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Primary Education in Ballylinan

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. Continue reading “Primary Education in Ballylinan”