28.10.2024
Past, Present and Future Come Together for New Chapter of Monkstown’s History
A new chapter in the history of Monkstown was celebrated yesterday (Sunday October 27) as Monkstown Schoolhouse was returned to its rightful place in the heart of the village. The painstakingly and handsomely restored Georgian building was officially opened and rededicated following the Parish Eucharist.
The school closed on December 31 1986 and after a number of alternative iterations, the building fell into disrepair. Attempts over many years to explore other uses for the schoolhouse met insurmountable obstacles but when Canon Roy Byrne arrived as the new Rector of Monkstown in 2016, he turned his sights on it.
After much work to resolve ownership issues, plans were drawn up, planning permission secured and work began in December 2021. Further obstacles ensued – the knock on effects of Brexit, Covid 19 and the Russian Ukraine war, with the associated problems of material shortages and spiralling cost increases.
The building comprises the beautifully restored schoolroom which contains numerous school photographs and other artifacts which were recovered or donated by the community. Further artifacts were donated by the Revd Prof Anne Lodge from the Plunkett Museum of Irish Education. A classroom which was built on in the 1960s has been converted into a coffee dock. A living space has been recreated on the first floor. An eco–friendly garden now occupies the area which was once the schoolyard.
“It wasn’t easy. It was a nightmare with sleepless nights, terrible worry, unremitting frustration but something kept us all going. Here we are today surrounded by you, our friends, in a building filled with memories celebrating the past, looking forward to the future, proud, delighted and slightly humbled if the truth be told,” Canon Byrne told the gathered crowd, which included past pupils, in the beautifully restored schoolroom.
Monkstown Schoolhouse was dedicated by Archbishop Michael Jackson. Churchwarden, Prof Elizabeth Oldham, petitioned the Archbishop to dedicate and bless the building and a number of other items donated in memory of parishioners and parish musicians. Following the blessing, Marjorie Kirk cut the ceremonial ribbon. Marjorie lived in the schoolhouse apartment as a child.
In his sermon, the Archbishop paid tribute to the energy, sensitivity and careful precision of Canon Byrne who drove the project as a labour of love assisted by the members of the Select Vestry and the whole community of Monkstown.
“To all of you, I and the whole diocese offer a very warm and hearty: Thank you,” he said. “I thank you for a number of reasons. The first is that the schoolhouse was looking at you out of the corner of its eye, in the corner of today’s churchyard, and it was not in a good state. However, there was enough of it left for it to be worth taking on as a heritage project not least because it is a listed heritage building in a conservation area. This is enough to make it worth it. The second reason is that it carries with it so much history of the place of Monkstown itself. Its restoration enables this history not to be lost.”
He said that the first mention of education taking place in Monkstown was in 1723. The school opened in the churchyard in 1791 with 47 boys and 33 girls. It closed in 1986 and the Archbishop said that this was a tremendous continuity of service and charted the sustained efforts to do good things for children. He said that the curriculum had a practical bent and included 10 fishing next for boys and eight spinning wheels and two twisted wheels for girls.
“One imagines that the tradition of the predecessor of the school – mending herring nets – continued. In the eighteenth century we are not talking about the N11 whizzing past but a working fishing port and village; we are not talking about Amazon or DHL deliveries but spinning, weaving and mending as ways of life and occupations of real vitality in the community. The full curriculum at this time contained: spinning, knitting, basket making, reading, writing along with something that money cannot, nor will it ever, buy: morality and industry. It is heartening to learn that during The Famine years the school provided children with bread, milk, clothing, shoes, soup and coal – all of these, in their own right, treasures,” he commented.
After the service, Canon Byrne recalled his first glimpse of the building following his interview by the parochial nominators when the parish administrator, Liz Neill–Watson, was delegated to show the prospective Rector the parish plant. In response to his questioning on what the boarded up building was, she replied “Don’t ask”. He said he could have chosen to run a mile and leave the “don’t ask” to some other gullible cleric but he chose to face whatever challenge the Good Lord was pointing him towards.
A few months after his arrival he drew a sketch of the derelict building and formulated an idea for its future use. He brought it to the Select Vestry who, he said, “with extraordinary courage and generosity of spirit gave its blessing”. Architect Tony Mullen and his son Ben turned the sketch into architectural drawings and without a single objection from the community, planning permission was granted.
Apart from restoring the building he wanted to celebrate the history of education in the schoolhouse and so artifacts that once graced the classrooms of the school were donated alongside the donations from the Plunkett Museum. “So here the past, the present and the future come together as we celebrate a new chapter in Monkstown’s history,” he stated.
He thanked the Select Vestry, in particular Olwyn Keating and Roger Kirker, for all they have done over many years prior to the work taking place and “all who have helped to get us to the 27th of October 2024 – the day Monkstown Schoolhouse returned to its rightful place in the heart of the village”.
Parish Reader and member of the Select Vestry, Thelma King, thanked Canon Byrne on behalf of the parish and the community for his inspiration, dedication and hard work in delivering the project. “It was envisaged that the work would start in 2021 and finish in 2022. But unfortunately Covid came along and delayed matters considerably. But eventually work was completed. All during this time the expertise, knowledge and diligence of the Rector were daily called upon but he never let this interfere with his wonderful ministry to all of us. But it was a heavy burden on him. We are very grateful to him for all he has done and we will now have the opportunity, not only in the parish but in the community, of this wonderful, new refurbished mansion,” she said.
