Primary Education in Ballylinan – 1824 to 2002 by Claire Cotter M.Ed.
The question of Education was one of the great topics of debate in the early 19th century The main issue was whether the State should give financial assistance to Primary Education and if so what form the assistance should take. In the 1820`s the government set up a commission to inquire into the State of Primary Education in Ireland. This commission was to examine the number and quality of schools in the country and make recommendations for the future.
Hedge schools or pay schools were the most common schools in Ireland at this stage. A hedge school or pay school was a school where the children paid the school teacher a small amount for teaching them. In most cases this amount paid was perhaps a penny (1d) a week or a few shillings a quarter. In 1824 there were three pay schools in Ballylinan. Two had Catholic teachers and one was Protestant. Richard Lyndon taught in one of the schools and he had 100 pupils ( 70 boys and 30 girls ). All the pupils were Catholics. The school was a small thatched one roomed house and for his labours,
Mr. Lyndon received £15.00. per year. Thomas Casey had 47 pupils in his school ( 30 boys and 17 girls ). Of the 47 pupils, 4 were Protestant and the rest were Catholic. Like Mr. Lyndon’s this school was a thatched cabin, but because the number of pupils were smaller, Mr. Casey’s income was a mere £7.00. per year. The third school in Ballylinan in 18 24 was a Protestant school. The teacher was Anthony Doyle and he received one shilling and three pence ( 1s –3d. ) to two shillings ( 2s. ) per quarter from each pupil and with an enrolment of 89, this gave an annual income of between twenty two pounds and five shillings ( £22.5s ) and thirty six pound ( £36 ). His school house was thatched and built of stone and lime. It is interesting to note that of the 89 pupils attending Mr. Doyle’s school, 61 were Catholic.
In 1831 the government decided to set up a board of Education. This board would give grants towards the building and setting up of schools and the payment of teachers’ salaries. Schools which received these grants were known as National Schools. Applications for grants started to come into the Board in early 1832. The Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin at the time was Rev. James Doyle and he urged the priests of his diocese to apply for grants to set up National Schools. However, Father Patrick Hickey who was P.P. of the Parish of Arles between 1821 and 1857 was rather slow in applying to the Board. The First application was sent in on the 27th. March 1838. In the application Father Hickey, stated that the population around Ballylinan was very dense and the people were poor and there would be 300 pupils on the rolls of the school. Father Hickey also stated that there were “ two small schools badly appointed in the village “ The rent of one was paid by Father Hickey himself while the Master was “ badly supported by small sums paid by the children.” The other school was built by the late Protestant Rector and the Master was paid by a subscription raised by the Protestant Clergy. The school- master was also Clerk of the Protestant Church. In was also stated in the application that a Mr. Michael Grace of Ballylinan village had promised a site for the school, which could be purchased for £7.00. The total estimated cost for building the school and enclosure wall and purchasing the site was £229.0.05. The school building would consist of two rooms, 31ft. by 24ft. each. Father Hickey said in the application that the building had not started nor would it commence until the grant became available. He also stated that no collections for money for the school would be made until the people of Ballylinan were certain that they would get a grant and knew what amount the grant would consist of. An undertaking was given that only books sanctioned by the Board would be used in the school. It was also stated that any teacher to whom the Board objected to would be dismissed.
If Ballylinan was slow in applying for aid, it was also slow when it came to building the school. In 1841 the Board ordered the building of the school to start immediately. By February 1842 the schoolhouse “ was in a forward state” and the manager hoped to have it finished by the following May if he was not disappointed by the tradesmen.
The troubles of Ballylinan School did not end when building was finished. In July 1843 the Board rejected the application for salaries for teachers Patrick Dunne ( age 46 yrs. ) and Endora McDarby ( Age 23 yrs. ) because they considered these teachers to be incompetent. The manager (Fr. Hickey ) was requested to appoint competent teachers. In November 1843 both Patrick Dunne and Endora McDarby were still teaching in Ballylinan. The Board insisted that if the inspector’s report at the end of March 1844 was not satisfactory in all respects, both teachers would have to be removed. We can only assume that both Mr. Dunne and Miss McDarby proved to be satisfactory because neither was dismissed. Miss Endora McDarby resigned in May 1846 and was replaced by Miss Mary Nolan whose salary was £15.00 per year. Mr. Pat Dunne was still employed in Ballylinan National School in April 1853 earning a salary of £20.00 per year.
In 1867 Father D`wyer, the then Parish Priest of Arles applied to the Board for a salary for Mr. James Campbell (aged 19 yrs.) who had been recently appointed as assistant in the boys school. The Principal at this stage was Mr. Thomas Dunne (perhaps a relation of Patrick Dunne) and he was assisted by Mr. Patrick Fingleton , a senior monitor. Mr. James Campbell had been a monitor in the Rushes National School for five years and he was recommended for the position of assistant in Ballylinan Boys N.S. by the manager Fr. D’wyer and the inspector.
In the 1890`s the principal of the boys school was Mr. Corcoran, and Miss McMahon was running the girls school . In October 1899 Mr. Corcoran died and as a result the boys school became inoperative. In 1900 it was decided that both schools should be amalgamated with Miss McMahon as principal. The reason for the amalgamation was the declining number of pupils in both schools. In September 1897 there were 53 boys and 57 girls enrolled in the school. By 1900 this had dropped to 42 boys and 44 girls.
