My Memories of St Mary’s Old School Virginia, County Cavan, Ireland
St Mary’s Old National School Virginia, is the first school I attended in the early mid 1940s, at the very young age of five. Like a monument to the past history of Virginia the school is still standing and is located on the Virginia to Cavan Road, just outside the town. The school is of special interest and importance to me and other members of my family, because like the old Church in Virginia, these two historical buildings hold special childhood memories for us and are an important part of our family history. Not only is it the first school I attended and other member of my family, it is the school where our Mother and Father and previous generations of the Lawlors and members of my Mothers family, the Smiths attended and it is where they learned the 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) and the Irish language, and I have no doubt it is where they were subjected to painful humiliating corporal punishment.
A Parish Priest by the name of Father Bernard Gaffney is credited with the establishment of the school which was built in 1909, by members of the Smith family, their "Masons Marks" can be seen on a number of other buildings in and around the town. It is possible that my Grandfather on my Mothers side, Neil Smith, may have been involved in the building work as he was a skilled mason by trade.
A Parish Priest by the name of Father Bernard Gaffney is credited with the establishment of the school which was built in 1909, by members of the Smith family, their "Masons Marks" can be seen on a number of other buildings in and around the town. It is possible that my Grandfather on my Mothers side, Neil Smith, may have been involved in the building work as he was a skilled mason by trade.
This description fits the Old School in Virginia, and many others that were built in Ireland in the latter halve of the last century. In the1940s, and before, most schools in Ireland were known as national schools or "poor schools”. The schools were built of stone in the style of a large house. The benches and desks were made of hard wood, the walls and windows would usually be bare. An open grate fire was the only means of heating the classrooms. Children attending the school were required to bring in some turf or logs for the fire or make a contribution towards the cost of fuel. Sanitation and washing facilities were very basic. Internally the walls were usually painted dark brown, green, and blue in the cloak room, if there was one. A good number of the pupils would probably be attending the school hungry, shoeless and unwashed. There was no such thing as free milk in those days.
My early childhood memories of Virginia are generally happy, but when I recall memories of attending the (The Old National School) at round about the age of five there is one word and one feeling which immediately comes to mind that is "fear". I clearly remember the first day I attended the school, for me personally it was a frightening and traumatic experience. Drawing on my memories of that first day at school during the morning play break while the other children were noisily playing I walked up to the end of the playground and looked forlornly over the stone wall across Sodens field towards the river Rampart and home. I remember feeling very sad and anxious because even then at that tender young age I was able to comprehend and realise that my life had changed forever. The sense of security and freedom I had enjoyed so much up to that time had been taken away from me and it was a daunting thought that I was now in the clutches of the State and I would have to submit to and endure for five days a week Ireland’s harsh and severe approach to education for what I thought would be at least the next ten years of my life. It was a daunting thought that I would be entering into the Irish education system an institution that had a reputation for an uncompromising policy towards discipline through the liberal use of corporal punishment even for very minor lapses of attention or behaviour.
My early childhood memories of Virginia are generally happy, but when I recall memories of attending the (The Old National School) at round about the age of five there is one word and one feeling which immediately comes to mind that is "fear". I clearly remember the first day I attended the school, for me personally it was a frightening and traumatic experience. Drawing on my memories of that first day at school during the morning play break while the other children were noisily playing I walked up to the end of the playground and looked forlornly over the stone wall across Sodens field towards the river Rampart and home. I remember feeling very sad and anxious because even then at that tender young age I was able to comprehend and realise that my life had changed forever. The sense of security and freedom I had enjoyed so much up to that time had been taken away from me and it was a daunting thought that I was now in the clutches of the State and I would have to submit to and endure for five days a week Ireland’s harsh and severe approach to education for what I thought would be at least the next ten years of my life. It was a daunting thought that I would be entering into the Irish education system an institution that had a reputation for an uncompromising policy towards discipline through the liberal use of corporal punishment even for very minor lapses of attention or behaviour.
As I was thinking about this, I was suddenly brought back to earth by children shouting and running to see a fight that had started. As I tentatively and curiously approached the scene I could see two older boys, stood toe-to-toe, delivering punches with venom to each others faces with the obvious intention of either knocking each other out or causing injury. I was shocked by this incident because it was the first time I had seen real violence of this nature. The fight went on for some considerable time and was only stopped when a teacher arrived on the scene.
The teachers I remember who taught in the school performed their duties with zealousness and with an air of unquestioning authority. One female teacher I remember in particular used to slowly patrol the class room in a hawkish intimidating manner, slowly tapping a cane into the palm of her hand, just daring anyone of us to give her any excuse to dish out a beating
The teachers I remember who taught in the school performed their duties with zealousness and with an air of unquestioning authority. One female teacher I remember in particular used to slowly patrol the class room in a hawkish intimidating manner, slowly tapping a cane into the palm of her hand, just daring anyone of us to give her any excuse to dish out a beating
The main elements of education in those days were the 3Rs, History and Geography and compulsory learning of the Irish Language. The two main things I learned at this school during the short period of time I attended it was respect for authority through fear, and how to count up to ten in Gaelic. The Old School in Virginia, is still standing and I was pleased to be able to attend, while I was on holiday in Ireland, the recent Old School centenary celebration, which was partly held actually in the school. I have since been told that over three hundred people attended some coming from as far away as Australia. The celebration was a three day event I was only able to attend on one of them. I have deep mixed feeling about the whole subject of attending school in Ireland. The one day I spent at the school during the centenary celebration was enough for me. While I was there it was nice to listen to the various stories people were telling and it was nice to know at least one person (Paddy Dunne) remembered me and took the time and trouble to talk to me. The committees that organised the centenary deserve a lot of credit for the obvious time and hard word they had devoted to the event. While I was at the school, with my wife Marian, I was pleased to be able to purchase a book about the history of the school a very interesting and well put together publication which to my pleasant surprise contains a photograph of myself and my brother Jackie in class group taken outside the school. I will conclude, by including this quote from the book because it expresses better than I can my true feeling on the subject.
"It is often said that school days can be the happiest days of your life, but unfortunately this was not true for everyone during the pre-1960 decades. There was over use of the cane, very little patience with slow learners, corporal punishment was the order of the day. It was no wonder; the happiest day of the year was the day the summer holidays started. We raced out of the gate and up the town, cheering and shouting! And better still when schooling was finished altogether at the age of fourteen."