St. Broghan's N.S Bracknagh

The History of Our School.

In the early 1800’s there were a number of schools in the Bracknagh area. They were not official schools. One in Cushina was a converted stable. Another in Millgrove, a small thatched building opened in 1809, over a hundred years before our present school opened in1910.

The first official school opened in the area in 1840. This was situated in Millgrove where the Hylands now live. This was a mixed school and the manager was Fr. Dunne but the landlord in the area Charlie Trench knocked down this school and built his own in 1845 on the Portarlington road. He ordered all his tenants to send their children to his school. Fr. Dunne kept fighting and turned the church into a school by day. A Mr. Lynch from Carlow was principal over 180 children attended this school. This school remained opened until 1900.

In 1910 at the start of a new decade a new school was built on the Rathangan road and it opened its doors in September 1910. It had 2 rooms with 2 teachers On its first day 10 pupils attended. The teachers were Miss Julia McCart and Mr. Edward Carvill. Mr. Carvill was a native of Co. Down and was the first man to start the G.A.A in the area. In 1912 he captained the junior football team that won the County Championships.

In 1954 with the arrival of Bord na Mona more employment came to the local area. As a result numbers attending school increased and 2 new classrooms were built and a third teacher arrived. In 1961 a fourth teacher arrived and in 1971 a fifth teacher followed. In 1976 further buildings were added to the school to cope with increasing numbers.

At present there are 87 children on roll. We have 5 classrooms, 4 class teachers and a special need teacher. We have a well equipped Assembly hall, a large outdoor play area, a basketball court and field for sporting activities.

Written By Rachel.
(Source of information includes interviews with Grandparents and local history book entitled " The Life, The Times, The People... Clonbullogue, Walsh Island and Bracknagh")