Schools In Seir Kieran
The present school was built in
1874 .It was built by Father John Purcell. It was built in the townland
of Longford Big on land belongingto the Jackson family .The school has
undergone great improvement since its early years. In the first decades
of this century Seir Kieran National school shared hard times with most
of the other small schools around the country. Past pupils can remember
the rain coming in the windows and the wind blowing up through the floorboards.
School attendance levels began to drop at the turn of the century. The
average attendance was 37 in 1898 and this had fallen to 25 by 1903. In
April 1906 Fr. Drennan wrote ‘’I regret to say that attendance in the school
here is very low, notwithstanding all my efforts to effect an improvement.
Would your Lordship allow me to publish the attendance from the altar from
time to time? This might be good’’.
As early as 1903 Fr.
Phelan was speaking of a possible extension to the school numbers. This
extension would take place in the direction of the teachers house and would
accommodate an extra 14 pupils. However, it was another thirty years before
major improvements were made to the school. In 1936 Father Edward Purcell
began a series of fund raising events and school restoration was completed
about 1937. What was once a single room was partitioned and new windows
and doors were put in. While the restoration was taking place, school was
held in the hall. In 1983 the improvement of school facilities in Seir-Kieran
reached a high-point with the official opening of a major new extension.
Early Schools In Seir Kieran
The earliest school in the
vicinity of Clareen was on Longford Strand.
This school was built near
Longford Strand Church. Because of their proximity to each other
the school and the church were in use at the same time which was
in the period prior to 1795. In its early years, the school in Longford
Strand was illegal –a hedge school. Officially it did not exist ,but
it was allowed to carry on as long as it did so quietly. At the beginning
of the nineteenth century , a good number of people from Seir-Kieran’s
parish would have received an education in the Strand.
The School At Derrybeg.
The 19th century sees the
first recorded school in Seir-Kieran parish .
Following Catholic Emancipation ,the National Board of Education had been
established in 1831 to provide assistance towards the cost of buildings
and teachers’ salaries. Many schools at first declined to come
Under the Board because it did not permit
the teaching of Irish language and history . Despite this ,the Board did
make a large contribution to improvements in education ,and in Seir-Kieran
it provided the first legal school for Catholics since the time of
the monastery.
This school was located close to the
Squire’s turn. Mr. Frank Carroll was one of two hedge schoolmasters
in Seir Kieran. The other schoolmaster was Mr. Lambe
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