Scholar's Bar/Primary One, 2 Castlefinn Road, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, BT81 7BT

Scholar's Bar/Primary One, Castlederg

A three-bay single-storey gable-fronted former National School, dated 1868, positioned prominently at the convergence of five roads where Castlefinn Road and Kilclean Road meet. The building occupies a triangular-shaped site and is a local landmark.

The school is rectangular on plan, facing south and set back from the road. It is constructed with painted ruled-and-lined render walling above a smooth render plinth course. The roof is pitched with artificial slate, synthetic ridge tiles, lead valleys, and a single stone ashlar chimneystack to the rear. The timber box fascia to both gables is a replacement, as are the metal rainwater goods. Two pairs of stone corbels support the eaves on each gable.

The symmetrical three-bay front elevation features a pair of slightly advanced gables with fluted render corner pilasters flanking each side. Each gable contains a tripartite window opening formed in stop-chamfered stone surrounds with a flush stone relieving arch above. Within the relieving arch is an oculus opening with plate tracery windows. The principal entrance is centrally positioned, with a pointed-arched door opening formed in chamfered stone surround with a shouldered stone lintel. An inscribed stone plaque above the door reads: 'CASTLEDERG, NATIONAL SCHOOLS, ERECTED, 1868'. A pair of painted diagonally-sheeted timber doors open onto a concrete universal access ramp. The window openings are square-headed with masonry sills and contain single-pane timber sash windows.

The west side elevation has a single window opening and a single door opening with replacement hardwood panelled door, also opening onto a concrete universal access ramp. The east side elevation contains three window openings. The rear elevation is largely obscured by a single-storey extension, built circa 1980, which connects both school buildings.

A second school building, the Boys' School, was constructed to the rear around 1897, but is now largely obscured by the late twentieth-century extensions. Its only remaining visible original feature is the decorative rafter feet to the eaves.

While the external character of the original Girls' School remains largely intact, most of the internal fabric and detailing in both former schools has been removed, and the large extension has been added to form a public bar complex, significantly degrading the buildings' overall historic character.

Historical Context

The National School system was established in Ireland in 1831 to provide primary education for the poor, with the Board of Commissioners of National Education distributing funds for building schools and employing inspectors. Religious instruction was taught separately from secular instruction, with strict rules in place to prevent religious proselytism. Although the system was nominally non-denominational, after the 1830s each religious denomination began applying for its own schools.

The Catholic schoolhouse at Castlederg was built in 1868, with Father James Connolly, parish priest of Urney, overseeing its construction. The first principal was Peter O'Neill. The school building is first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1870, replacing an entry for a 'site of schoolhouse' dated 1869. The land was leased from John G Smyly, and the building was valued at £9 10s, with a further 10s for the schoolyard. When the Boys' School was built to the rear in 1897, the original building became the Girls' School.

The buildings first appear on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905, and on the fourth edition of 1939 they are captioned as public elementary schools. By 1933, the occupiers were the Trustees of Castlederg Public Elementary School, leasing from C F Smyly. The valuation had risen from £10 to £45, with accommodation for 235 pupils and 224 on the roll. A 1933-57 plan shows the school building with cloak rooms, porch, and fuel store to the rear, together with a separate water closet. The Boys' School to the north had an outdoor earth closet. A photograph of the school dating from circa 1900-20 is held at PRONI.

By 1900, there were 8,684 National Schools in existence across Ireland, and the literacy rate had improved markedly, with the illiteracy rate dropping from 51 per cent in 1841 to 14 per cent in 1901.