* school uniform: Ireland -- individual schools








Irish Schools: Individual Schools


Figure 1.--This photograph of Edgeworthtown school was proabably taken in the 1950s. The boys do not wear a school uniform as such, but are all very similarly dressed.

HBC is collecting information om individual Irish schools. These repesentative schlools show the variety of school clothes and school uniforms worn by Irish boys. They also provide insightson schoolwear trends over time at these schools. We only have information on a few schools at this time, but hope to add more schools as HBC develops. Hopefully Irish readers will tell about the schools that they attended.

Carmels (1980s)

I'm Irish and attended Carmels, a secondary day school. It was a single sex school up to 1980, and then was forced to become coed with enrollment declined. There was a minumin number of pupils to cualify for govenment grant aid. The Government required the school to be open to both sexes from the middle of 1980. It was a catholic school, but a founding member of the Nuns order who ran the school was from Scotland about a hundred years ago.

Edgeworthtown Primary School (1950s)

A photograph probably taken in the 1950s shows Edgeworthtown Primary School (figure 1). It looks to be a small village primary school. There was no school uniform. The boys wear a wide variety of outfits. Some boys wear suits with ties. Other boys wear casual shirts and jackets. All the boys wear short pants and knee socks, some with wellies.

Ferrybank Boys' National School (1928)

Here we see the Ferrybank Boys' National School in November, 1928. It was located in Waterford, Ireland. One of Ireland's oldest cities, Waterford has a history of continuous habitation since 914, when the Vikings established a settlement there. A National School is a primary school financed by the state.

Kilglass National School (1902)

Kilglass is a small village located in cenral Ireland county Galway west of Dubkin. Schools in the United Kingdom were mostly openedvand financed by local resources. National schools were financed by the national government. Ireland at the time was controlled by the Protestant Accendancy (establishment). Thus the majority Catholic Church was suspicious of the schools which in the early-19th century did actually prostilize. This varied over time, but generally over time became more secular in characterr. Poverty, concern about Protestant influence, and the lack of schools in many rural areas meant that many Irish vhildren did not attend school. Over time, however, more and more children enrolled in school. A major step was the British Parliament passae of the Educatin Act of 1870 which provided greatly increased support for primary schools. The Government opened a national school Kinglas (1872). The site and some of the buioldings continue to be used. The original school was a thatched structure. A a new building was constructed (1902). A photo depicts the children and teachers at the School (1992). The 1902 survives as part of today’s school. Subsequently it was extended and remodelled (1951).

St. Mary's (1960s)

An Irish reader reports on the Dublin school, St Mary's. The school was a secondary school. The uniform during the 1960s was a blazer with long or short trousers and knee socks looking pecisely the same as a British grammar school at the same time.

(Mary) Selwyn National School (about 1900)

Herevwe see what looks like a one room school mamed the Mary Selwyn National School. It looks to have had about 20 children around the turn og the 20th century. State finaced free Irish primary education began (1831). This began the creation of small one- oe two-rppm schools throughout the Irish country side. Initiallm the schools were opened in a variety of existing buildings. Gradually actual schhools were built. There wa a school in every parish (1890s), but many children did not attend or did not attend very long. This began to change when when primary education became compulsor (1891). Many of the abamdoned schools which now dot the countryside date from this period. This is a good example.

Synge Street School

Ireland during the 19th century was dominated by the English imposed Protestant accendancy. Many Catholics were uspicious of the developing state school system. And it at first pursued prostelization, alouth the more overt forms of this gradually declined. There wa no law against private schools, although the economic consition of the Catholic majority did not permit many Catholics to pay school fees and the Church did not have the resources to support a large school system. Butbthere were some Catholic schools. One of the most important was Synge Street School in Dublin. It was founded by the Christian Brothers (1864). The Christian brothers were a teaching brotherhppd. The first pupil enrolled was Paul McSwiney, son of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Peter Paul McSwiney. The school had 600 pupils taught by 10 Christian Brothers teachers - a rather high student teacher ratio. The school steadily expanded with new buildings. An associated primary school was opened nearby (1930). The associated Scoil Iosagáin Primary School was opened (1954). A new secondary school is now officially known as St Paul's Secondary School, Heytesbury Street. The current buildings replaced the row of houses, used for class-rooms, was opened (late--1960s). It was further extended (1980s.)

Whiddy Island National School (1930s)

Whiddy Island is located off western Cork at the entry to Bantry Bay, not far from the tip of southern Ireland. It is approximately 5.6 km (3.5 mi) long and 2.4 km (1.5 mi) wide. The tereaine is gently-rolling glacial till, with relatively fertile soil. The island as late as 1880 the Island had a resident population of around 450 people pursuing fishing and small-scale farming. From that point the population has declined. It was home to Whiddy Island Naval Air Station which could have been of great benefit to the British in World War II in the campaign against the German U-boats, but the Irish were steadfastly neutral during the War and denied the use of the base to the British. This portrait at the small Island school was taken during the 1930s when the naval air station was still operating. A National school is a type of primary school that is financed directly by the State, but administered jointly by the State, a patron body, and local representatives. The school was opened in 1887. It was a modest one-room school, not counting the cloakroom/porch. It replaced an earlier structure which was mentioned in Lewis� Topographical Dictionary of 1837. The boys wear mostly sweaters, shortpans and are barefoot. Om boy wears a suit and tie. The girls look to be wearing dresses, but is a little difficult to tell. Due to dwindling numbers after theclosureof the air base, the school finally closed in December 1947.

Unidentified Donegal School (1892)

Here we see a group of boys posing in front on their school, somewhere in County of Donegal during 1892. Donegal is the northernmost county of Ireland, liocated in the northwest of the island and part of the Border Region. Donegal is historically part of the province of Ulster. It is the most rugged and mountainous region of Ulster. but because it is largely Catholic joined the Irish Free State and the subsequently the Irish Free State when Ireland was partitioned. even before partition, Donegal was one of the most rural and undeveloped regions of Ireland. The population was highly dependent on agriculture and to some extent fishing. Donegal was one of the counties hardest hit by the Potato Famine. Whole areas were depoulated. Many of the mostly rural population emigrated to Britain, seeking jobs in the cities, especially Liverpool and Glasgow. Even today the population of the county is only a fraction of what it was in 1840 before the Famine. We believe this was a rural school, but have no idea where it was located in Donegal. The school was a single gender school. Apparently even rural primary schools wre single gender schools, at least in Donegal. Most of the boys wear flannel dresses, many with suit jackeys. Most are barefoot.

Various Schools

HBC readers have provided various small snipets about their schools over time. There is not enough information yet to create separate pages, but their comments are worth noteing.






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Created: April 16, 2001
Last updated: 12:50 AM 2/17/2020