Not everyone welcomed the amalgamation however. A Mr. McNamee objected on the basis that the boys of Ballylinan were being neglected because there wasn’t a male principal. He claimed that pupils had transferred to Athy and Ballyadams schools for this reason. In a letter to the National Board on 14/2/1901 in reply to these objections, the senior inspector, Mr. James Hogan stated that the boys were not neglected and the few pupils that had transferred to other schools had returned and Ballylinan School was as well attended as in Mr. Corcoran`s time. Mr. Hogan also stated that the standard of education in Ballylinan was as good as any other rural school. He felt that Mr. Mc Namee whose two sons attended Ballylinan N.S. expected his sons to be educated to college level which was totally unreasonable. The inspector also said in the letter that no other parent objected to the amalgamation.
Miss McMahon remained as Principal of the amalgamated school until her retirement in 1911 when she was replaced by Mr. Thomas Roache. Mr. Roache was 32 yrs. of age at the time of his appointment. He had been trained in the De La Dalle training college in Waterford. His assistant was a Miss McNevin ( later Mrs. Fleckney ) who had been appointed to Ballylinan N.S. in 1906. In November 1913 Mr. Thomas Roache`s wife Jane took up position of assistant teacher in Ballylinan having transferred from the Rushes. In 1924 Mr. Michael O`Shea was appointed to the school, thus, in a period of 13 years 1911-1924 the number of staff in Ballylinan School had doubled.
In the early 1930`s after the condemnation of the old school by the public authorities, the decision to build a new school was taken. The site was procured from a Mr. John Hovenden. The foundation stone was laid by Most Rev. M. Cullen Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin in July 1934. The school boasted a modern central heating system and “a perfect system of sanitation and drainage”. The total cost of the new school £5.600. £3.600 of which was granted by the Department of Education. The remaining £2.000. was raised by running the Ballylinan Carnival in 1935, 1937 and 1939. The first child registered in the new school was Patrick Conway on the 1st. of April 1936. The staff at this stage consisted of Mr. Thomas Roache, Mrs. Jane Roache, Mrs. Mary Fleckney and Mr. Laurance Dunne and there were some 240 pupils on rolls. In 1945 Mr. Thomas Roache retired and was replaced by Mr. Stan Reynolds as Principal. In the early 1970`s the “new “ school was renovated. At this stage Mr. Frank McNulty, Mr. Stan Reynolds successor was Principal and the assistants were Mrs. Florrie Armstrong, Mrs. Mary Murphy and Mrs. Síle Graham. The sanitation was up-dated and the toilets were moved into the main building. The modern central heating system which had been installed in the 1930`s was replaced by an oil fired system. The glass and wooden partitions which divided the classrooms were removed and replaced by solid walls. The staff room also dates from this period. With the improvements in the pupil teacher ratio the number of teachers increased. In 1979 with the appointment of Miss Claire Cotter a prefabricated classroom was built to accommodate the expanded staff. In 1985 Mr. Frank McNulty was appointed Principal in Athy C.B.S. and Mr. Enda Condron then took up the position as Principal in Ballylinan School.
Improvements in the pupil teacher ratio the number of teachers increased. In 1979 with the appointment of Miss Claire Cotter a prefabricated classroom was built to accommodate the expanded staff. In 1985 Mr. Frank McNulty was appointed Principal in Athy C.B.S. and Mr. Enda Condron then took up the position as Principal in Ballylinan School.
The present Principal is Mr. Fran Moloney who was appointed in 1988. In January 1995 Mrs. Mary Murphy retired after 25 years of service in Ballylinan School and was replaced by her daughter Mary. With the appointment of Ms. Louise Nolan as learning support teacher in September 1994, the number of teachers in Ballylinan School rose to six. Mrs. Florrie Armstrong retired in July 1998 after giving 35 years diligent service to the school. Mrs. Armstrong was not replaced so the teaching staff was reduced to five. The following December Mrs. Marie Mac Glinchey replaced Ms. Nolan as learning support teacher. The addition of a new staff room and conversion of the old one to a learning support room were welcome improvements in September 1999. However, with the appointment of a resource teacher in the same month space was again at a premium. The position of resource teacher was initially filled by Miss Aoife McNally and later by Miss Heather Mullins and Ms.Geraldine Curran. With increasing enrollment an additional teacher was sanctioned and Mrs. Bláth McDermott (daughter of Florrie Armstrong) took up her post in September 2000. The construction of a two new prefabricated classrooms, to replace the 1979 one and to provide a resource room, in October 2000 solved the accommodation problem. The appointment of Mrs. Teresa Kavanagh as special needs assistant brought the number of staff in Ballylinan School to eight.
Bibliography
1. Manuscript Sources
National Archives, Dublin.
Application Books of the National Board for Co. Laois
Registers of the National Board for Co. Laois.
Files for National Schools for Co. Laois.
2. Unpublished Theses
Cotter Claire “ Development of Primary Education in Co. Carlow, 1820-1870”
M.Ed. thesis, N.U.I. Maynooth, 1991.
3. Books
Akenson Donal H. The Irish Educational Experiment: the National System of Mr. William Kaye, Ballylinan, pupil in Ballylinan school in early 1900s.
Education in the Nineteenth Century. London: Routhledge and Kegan Paul, 1970
Brennan Martin. Schools of Kildare and Leighlin 1775-1835. Dublin: Gill 1935
Coolahan John Irish Education: History and Structure. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 1981
4. Interviews
Mrs. Jenny O’Hara, Ballylinan, daughter of Thomas and Jane Roache.
Article originally published on the original school website.