School: Barconey Robinson

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1. Old Schools

   

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   Many years ago in Ireland the teachers were not allowed to teach children as the English Government forbade it and it was a common thing for a small number of children to gather under a hedge or in a valley to be taught by a man or priest who volunteered to teach them in order to continue the love for learning. These places in which the children gathered were called hedge-schools.
   In one of Dickie Arkins' fields which is called the "Round O", there was a hedge-school. It was in one corner of the field under a thick hedge. It was built with sods and stones and it was thatched with straw.
   The pupils brought a half-crown or five shillings each monthly and gave it to the master as fee and some farmer in the neighbourhood gave him food and lodging. The subjects taught by him were reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic and a little Irish as Irish wasn't needed much at that time. The books which he taught the pupils reading out of were called the Universals. Writing was done on a

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. schools (~4,094)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Maeve Coyle

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Clonkeiffy, Co. Cavan