School: Kilmaine (B.)

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1. Social - Local Hedge-Schools

   

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   The first National School in Kilmaine was open in 1863. The building was a one-storey thatched house. The site was where Hughes' house stands just a little to the West of the present Boys' school. It was oblong in shape and divided into two by a wooden partition- the boys occupying one half and the girls the other. It contained one door and the windows were made to open on hinged like doors. There was no playground. The children were allowed yo play on the streets.
   Mr James Langan was the first teacher. Before 1863, John Mc Grath taught as a Hedge-school master in his own humble cottage on the "boreen" leading from the Fair-green round the old cemetery to the road to the chapel. His daughter assisted her father in teaching. The pupils were often sent to write their head line copies on the horizontal tomb-stones in the adjacent grave-yard. Quill pens were used. A number of these were hung on the all near the fire-place and were quite crisp. The teacher procured them and had them cut.
   There was a large table on which the pupils sometimes wrote and a small table and a chair for the teacher. Prizes were given to the best pupil in the class and the teachers encouraged competition and rivalry to stimulate his instruction. Punishment was rarely inflicted. Occasionally an offender was sentenced to the "black-hole"- a small dark room in the cottage.
   A fee of one penny per week was paid to the teacher, and if he required help to sow his garden the

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. schools (~4,094)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   John Igoe

   Gender

   Male

   Occupation

   Principal

   Address

   Kilmaine, Co. Mayo