SRH 17. Curraghaleen Hedge School

Location: 53.41071, -8.04632Park on road beside school. Not many ruins of Hedge Schools are to be found today in rural Ireland. Described as a wretched cabin on the 1826 Survey of Schools, the records state Curraghaleen Hedge school had an attendance of 12 males and 4 females and the Hedge School Master was a Patrick Hawkins. The interior of the refurbished one-room school contains sixteen life-size models of barefooted pupils attired in dress of the period. The stern faced School Master is seated across from his class where he points to an old-time griddle which he uses as a blackboard. The Gaelic translation of the town-land points to Curraghaleen being originally known as the low-land of linen. Flax growing and homespun linen appears to have been a large scale farming activity in Curraghaleen during the 16th-17th Centuries. The interior of the restored old school-house contains Information Wall Panels depicting photos of the laborious task involved in flax growing and the tedious work of converting the crop for the making of linen. Drum Heritage Centre has the keys to the school. Tel 00353 87 9918966.