Educational Buildings

St. Patrick's College, Carlow

St. Patrick’s College is one of the earlier Catholic colleges founded in Ireland following the relaxation of the Penal Laws. It is situated on land purchased in the eighteenth century. The Catholic cathedral occupies an adjacent plot. The College is built in the form of a large country house. There is a central granite porch with a cornice. Flanking it are two bays and flanking those are advanced ends of three bays each. One of the internal stone staircases is by Thomas Cobden.

Carlow County Library

St. Patrick's College, Carlow
Carlow County Library

St. Patrick's College, Carlow

St. Patrick’s College is one of the earlier Catholic colleges founded in Ireland following the relaxation of the Penal Laws. It is situated on land purchased in the eighteenth century. The Catholic cathedral occupies an adjacent plot. The College is built in the form of a large country house. There is a central granite porch with a cornice. Flanking it are two bays and flanking those are advanced ends of three bays each. One of the internal stone staircases is by Thomas Cobden.

Carlow County Library

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Throughout European history a close connection has always existed between education and the religious orders. Scholarship flourished in the schools of the Early Christian monasteries. Later the Gaelic princes and Norman lords founded religious houses partly to provide the clerical staff to run their estates but also to educate their sons.

Under the Tudors, attempts were made in 1537 and 1570 to set up elementary schools and grammar schools, without much success. At the Jacobean Plantation, Royal schools were established in Ulster at Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone to which Charles I added two in Offaly and Wicklow in 1629. All were grammar schools with some free places.

Throughout the Stuart and early Georgian periods individual charity schools offered education first for Protestant and then, if places remained, for Catholic children. By 1730 several hundred such schools existed. The best known are the Erasmus Smith schools, founded in 1669, which provided free schools in Galway, Tipperary and Drogheda, and which in the nineteenth century also supported many elementary schools. Quaker and Huguenot communities also had their own schools.

In 1733 the government set up Charter schools whose aim, amongst other things, was to convert poor Catholic children to the Protestant religion. Some 60 came into existence but they were not a success since Catholic families preferred their children to be taught in the open air 'hedge schools' and the system was ended by 1830.

The National Education System, which established national elementary schools, was introduced in 1831. Throughout the nineteenth century a strict segregation in school buildings separated boys from girls. Each had their own entrances, classrooms and even playgrounds. With the relaxation of the Penal Laws from 1778, a number of new religious communities came to the fore: the Presentation nuns founded in Cork in 1776, the Christian Brothers in Waterford in 1802, the Loreto nuns in Dublin in 1821, and the Sisters of Mercy in 1828. Each had the specific purpose of providing education for Catholic children. The role played by the brothers and nuns was enormous, and Christian Brother and Convent schools spread rapidly through the whole country in the early Victorian period.

Higher Education

St Patricks College Maynooth

St Patrick’s Colleg at Maynooth was founded in 1795 by the Government. The College opened in the autumn of that year in a house built by John Stoyte, steward of the Duke of Leinster. Though heavily remodelled in the 1950s, it is still distinguishable as the projection on the row of buildings facing the front gate, and it is still called Stoyte House. It was a much needed institution to train Catholic priests in Ireland. Before this Irish priests were being educated on the continent, mainly in France, but this was difficult at the time as Britain was at war with the revolutionary France, and most of the institutions had been confiscated by the French revolutionaries. The college was recognised as a National University of Ireland in the year 1910 and is now known as Maynooth College. Many thousands of young men have been trained here for priesthood and in the last 30 years the college has also taken in lay students studying for other awards. At present the college can accommodate nearly 5000 students.

Copyright managed by the Library Council

St Patricks College Maynooth
Copyright managed by the Library Council

St Patricks College Maynooth

St Patrick’s Colleg at Maynooth was founded in 1795 by the Government. The College opened in the autumn of that year in a house built by John Stoyte, steward of the Duke of Leinster. Though heavily remodelled in the 1950s, it is still distinguishable as the projection on the row of buildings facing the front gate, and it is still called Stoyte House. It was a much needed institution to train Catholic priests in Ireland. Before this Irish priests were being educated on the continent, mainly in France, but this was difficult at the time as Britain was at war with the revolutionary France, and most of the institutions had been confiscated by the French revolutionaries. The college was recognised as a National University of Ireland in the year 1910 and is now known as Maynooth College. Many thousands of young men have been trained here for priesthood and in the last 30 years the college has also taken in lay students studying for other awards. At present the college can accommodate nearly 5000 students.

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Trinity College

The University of Dublin, Trinity College was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in the year 1592. It is situated on college green in the centre of Dublin City, opposite the Bank of Ireland (formerly the house of parliament). The campus site is over 40 acres. The University is very well renowned and is at the same academic level as Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England, from which it was modelled. The college consists of several fine open squares and a college park. It is most famous for hosting the ancient manuscript, The Book of Kells, and its old library room.

Trinity College

Trinity College

The University of Dublin, Trinity College was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in the year 1592. It is situated on college green in the centre of Dublin City, opposite the Bank of Ireland (formerly the house of parliament). The campus site is over 40 acres. The University is very well renowned and is at the same academic level as Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England, from which it was modelled. The college consists of several fine open squares and a college park. It is most famous for hosting the ancient manuscript, The Book of Kells, and its old library room.

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Following the dissolution of the monasteries Queen Elizabeth founded Trinity College, on the lands of the former monastery of All Hallows in Dublin, in 1596. This was the first university in Ireland.

In 1795 the government founded St. Patrick's College at Maynooth, Co. Kildare, and in 1846 under Queen Victoria, new universities for Ireland were founded - the Queen's Colleges - at Belfast, Cork and Galway.