A Hedge School
The oldest school we hear of in Ballinglen was a (her) "Hedge School." It was held in a cave underneath a big pile of rock. This Rock is composed of a deposit of lime and is called "marle." The time of this school is always mentioned as "Long Ago" The ventilation in this school was behind doubt as a good breeze was always to be felt passing through these caves. The pupils were children of the well-to-do mostly. The (Mo) master was paid in kind. The pupils brought him something each day and he was usually entertained in the homes of those pupils, sometimes for a week at a time. When the pupils had learned the four rules "addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division, and when they could read and write they were finished. The rule of three-Simple proportion was for was for the rich or those who thought of higher education and they were very few. Later there were at least four other schools established. One of these was the [Lylen] School at the protestant church. It is now closed.-but the old roll-books show that it was very well attended.