School: Oldtown (roll number 7470)
- Location:
- Oldtown, Co. Dublin
- Teacher: M. Ní Ruanaidhe
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0787, Page 24
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Oldtown
- XML Page 24
- XML “Hedge-Schools”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- The hedge schoolmasters of long ago used to lodge in the farmhouses. There was a hedge school in Baker's wood in Mallahow. The school master's used to be paid not by money but they used to get food and lodging and they used to be treated as one of the family.The children were taught all Irish. They used to write on slates. The school master only stayed about three months in every district.In the year 1779 when the English came and tried to get everyone to speak English, the hedge school master went over to America and got good jobs in the war. It was all the Irish school masters who were officers in the war. They won the war of independence for the Americans.There were Hedge Schools in Ireland long ago. There was a Hedge School at Mallahow about four miles from Naul. On dry days the children were taught behind hedges and in fields and on wet days in sheds or barns.The teachers lodged in the farmhouses and were provided with food, smoking and other provisions. Subscriptions were made and in this way they were paid. Irish was taught in the schools, and Irish books were used.(continues on next page)
