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Scoil Fhursa, 80 Years (04 04 13)
Scoil Fhursa opened on the 24th of April 1933, 80 years ago this month. It was named after the ‘laborious preacher and famous visionary’, St. Fursey who was born on Inchiquin on the Corrib towards the end of the 6th century. He performed many miracles both here and on the continent. The school building has an interesting and varied history. It was built by a group known as “The Irish Church Missions” who were set up in the UK with a view to converting Roman Catholics ‘from the errors of Popery’.They were told the west of Ireland would be a fruitful field for proselytising and so established a school in two houses in Merchant’s Road
where a child might be given an evening meal and a night’s lodging after his attending a Bible Class. They soon felt that a new Mission schoolhouse and dormitory were needed in the city, and so they built the premises known as “Sherwood’s Fields Orphanage” in 1862.
It was a boarding school that was also used as a place of worship. The ‘orphans’ from Galway City spent little time in Sherwood Fields but were transferred to some other school in the county. It was mostly Conamara children who were housed in Galway. The Irish Church Missions understood the value of using the Irish language and were careful to appoint teachers with knowledge of Irish. They taught reading and writing, geography, arithmetic and English grammar and handwork. The Bible was introduced on every possible occasion. There was a local superstition about the school, people were nervous passing it and children were warned not to go near it. The orphanage ceased to function around 1906. It was known as a “Bird’s Nest”.
The building consisted of a Church (about 80 x 20’), a schoolroom opening off it by folding doors, a small dwelling house in the same block and a larger house in which there were dormitories and dining room.
Sometime later, the British army used it as a recreation centre where they played cards and held concerts. In 1922, the army pulled out of Ireland and a caretaker named Mr. Jackson took charge of the building. Four years later, it was bought in trust by Louis O’Dea for Fr. Jimmy O’Dea and P.J. Horan acting for the Knights of Columbanus. It was used for storing furniture prior to auctions. In 1929, Fr. Andrew O’Farrell and Eamonn Waldron established a MacHale Summer School there, where oral and written Irish were taught as were traditional singing and dancing. At one stage there were 384 pupils attending. They had céilís at night.
In 1931, the Department of Education bought the building and the Summer School ceased to exist. The Gaelic League had been lobbying the Government since 1926 to grant an all-Irish school to the city. They finally agreed and spent almost £1,400 adapting the building to a National School. After a formal blessing by Canon Davis, Scoil Fhursa opened on the 24th of April, 1933 with two teachers who were seconded from Scoil Mhuire in Dublin until a permanent staff was appointed. Eleven boys and twenty girls were present on the first day. Boys could attend until they were ten years old or alternately until they were confirmed, which for some was eleven years old. There were 12 rooms in the school. They got electricity in 1934.
The first teacher appointed permanently was Mrs Madge Duignan who was known only as Bean Uí Duignan to the pupils. She was a gentle charismatic teacher with the patience of Job who represented the first introduction to the real world for generations of young Galwegians. Mrs Sedwards (Bean Uí Sedbhaird) became principal on October 3rd, 1933. The following year Miss Nora Naughton (later Bean Nic Fhionnlaoich) joined the staff and two years later, Miss Mairéad Keogh (later Bean Uí Beirne) was appointed. The number of pupils increased rapidly, and in 1937, the Department limited that number to 175, which meant not all parents wishing to send their children there could be facilitated.
So parents got together to campaign for better facilities to allow more pupils attend. It was a long campaign, but eventually, in 1962 an extra classroom was provided and the number on the rolls went up to 260, but still no classrooms were allowed on the first floor. By 1986, Scoil Fhursa was a 10-teacher school with adequate accommodation for all classes on the ground floor and first floor. As you can see from our photograph, the gate was moved from the corner, presumably for health and safety reasons. The teaching was all done through the medium of Irish, and the school in effect became a ‘mini- Gaeltacht’, which it still is 80 years later. It has helped cultivate a love of the Irish language in thousands of student and been an important factor in the revival of the language in Galway.
The Galway Archeological and Historical Society will host a lecture on Monday next, the 8th of April at 8pm in the Harbour Hotel. The title is “Some Bridges in County Galway” and it will be given by Paul Duffy. All are welcome.