Survey Data
Reg No
13400508
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Gaigue National School
Original Use
School
Historical Use
Outbuilding
Date
1890 - 1910
Coordinates
220642, 288276
Date Recorded
18/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached six-bay single-storey double gable-fronted former school, built c. 1900, having end-bay porches with separate entrances for girls and boys. Two-bay single-storey toilet block to the rear (south) having flat roof. Building later in use as an outbuilding with industrial door inserted into rear elevation (south), now in disuse. Pitched natural slate roofs with brick chimneystack to valley between gable-fronted roofs, and having cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted roughcast rendered walls having carved three limestone plaques to porches and to central bay, reading ‘Scoil na mBuacailli’, ‘Scoil na gCailini’ and ‘Scoil na Geige Scoil Naisunta’. Square-headed window openings having concrete sills, some with remains of six-over-nine timber sliding sash windows. Some window openings now blocked. Square-headed door openings to porches/end bays with timber battened doors. Set back from road in own grounds to the southeast of Ballinamuck. Rubble limestone boundary walls. Rubble limestone gate piers (on square-plan) having carved limestone capstones with chamfered edges and wrought-iron flat bar gates. Modern mild steel gate to the east end of boundary wall.
Appraisal
Although now derelict, this interesting two classroom former national school retains much of its early character and form. The end-bay porches clearly articulate the separate entrances and classrooms for girls and boys, which were a common feature of the educational system in Ireland in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The school retains many original features that enhance the façade such as the natural slate roof, timber sash window and the carved limestone plaques with Gaelic script. It was probably built to standard plans prepared by the Office of Public Works, who were responsible for the designs and construction of a large number of rural schools throughout Ireland around the turn of the twentieth century. This school building is an interesting feature in the rural landscape to the southeast of Ballinamuck, and indicates the presence a large rural population here at the time of construction.