Education in Athenry by Ronan Killeen

Scoil Chroí Naofa and Presentation College Athenry were found by Nano Nagle the foundress of The Presentation Order in the year of 1826 403,000 Irish children were thaught in Hedge school's.
   Athenry had its own hedge school known as Watty's which was situated at Court Lane near Dempsey's Slaughter house. Between the ruined house once known as Ms. Finn's house and the house to the very left of the Old Handalley used to be a primary school which was built under the Deptartment of Education.

By 1875 on the register of the primary school there was 55 boys and 35 girls. In 1907 Mrs. Dolan became the last lay principal of the school and on 2nd Janurary 1908 by urgent request of Cannon Canton to Archbishop Most Reverand John Healy asked The Presentation Order to set up a convent in Athenry and to to teach in the girls school.
   Canon Canton kindly vacated the house to the order of nuns which became their new home. The nuns thought there until Sacred Heart was built in 1910. Sacred Hart was toaccomadate 150 pupils but by 1912 there were 181 on the register. Then a new classroom had to be built onto the school at the um of $325. By March 1913 classes began commencing in that room.

Sacred Heart a.k.a Scoil Chroí Naofa was built by the contractor John Broderick who became president of the Irish Volunteers in 1914 according to his son Sean Broderick T.D. Old IRA witness statement in 1950. There were five nuns and two lay teachers on staff and Sr. Paul was the first principal of that school.
   In the case of the boys they were though from Junior Infants up to First Class and then continued their education in the Boys School. If they were fortunate enough they could go to De La Salle Brothers in Loughrea, St. Mary's, or the Bish in Galway or St. Jarlath's in Tuam but many of the boys emigrated. The girls at Sacred Heart were though up to seventh class and learned all their subjects through Irish. The children were thaught for their primary certificate.

A list of the staff in Sacred Heart in the 1930's below:

Infants thaught by Sr. Dominic
First Class thaught by Sr. Baptist
Second Class thaught Sr. Ignatius
Thrid and Fourth Class thaught by Sr. Ignatius
Fifth Class thaught by Cecilia
Sixth Class thaught by Sr. Agnes

Sr. Baptist had been one of the principals of the old school and was a choir teacher for the children. Displine in the school was strict and penmanship was known to be very important. Each child had a pen, nib, ink and a sheet of blotting paper to prevent blobs. Two children  seated to a desk and each desk had two inkwells which had to be filled every week. On FridradsyEvery Friday all the ink weels were washed in the Tap Room.
   Parents bought school books in the school after been given the booklist needed for their children's education and would send the required amount of money to the class teacher. Boys and Girls recieved their first Holy Communion in 1st class and the girls at Sacred Heart would make their Confirmation in 6th class. As already mentioned the boys by the end of 1st class would move to the Boys school or a different school.

Tracing the Royal Irish Constabulary in the UK by Ronan Killeen

Here is another e-mail I got about a year back for tracing the RIC in the National Archives of the UK though you won't see much difference between this e-mail and the one from the National Archives of Ireland

Dear Ronan,




With reference to your enquiry, the original service and pension records

of members of the Royal Irish Constabulary are in the custody of The

National Archives (UK), Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW4 9DU,

England.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk



The National Archives holds microfilm copies of the R.I.C. service

registers which record such information on individual members of the

force as age on joining, any former occupation, height, religious

affiliation, by whom recommended, native county (but not name) of wife,

places in which stationed, any promotions and reason for leaving the

force.



The information on R.I.C. members is recorded under each individual

member's service number. The service number of any member is obtained

by searching in the surname indexes to the service registers. However,

I regret that, because of the volume of requests for information we

receive, we are unable to devote the time necessary to undertake

searches in the surname indexes to determine service numbers. Unless it

is possible for us to be advised of an R.I.C. member's service number,

we have to request that persons seeking information relating to the

career of a former member of the R.I.C. visit our reading room to

conduct personally any such research.



The National Archives is open to the public between the hours of 10.00

am and 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday - with the exception of public

holidays. Archives are produced for inspection from 10.00 am to 4.30

pm.



Publications:

Herlihy, J, The Dublin Metropolitan Police - A short history and

genealogical guide

(Dublin, 2001).

----------, The Royal Irish Constabulary - A complete list of officers

and men, 1816-1922, (Dublin, 1999).

How do I trace my Royal Irish Constabulary Ancestor by Ronan Killeen

To prevent confusion this is an e-mail I got from the National Archives...

The information on R.I.C. members is recorded under each individual

member's service number. The service number of any member is obtained

by searching in the surname indexes to the service registers. However,

I regret that, because of the volume of requests for information we

receive, we are unable to devote the time necessary to undertake

searches in the surname indexes to determine service numbers. Unless it

is possible for us to be advised of an R.I.C. member's service number,

we have to request that persons seeking information relating to the

career of a former member of the R.I.C. visit our reading room to

conduct personally any such research.



The National Archives is open to the public between the hours of 10.00

am and 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday - with the exception of public

holidays. Archives are produced for inspection from 10.00 am to 4.30

pm. Alternatively, a professional researcher may be commissioned to

undertake such research on your behalf and a list of these is available

on our website at:

www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy/researchers.html



An index to the R.I.C. records is available by subscription at:

www.ancestry.co.uk

Note that the index is still a work in progress.



R.I.C. website:

http://irishconstabulary.com





Publications:

Herlihy, J, The Dublin Metropolitan Police - A short history and

genealogical guide

(Dublin, 2001).

----------, The Royal Irish Constabulary - A complete list of officers

and men, 1816-1922, (Dublin, 1999).

Watty's Hedge School by Ronan Killeen

During the penal era in Athenry there exisited a hedge school known as Watty's Hedge School which had been situated at Court Lane near Dempsey's Slaughter House in 1808. In 1826, 403,000 Irish children were thaught in Hedge school's.
   Nano Nagle, founder of The Presentation Order, defied Penal Laws to open schools for children in Cork City.