The History of St. Matthew's Schools in Irishtown

The History of St. Matthews' Schools in Irishtown

 By Trevor James

In the 18^th century there were no schools in the area, and children in poor areas like Ringsend and Irishtown would not have received any education. On July 4th 1824, Rev Hugh McNeile preached a sermon in St Matthew’s church in aid of funds for the erection of a school for the district on account its “uncivilised state, its crowded population, the gross ignorance and consequent vice and disorder of so many unemployed and untaught children and the utter impossibility of giving them any effectual instruction in morality or religion”.  A teacher was advertised for immediately and some lessons were begun but they had no permanent location.

 

In 1831, the National School system began in Ireland.  It was the first state system of elementary education in the English-speaking world. The intention was “to afford combined literary and moral, and separate religious instruction, to children of all persuasions, as far as possible, in the same school”.  The first St Matthew’s school was built in 1832, at a cost of £800, which was defrayed by subscription of the congregation.  The ground had been given by the Earl of Pembroke and the building, which was beside St Matthew’s Church, housed a day school, an infant school, a Sunday school, a widow’s alms house, a dispensary and a shop for supplying the poor with necessities at reduced prices.  These facilities were, as the chaplain explained, for the “improvement of this poorest and most populous part of the parish of Donnybrook, inhabited by the families of hundreds who are employed occasionally by the wealthier citizens of Dublin” and were open to persons of every religious persuasion.   They were initially financed almost entirely by collections at annual charity sermons in St Matthew’s.  The costs were substantial since they covered the running costs of the school, payment for the attending physician, as well as providing fuel, books, clothing for the children and medicines for the dispensary.   

 

This school continued for many years, but it wasn’t till 1904 that a separate schoolhouse for girls was built on the other side of the road (which is now the Irishtown Gospel Hall).  The site had been bought by the church and used as a playground for the boys’ school.  The architect was James Franklin Fuller who lived in Eglington Road and was the same architect that had been responsible for the rebuilding of the church twenty-five years earlier.

There were three classrooms, one large one with two smaller rooms off it.  Each classroom had a fireplace and the parish paid for the coal.  In the early years, there were three teachers and this later increased to four because of the large number of infants, who were both boys and girls. School started at 9.30 and ended at 2pm for infants and 4pm for older children.  The curriculum included reading, grammar, arithmetic, drawing, science, geography, history, sewing, knitting, singing and cookery for the 6^th class.

 

By 1944 the number of boys in the boys’ school had fallen to 44.  If it dropped below 40, the school would be closed so there was an appeal to parishioners to send their children there.  The school was also falling into poor repair and it is said that the children had to march around the edges of the upstairs room for fear of collapsing the floors.

 

By 1951 the numbers in the girl’s school had also fallen and the decision was taken to amalgamate the two schools. So, in September 1951, the boys’ school closed and the boys moved across the road to join the girls.   This arrangement was not very satisfactory and temporary partitions had to be erected to divide the single large classroom and plans for a new school building were set in motion. 

 

The new school opened in 1959 at Cranfield Place, which had originally been tennis courts for the parish.  It was originally a two teacher school but expanded when it merged with St Stephen’ NS, Northumberland Road, in 1969. A three classroom extension was added in 1985. Another extension was added in 2001 giving the school a new classroom, library, cloakrooms, kitchen and office.  The extension was officially opened on the 21st of June 2002 by Mr. Ruairi Quinn, the leader of the Labour Party, who was a local TD and whose children attended the school. The school continued to grow with further classrooms added and it is now a nine teacher school.

 

(c) The Evening Herald 1968 & 1971

The old school building at the top of Church Avenue was in later years burned down and eventually knocked down to widen the corner.