978. The
exceptional growth in school-going population — from
two hundred and forty-seven to five hundred and fifteen at
present — will probably necessitate further expansion.
The middle chapter of our story is concerned
with the many small schools which are dotted around the parish.
These schools date from a period which saw a major change
of government and so of policy. When the Irish Dáil
took over the schools through replacing the Commissioners
of National Education by the Department of Education, a vastly
increased importance was given to the Irish language, the
School Attendance Act of 1926 improved attendance and a policy
of amalgamation of uneconomic schools was embarked upon.
This third feature began immediately after the
changeover brought our present central school into existence.
It was, of course, preceded by the amalgamation of Mulrankin
N.S. with Tomhaggard in 1969.
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Tomhaggard
N.S.
 |
Tomhaggard N.S. was the first school established
in the parish. This single-roomed school measured thirty-five
feet by fifteen internally and stood by the old churchyard
of St. Anne. It was built in 1838 from local funds. |
The Bord of Education was established in 1831
and initially gave grants to help with teachers salaries and
after a time gave a two-thirds grants towards building. The
schools were normally vested in local trustees, who were to
ensure that the terms of the grant were kept.
Tomhaggard national school had no trustees.
It had, however, a patron. In 1913, this office was filled
by Canon M. O'Gorman, P.P., Kilmore, its manager being Rev.
J. Rowe, C.C. The teachers who worked in the school were as
well as may be determined- Mrs. Keeling, Mr. O'Gorman and
Mrs. O'Gorman. Miss Lily O'Byrne replaced Mrs. O'Gorman, who
was replaced by Mrs. P. Byrne in 1929. Mr. Jim Ryan succeeded
Mr. O'Gorman, who came from the publichouse in Tomhaggard,
and was himself replaced by Mr. George Whitmore on his departure
to Bree.
The toilets for the school were situated across
the road - there were no traffic hazards in those days. It
is of interest to note that the school was built about the
time that the first railway was laid in Ireland.
 |
A new two-roomed school was
opened on 14th November, 1934. This school was grant aided,
the local contribution coming from a weekly one shilling
collection, organised by Fr. John Cullen. The heating
and upkeep of this school in 1952 came to £30-6-4.
The building was painted the same year for £30. |
Mr. M. Cahillane took over from Mr. Whitmore
about 1944 and was followed by Mr. T. Underwood, Mr. Tom McGarry
and Mr. Peadar Byrne. The enrolment on the last day was forty-three
boys and forty-eight girls. The final staff were- Mr. A. O'Sullivan,
N.T. principal; Mrs. M. Whelan, N.T. and Mrs. B. Bates, N.T.
.
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Kilturk
N.S.
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Kilturk was the second school
to be built in the parish. This two-roomed school was
built in 1859. The large room measured 35' 6" x 18'
9" and was 11' 10" internal height, whereas
the small room measured 16' 11' x 14' 0" and was
only 8' 9" in height. Evidently, the " babies
" didn't need as much room! |
Again it was a non-vested school, built entirely
from local funds. It was managed by the parish priests of
Kilmore. The Walsh sisters taught in the school in the beginning.
They married, one becoming Mrs. Fender of Grange, the other
Mrs. Cleary of The Moor. It appears that they were succeeded
in the school by the Sisters of St.
John of God, who came from Ballyharty towards the end
of the 1880's. Sisters Aidan, Zeno and Laurence probably taught
here.
The school was extended for them - a galvanised
room being added. When the Sisters moved to Chapel Gardens
about 1910, this iron structure was moved with them, the ball
alley being erected in its stead. Mr. James O'Brien replaced
the Sisters and was principal of the school until 1948. The
pupils then were ail boys from second to eighth standard.
Mr. O'Brien was succeeded by Mr. Maurice Cahillane, who taught
here until his death in 1971. The assistants were: Miss May
O'Brien (James' sister),Susan Maguire, who was there about
1924, Christine Stone, who became Mrs. Mc-Gill and taught
in the school until the 1930's.; Anastatia "Sadie"
Codd, who was replaced by Mrs. Cahillane in 1944.
It is of interest to note that many of the pupils
stayed at school much later than is the case now. It should
be recalled that for almost all national school education
was all that was available at the time. Records of boys beginning
their final year at the age of fifteen plus are quite common.
