COLLEGE HOUSE AND MONASTERY SCHOOL
by Tom Kenny
This property originally consisted of College House fronting on Market Street and the Monastery School to the rear of Bowling Green with the residence of the Patrician Brothers to the east of the enclosed quadrangle and the out offices to the west thereof.
College House (sometimes known as Parochial House) was situated just opposite Church Lane. The original College House was on the site of Athy Castle, which was said to be the first stone castle built in Galway. On June 23rd, 1703, as the property of James Ruttledge (who had been accused of treason) and occupied by his wife, Catherine, it was sold by the trustees for selling forfeited estates for £60, by cant in trust for her Majesty. Shortly afterwards, it was converted to an army barracks.
On December 10th, 1822, Lieutenant General Quin Freeman conveyed the site, which had been described as a barracks, now described as “A house, yard, garden and old castle” to the Rev. Edmond French. Two years later, it was conveyed to Rev. Patrick Mooney and Rec. Mark Finn to allow Rev. French to use it as a school. On October 27th, 1836, Rev. French conveyed to Mark Finn, L. O’Donnell, Peter Daly, J. Kirwan and B. Roche.
Father Peter Daly built College House in 1827 as accommodation for the secular clergy of the town and he sought to improve their income and interests against the rival claims of Monastic Orders here. The building cost £800, William Brady was the architect, £30 was paid to Robert Doyle for railings and front gates and an additional £20 was spent on sundries. There is a reference in a list of documents held by Fr. Peter Daly to an indenture by D. French, F.X. Blake, Dermot Noone, John Lowther, Laurence O’Donnell, Mark Finn, Peter Daly, Andrew Martin, Joseph Kirwan, April 3rd, 1827, for securing the building of College House from the funds of the Free School.
In January 1916, £180 was due to the school fund. Between August 1938 and February 1939, Rev. Patrick Glynn spent £600 on a new hall and converting the old library into a dining room, and the old dining room into a kitchen. From then on, diocesan conferences were held there and dinner served to the clergy. Previous conferences had been held in St. Mary’s College, but no dinner was served there.
On October 19th, 1942, the High Court of Justice in Ireland appointed Reverends M. Browne, Peter Davis, Patrick Glynn and Michael Garrahy as Trustees for the Charitable Trusts of the Monastery Schools, Galway and the Parochial House, Galway.
In 1790, Rev. Augustine Kirwan, Catholic Warden of Galway, established the Galway Charity School for the education of poor boys. It was very near the Shambles Barracks. For a variety of reasons, the school failed and eventually, the Brothers of St. Patrick, also known as the Patrician Brothers, an order founded in 1808, were invited to take charge. They moved the school to the site (also owned by the Charity School) of the disused former army barracks (mentioned above) on Market Street. In January, 1827, they opened their ‘new’ school which they called The Monastery School. Three hundred boys attended on the first day.
Social conditions in Galway were very bad. The Brothers had good friends in the local clergy and school committee, and this, coupled with their own zeal, firmly established the school which quickly became known as ‘The Old Mon’. Within a year, they had 700 boys attending, most of whom came from very poor backgrounds. They were often hungry and half clothed so it was difficult to generate enthusiasm for learning, so the Brothers established two associations in the school, The Aloysian Society concerned itself with spiritual matters and the Breakfast Institute was intended to provide a free daily breakfast for the poorest of pupils. In 1835, the average attendance was 135, but during the Famine, the figure rose to over 1,000. During this period, thousands of Galwegians owed their very existence to the Brothers. This level of sustenance meant the school attendance became a lot more regular and the boys’ education continued.
In 1862, the Brothers established St. Joseph’s Secondary School (The “Bish”) on Nun’s Island and the ‘Mon’ became a feeder school for it. They also set up a National School on Nun’s Island. In 1953, they opened St. Patrick’s National School on Bridge Street and closed down the ‘Mon’ and the ‘Bish’ National School.
Our first photograph was taken c.1975 of College House and the second shows part of the façade of the Monastery School taken c.1890.
Finally, an Appeal; Our good friend William Henry is working on a history of a different National School in Galway, St. Brendan’s in Woodquay. He is wondering if any of our readers might have any photographs, artefacts, news clippings, documents or stories (printable ones!) relating to the school. Everything will be copied, cared for and returned. You can reach William at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 086 870 7405.