Abstract
Integrated schooling is currently promoted in post-conflict Northern Ireland, but an earlier attempt to establish secular education in Ireland during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – the Irish National Schools system – is often forgotten. A preliminary study of former National Schools indicated architectural differences between rural and urban buildings, possibly linked to the expression of divergent cultural and religious traditions in conflict with the reforming principles of the national system. This paper uses archaeological and anthropological perspectives, including the first recorded excavation of a National School in Northern Ireland, to examine their past and current significance for education, identity and place.
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Acknowledgments
The fieldwork at Arney National School was undertaken by the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork (CAF) at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) on behalf of the Killesher Community Development Association and the Cleenish Community Association. The project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and was also supported by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (now the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities – HED). Thanks are due to Dermot Redmond, Cormac Duffy, Gary Reid, and Paul Clarke who excavated the school, under the direction of Brian Sloan, and to Dr. Paul Logue (HED) and Dr. Colm Donnelly (QUB) who provided valuable support and advice to the project. Particular thanks are due to all those members of the local community who facilitated and participated in the excavation, especially Barney Devine, Eddie and Ellen Brogan and Myles Keogh. Thanks are due to all the oral history participants for sharing their experiences; to Esther O’Sullivan from the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society for direction to Auld’s book on old Holywood; to Ivan Walton for the photograph of Rossinure More; to Jim and Teresa Quinn for information on Ballynease School and permission to photograph the renovated building; to Kathleen Loughlin, for her memories of Ballynease School; to Phil McCotter for information on Crossroads School; and to Patrick Murphy for sharing the photographs of the schools at Carrickbeg, Lisded, and Tullyholvin. Finally we would like to thank Libby Mulqueeny (QUB) for preparing the final illustrations.
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McKerr, L., Graham, B., Sloan, B. et al. Space and Place: Lessons from National School Buildings in the North of Ireland. Int J Histor Archaeol 21, 785–805 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-017-0404-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-017-0404-7