On the 17th of July 1864 Archbishop Cullen laid the foundation stone of a new schoolhouse in Castleknock. It replaced the thatched house which had been used as a school. On the 8th of May, 1865, teachers and pupils moved into the new school although the building was not finally completed until the 3rd of July.

In 1901 Mr. Dunne was the school master and Miss Mangan the school mistress. Each lived, in separate quarters, on the upper floor of the school - indeed when I was a pupil in the 1930's there was a kitchen range in one upper room, then used as a classroom.

Mr. Dunne owned a tricycle, which he always rode on the footpath, when he travelled between Castleknock and Blanchardstown. I gathered, from my informant, who was a pupil then, that Sgt. Delaney of the R.I.C. turned a blind eye to this activity.

It was taken for granted, in the early years of the century, that children should lend a hand at home. Every day, before attending school, my aunt and uncle, children of a local farmer, delivered milk to the barracks in Blanchardstown (now Rachel's Flowers) and to another house. They lived beside the tennis club in Castleknock. On the way home from school they were expected to take the cows out of a field en route and then drive them home for milking. It didn't seem to affect them too much - my uncle was afterwards a surgeon in the Mater Hospital.

My recollections of Castleknock School in the 30's are of the smell of dust and chalk, the dry toilets, no toilet paper or hand washing facilities, one small smoky fire, to heat the whole classroom, and the rats both outside and inside the school. I might add that the teacher's desk was placed in front of the fire, thus effectively cutting off any heat which may have been given out by the fire. To return to the rats, these often didn't wait for the pupils to return to the classroom before pouncing on the pieces of bread thrown around the playground.

Every winter pupils seemed to get chilblains, among other things. I certainly got chilblains every year despite the fact that I was cocooned in chillproof vest, liberty bodice, navy fleece-lined knickers, wool stockings, held up by elastic garters, and surmounted by wool jumper and skirt and heavy wool coat. My mother also insisted that we wear boys' boots - these were supposed to be better for our feet, but we hated them and envied the girls who wore "hornpipe" shoes.

Water for the teachers' tea was brought in a bucket from the pump in Castleknock village by one of the pupils. The washing-up water was taken from the rain-water barrel of the cottage across the road.

As a special concession, to my mother, the teacher heated milk on the smokey fire to make "Irel" coffee for me and my sisters, occasionally emptying wood lice out of the saucepan before using it and we were forced to drink this in the classroom before being allowed out to play.

In those days farming activities were carried out in the fields around us. Haymaking was the activity which interested us most as we might be allowed ride on the hay bogeys and end up in Brady's of Laurel Lodge - Bradys were fellow pupils. Another interest was "scutting" on the baker's cart on the way home from school. Most bread was home-made then but baker's bread was bought a couple of days a week and delivered to the door.

In winter on arriving home to the kitchen,warmed by the coal range, the chilblains really played up and the pleasure of being home was somehow negated by the intense pain and itchiness as the circulation returned to our frozen hands and feet.

On hindsight, although conditions seemed intolerable then, we took things for granted, even overuse of the cane, but the 1990's is a much more comfortable time in which to live.

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