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Prior to the introduction of the Board of National Education in 1831 which provided for non-denominational education and the building of National Schools, the provision of the education in the Donaghmore area, near Newry, like the rest of Ireland, was either funded through churches, landowners or charitable organisations. This led to the emergence of small schools of varying standards dotted around the countryside.
For families who could afford to pay for their children’s education, Annabawn English, French, Classical, Mathematical and Mercantile School could accommodate both day pupils and boarders, some of whom came from Belfast, Ballygowan and Lislea. The fee for parlour boarders was twenty guineas per annum, day pupils under eleven, £14 and day pupils over eleven, £16. Established in 1842 by Mr J Irvine, who had previously taught at Drumbanagher School, both boys and girls enrolled. Mrs and Miss Irvine taught the females English, arithmetic, history, geography and needlework. With the exception of needlework, the boy’s education covered the same subjects, with the addition of classical literature and the Greek testament. The school closed c. 1850, when Mr Irvine moved from the area to establish a school at the Spa, Ballynahinch.
A ‘parish school’ was in existence in Donaghmore in 1725 with a teacher called Thomas Sharpe. The school was rebuilt by the Church of Ireland in 1818 and in 1820 the pupils comprised twenty-nine Presbyterians, twenty-six Roman Catholic and twelve Church of Ireland with William Robinson as the teacher. This school eventually became the Donaghmore Glebe National School. In an effort to stave off closure due to small numbers of pupils, it became an Erasums Smith ‘English’ school in 1906, eventually merging with Donaghmore National School in 1911. During the early19thcentury there were also schools at Lurganare (financed by the Church of Ireland), Tullymore and Ballymacrattybeg. There were two schools during this period in Glen, one at Derrycraw and the other at Barr. Run by the Catholic Church, both of these became National Schools.
A National School opened at Fourtowns in 1839 and the Dromantine School at Corgary was built in 1847 at a cost of £1,500. In 1820 there had been a school at Ringclare under Presbyterian management. The teacher was John Kidd earning a salary of £14 8s per year. This school transferred to Tullymurray with the opening of Donaghmore National School on 1stApril 1860. Built by subscription, the first teacher was Robert Sloan, who taught for over 30 years.
A subsequent teacher was Jeannie McAlister from Kilmore, county Armagh who attended Newry District Model School as a pupil teacher in the early 1900s and then Marlborough Street Training College in Dublin. She completed her training in 1903, taking up a post as Principal of Donaghmore National School at the end of that year. In 1904, the school register shows Jeannie’s younger sister Molly, aged 16, also in attendance at the school. Molly went on to become Assistant Teacher at the school and both sisters lived in the accommodation at the school. When Jeannie married Christie McClean, a local blacksmith, in 1910, she left the school and was succeeded as Principal by Molly, who taught until her retirement in 1947.
When the nearby Church of Ireland-run Glebe National School closed in 1911 pupils were transferred to Donaghmore National School. One of the terms for the larger, amalgamated school was that the Presbyterian Church appointed the Principal while the Rector of the Parish Church appointed the Assistant Teacher. The first Assistant in this arrangement was Gertie McGaffin, herself a former pupil of both schools. The school records show that on 1stJune 1914 there were twenty-two boys and thirty girls in attendance. In 1915 the teacher’s salary was £12 5¼d.
The Museum is currently offering free tours of the exhibition galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2.00 pm. These must be booked in advance by calling our Education Officer at 0330 137 4422
Newry and Mourne Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 am – 4.30 pm. Please call 0330 137 4422 or email museums@nmandd.org for further information.
Please visit our website at www.visitmournemountains.co.uk/museums/newry-and-mourne-museum
by Ken Abraham and Joanne Cummins
