Maghermesk Former National School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey former National School located on Maghaberry Road, west of Maghaberry village adjacent to the Church of the Blessed Virgin & St Brigid (HB19/03/014A). Rectangular plan facing NE with lower later addition to SE gable.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and single rendered chimneystack to NW gable. Plastic rainwater goods to projecting eaves (single cast iron downpipe remaining to rear). Rendered chimneystack to north gable. Walling is random coursed basalt with redbrick quoins and cement pointing. Segmental-headed timber casement windows to ground floor, diminished 2/2 horned sashes to first floor, all in stepped redbrick reveals with projecting painted sandstone cills (several panes missing, although a large proportion of original float glass remains). Addition has an artificial slate roof and painted rendered walling; windows are timber casements.

Principal elevation faces NE, and has entrances to either side, each comprising a replacement timber sheeted door with tall segmental transom light over. Three windows to ground and first floor. Datestone above right entrance reading 'Magheramesk / National School / 1895'.

SE gable abutted by the lower abutment, which has an artificial slate roof; it has two windows to front, one to the side, and is heavily overgrown to rear.

SW(rear) elevation has two windows to ground floor with first floor windows aligned over (that to left is timber casement replacement); additional mid-level stairwell window to right side, and water tank affixed.

Setting:
Set gable to the road on a sloping site shared with the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Brigid (HB19/03/014A), which is located directly to east. Rural
setting with open pasture to all sides, accessed via modern metal gates; the site is bounded by a stream to west, wire fencing to south, and a timber fence to road at north. There is an outbuilding to northwest side of site, irregular on plan and of basalt and brick construction; it is partially obscured to right side by a corrugated metal abutment; the left side has three segmental headed door openings. The rear of the main building is abutted by a perpendicular basalt wall separating the schoolyard from the private schoolmaster's yard, which is enclosed to rear by a further outbuilding with monopitched roof. The site comprises unkempt grassed areas to sides and rear, and loose gravel to front perimeter.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Randon coursed basalt
Windows: Timber
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Brigid (HB19/03/014), located in the townland and parish of Magheramesk, was constructed in 1910 and was the first Roman Catholic Church to be constructed in the parish. When completed, the site on which the church was constructed had already been occupied for over 15 years by Magheramesk National School.

A two-storey schoolhouse, Magheramesk National School was raised towards the end of the 19th century and is located immediately to the west of the current chapel; the plaque above the entrance to the schoolhouse records that Magheramesk National School was opened in 1895, documentary evidence indicates that construction of the schoolhouse commenced in 1894. Kelly notes that the plot of land was purchased from Mr. Mulholland of Edinhill; the building cost £400 to construct and, prior to the erection of the adjoining chapel, was also used as a temporary place of worship where the Catholics of the parish were able to celebrate mass (Kelly).

In the years before the Ulster Plantation, the Catholic population of Magheramesk held mass in an ancient church in the neighbouring Townland of Trummery; however this church was destroyed during the Confederate War (1641-1653) when Cromwellian artillery troops stationed in nearby Soldierstown fired upon the building which was occupied by Confederate troops at that time. Catholic services in the area were later conducted in the home of a Mrs Mulholland of Edinhill; when her parlour room could no longer accommodate a growing congregation, the Very Rev. Fr Mark McCashin endeavoured to build a meeting place for his parishioners (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 113; Kelly).

Despite being constructed in 1894-95, Magheramesk National School was not included in the Annual Revisions which continued to value all other property in the townland until its cancellation in 1929. The schoolhouse was included in the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1900) which depicted the school as a rectangular-shaped building; the map recorded the building as ‘Magheramesk School’ and also depicted a small outbuilding to the south-west of the school.

Magheramesk School was part of the National School System, the state-funded education system established in Ireland the 1830s. The National School System was administered by the Board of Commissioners for National Education (1831) and was intended to provide an acceptable system to replace the hedge schools and parish schools that dotted rural Ireland; hedge schools provided an informal or makeshift form of education, the pupils were often unsupervised and held lessons in simple huts or barns. Official statistics from the period show that in the 1820s there were approximately 9,000 hedge schools scattered across Ireland which provided unstructured education for between 300,000 and 400,000 pupils; the initiative was ultimately successful as between 1833 and the end of the 19th century the numbers attending the National Schools increased from 107,000 to over 500,000. The National School System originally intended to provide education along an integrated or ‘mixed’ principal whereby the National Schools would be undenominational, however this principal fell short as schools in strongly catholic or protestant regions moulded the national school system to meet their demands. The Powis Commission of 1870 accepted the denominational nature of many schools in areas that were strongly characterised by a certain faith. (Connolly)

Magheramesk National School is a good example of this change in the National School System; despite the principle of non-denominational education, the school was strongly characterised as a Roman Catholic schoolhouse, later emphasised by the erection of the chapel alongside it and, between 1895 and 1910, the holding of catholic services within it. In 1909 the National Education Office recorded that the school had been declining in attendance; in that year there were 26 pupils, six of whom were under five years old, and it was suggested that Magheramesk be closed and the pupils relocated to the nearest situated national school. Lurganville National School, located almost four miles from Magheramesk, was suggested as an alternative, however the National Education Office determined that ‘it does not appear that anything would be gained by conveying the Magheramesk children to Lurganville [as] they are more comfortably housed and as well, if not better, taught now than they would be in Lurganville.’

The uncertainty regarding the future of Magheramesk School was diffused with the construction of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Brigid in the following year. With the construction of the chapel in 1910 catholic services were no longer held at the national school; Father McCashin was installed as the Parish Priest (Kelly).

Magheramesk National School continued to be utilised as a National Schoolhouse until partition in 1921 and the transfer of responsibility for education to local authorities under the 1923 Education Act. Magheramesk National School, known as Magheramesk Public Elementary School from the 1920s, was first valued under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland which set the school’s rateable value at £7 (the adjoining church’s value stood at £24). There was no further valuation of the site carried out for over two decades due to the outbreak of the Second World War, however under the Second General Revaluation (1956 72), the value of the school had been increased to £12 (the church’s value was raised to £38).

The current edition of the Ordnance Survey map shows that a small outbuilding located to the south-west of the school (depicted in the third and fourth edition Ordnance Survey maps (1900-1921), was demolished prior to 1973. The map also notes that by the 1970s the two-storey building had closed its doors to pupils and was utilised as a hall for the adjoining chapel. In 1988 the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Brigid was listed; however, in 1991 it was extensively damaged by fire during an arson attack and was not reopened until 1993 (NIEA File; Kelly, p. 32).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/67/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
2. PRONI OS/6/1/67/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900
3. PRONI OS/6/1/67/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1921
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/14C – Annual Revisions 1890-1908
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/14D – Annual Revisions 1909-1929
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/1/15 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland 1935
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/52 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland 1956-72
8. PRONI ED/2/379 – National Education Office file on Magheramesk (1909-1923)
9. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Antrim VII, Vol. 21 (c. 1830)
10. Ordnance Survey Map 164-10 (1973)

Secondary Sources

1. Connolly, S. J., ‘Oxford companion to Irish history’ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
2. Kelly, D., ‘Lisburn’s rich church heritage: Churches and places of worship in the Lisburn city area’ Lisburn: Impression Print and Design, 2009.
3. NIEA File – HB 19/03/014

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

A two-storey National School dated 1895, located adjacent to the listed Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary (HB19/03/014A), with which it has group value, on the Maghaberry Road. School is constructed of random rubble brought to courses, with red brick dressings to openings. The school is prominently located, retaining a high proportion of original fabric, and is an important contributor to the social history of the area, having not only served as a school, but also as a place of worship for the local community.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.