School: St Patrick's, Aughnacliffe (roll number 13283)

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   “In the Penal Days when Ireland was crushed by the invader...”

   

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   In the Penal Days when Ireland was crushed by the invader her Monasteries were plundered and her priests hunted through bogs and glens with a price on their heads, likewise learning and culture were to a great extent exterminated. The peasants were forbidden to to practice their religion or to congregate in groups or to teach school. In those dark and dismal days, the Hedge Master taught school in some lonely glens. Here is the lonely glen or mountain-side he instilled into his pupils, the true principles of their religion and a burning love for their down-trodden country, and above all, he exhorted them to retain their country's language the Gaelic which was also banned. In the townland of Aughakine on the northern border of Colmcille parish beside St. Patrick's well sheltered by a ledge of rocks on the south and by steep hills on the North and West, the Hedge Master taught his pupils in all kinds of weather, and with nothing whatever for a roof, but the blue sky above. It is handed down by tradition that pupils travelled from all over the county to be taught at this centre. "The Poor Scholars" the pupils were called. The old Hedge Master's name was Taidg O'Brien. He was a native of Aughakine. The townland was them ruled by

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Séamus Mc Nerney

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   14

   Informant

   Patrick J. Donohoe

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   49

   Address

   Aghakine, Co. Longford