Many of the pupils came to school along now
disused paths through the farmland. One such led from the
Bank of Ballygrangans to Kilturk, another led from Grange
and came by the Heps of Crosses. The salaries of the Master
and Junior Assistant Mistress were in 1921 £19 and £8
respectively.
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A new school was opened in Kilturk on
9th January, 1956. The enrolment on its last day was 58
boys. The school was sold and is now a store for the adjoining
piggery. The staff on its final day was Mr S. O'Brien
and Mrs. P. Bates. |
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Mulrankin
N.S.
 |
Mulrankin N.S. was the next
school to be established in the parish. It was opened
on 1st November, 1874. It was built on ground bought in
the auction of the large estate of Ebenezer Rowe of Mountcross.
The deeds of this sale are still preserved. |
It would appear that there was an earlier school
on the site from the lease of 1841, but no record now exists
of it. Fr. P. Mayler, P.P., Kilmore; Nicholas Keating of Sarshill,
farmer, and Michael Browne of Bridgetown, shopkeeper and farmer,
were trustees appointed in the deed of sale.
Teachers in the school were - Master James Byrne,
who taught about 1885 with Miss Kate Whitty. A Master Murphy
taught here before the arrival of Mr John Kehoe and Mrs. Nora
Kehoe. Mr Peadar Byrne came to the school in 1928 and was
assisted successively by Miss G. Carey, Mrs. P. Bates, Mrs.
M Flannery and Mrs. m Whelan. The rolls carried the names
of eighteen boys and twenty-seven girls when it was amalgamated
with Tomhaggard in January, 1969.
" The Moor " school was renovated
in 1911, being at that time divided into two rooms. It had
a residence for the teacher nearby, which is now the property
of Mr. Cole. The school itself has been converted into a residence.
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Kilmore
N.S.
Kilmore Village national school was established
towards the end of the last century. Mr. Murphy taught in
this single-roomed structure until his death in 1911. The
Sisters moved from Kilturk at this time and the school was
extended by the addition of a long galvanised iron extension.
Some of the nuns who taught here were Sister
Aidan and Sister Margaret Mary, Sister Carmel and Sister Assumpta,
Sister Antonia, Sister Lazerian, Sister Virgilius, Sister
Alcantra, Sister Paulinus and Sister Idus. Miss M. Fitzgerald
in 1962 was the only lay teacher for many years.
The school managers were the parish priests
of Kilmore. On its last day there were twenty-three boys up
to first class and forty-three girls, Sister Dominica and
Sister Ultan forming the staff. The building continues to
serve the parish as a meeting place.
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Chapel
Gardens
 |
Chapel Gardens N.S. was built
in 1898 on what appeared to have been common ground, as
it was a recognised stop for travelling shows. There has
been evidence of a cemetery close by, so perhaps it is
the site of a ruined church. Kilmore Quay church was built
in 1875, which points to an increasing population, thus
justifying a school. |
Mr. O'Gorman, whom we have met at a later time
in Tomhaggard N.S., taught in Chapel Gardens when it was a
single-roomed school. When the Sisters moved here from Kilturk,
the school was extended — thus Kilturk's third room became
Chapel Gardens second. The rooms measured 30' x 17' and 26'
x 15'.
Some of the Sisters who taught here were Sisters
Joseph, Berchman, Columbanus, Syra, Fintan, Theresa and Hilda.
Miss Mary Codd taught with the Sisters here around 1956 and
was followed by Miss Ita Ormonde on moving to Mulrankin. Sisters
Inviolata and Clare were here when the school finally closed.
The enrolment was eighteen boys, to first class, and fifty-six
girls.
The school, which had been built on just over half an acre,
was also served by scholars' paths — the ways of learning
! It was sold for use as a private dwelling.
Thus we complete the more reliable chronicle
of our parish's national schools. The phase which preceded
these is lost in the mists of time. Apart from the ' night
school' next to Flaherty's in Chapel Gardens and a vague memory
of schools in Kilmore, opposite the old school, close by the
gate to the parish priest's residence and a possible school
in ' The Moor,' there is only the appreciation that we are
in the age which went before organised or state-aided education.
Whatever education was available was provided
by travelling schoolmasters, who were the immediate successors
of the hedge schoolmasters who endured a time in which it
was illegal to follow their calling.
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