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Ardagh Boys School

Ardagh Boys School Rosscarbery:
A Catholic Church stood on this site until 1819 when the present Catholic
Church was built.
The building was then used as a school and became part of the National Education System. Some of the older reports refer to the school as The Old Chapel School.
The present building which dates from 1884 was built using stone from the local quarry in Ardagh. Even though extensive renovations were carried out in 1987, the exterior of the building retains most of the original features. Among well-known past pupils are Jeremiah ODonovan Rossa and Tom Barry.
The building structure is a good example of local stone building and construction using local materials. This school I was at was called the Old Chapel School. It was built on the top of the hill field, and on top of the Rock.
Rossa goes on to describe the locality surrounding the school as follows: ‘The Rock’ is a seashore hamlet inhabited chiefly by fishermen. The hill field was one of my father’s fields, and I had to be up early those mornings to keep the ‘Rock’ hens out of the cornfield.

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