Secret schools known as hedge schools were set up for Catholic and oth "non-conforming" children. These were called 'scoileanna scairte' in Irish. From about 1695, there were strict laws in Ireland which forbid Catholics and other "non-conforming" denominations (such as Presbyterians) from setting up schools or from sending their children abroad to school.
Hedge School
Most of the teachers in hedge schools were men although there were women. However, the education in hedge schools varied from school to school. Most hedge schools taught reading, writing and arithmetic. Many schools taught Greek and Latin.
In hedge schools, different age groups attended the same master. Some children were very young while others might be eighteen or nineteen years old. To overcome the difficulties of this, younger children were allowed to play with things like pebbles and straw while the master worked with the older children. Young children also learned the alphabet as well as reading and spellings. Children who did well at spellings were rewarded with such things as brass pins that they could display on their coats going home. Would you like to be awarded brass pins?
Children's book from hedge school
Title page from a book used in the hedge school dated 1799.
Courtesy of Antonia Mc ManusChildren's book from hedge school
Courtesy of Antonia Mc Manus
Courtesy of Antonia Mc Manus
Children's book from hedge school
Title page from a book used in the hedge school dated 1799.
Courtesy of Antonia Mc ManusChildren often learned by rote and by constant repetition which was called rehearsing
. At other times, the master spent time with individual pupils because parents expected this. Children who worked on farms during the day often attended evening schools run by hedge school masters. Would you like to have learned in these schools?
Hedge School
This is a drawing of a hedge school lesson.
Examine The Evidence And Draw A Hedge School
Examine The Evidence And Draw A Hedge School
What were hedge schools called?
The penal laws came to an end in 1782. This meant that hedge schools did not have to be in secret places anymore. Some moved in to larger buildings. They remained as private schools even up to the 1880's. These schools were often called after their teacher if, for example, the school lasted in one place for a period of time.
A Hedge School Class
This photo illustrates a group of school children on the steps of Culdaff House, May 1888, from Miss Campbell's School, Culdaff, Co. Donegal. Hedge schools were still common in the district in the early years of the nineteenth century. A student of one of them, Charles Macklin (c. 1697 - 1797), went on to become a famous actor and playwright in London. An Autumn School has been held in his honour in Culdaff every October since 1990.
Courtesy of Sean Beattie: Donegal In Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing.A Hedge School Class
Courtesy of Sean Beattie: Donegal In Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing.
Courtesy of Sean Beattie: Donegal In Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing.
A Hedge School Class
This photo illustrates a group of school children on the steps of Culdaff House, May 1888, from Miss Campbell's School, Culdaff, Co. Donegal. Hedge schools were still common in the district in the early years of the nineteenth century. A student of one of them, Charles Macklin (c. 1697 - 1797), went on to become a famous actor and playwright in London. An Autumn School has been held in his honour in Culdaff every October since 1990.
Courtesy of Sean Beattie: Donegal In Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing.Take for example Closhessy's hedge school is recorded in 1824 in Maudlin Street, Kilkenny. Hedge school teachers often found it difficult to get paid because the parents were very poor. Sometimes the parents paid them with food or turf.
At other times, if the weather was poor or poverty was great, teachers had to move about to get other employment in teaching or doing some farm work.