Former Dundrod National Agricultural School, Leathemstown Road, Dundrod, Co Antrim

Former Dundrod National Agricultural School

A rare example of an Ordinary National Agricultural School that retains many of its original features.

This small, relatively plain single-storey gabled schoolhouse was built in 1847 and now serves as a Sunday school. It sits to the east of the crossroads in the hamlet of Dundrod, adjacent to the Presbyterian church. The bellcote and chimney stacks have been removed in recent years.

The symmetrical east-north-east facing elevation (referred to as the east front) centres on a projecting gabled porch with a plain vertical-boarded front door. Directly above the door is a small, slightly recessed panel inscribed "Dundrod National School". Each side of the porch has a tall narrow 6/6 sash window. A small bellcote, inscribed with the date 1847 and removed since 1972, once stood above the door. The upper panes of the upper sashes display an irregular brick proportion. To the left and right of the porch are two windows each fitted with 16-pane bottom-hung tilting windows. The north gable face is blank. A small lean-to extension was removed sometime after 1972. The south gable is largely obscured by a small lean-to projection, though the visible portion is blank. The lean-to has a timber-sheeted door on its east face, a blank south face, and a blind window opening on its west face. The lean-to is set back from the main facade but merges with the rear elevation. The rear elevation contains five evenly spaced paired sash windows, also 6/6 in configuration, with the upper panes again showing brick proportion. The walls are finished in plain render with a painted plinth. The roof was recently re-covered with asbestos-free slates. Gable chimney stacks have been recently removed. Rainwater goods are PVC. The roof has a pronounced overhang with eaves and soffits finished in plain boarding.

The school was built in 1847 as Dundrod Ordinary Agricultural School, replacing two earlier schools: Dundrok No.1 National School (in operation since at least 1833) and Dundrod No.2 National School. Agricultural schools specialised in teaching farming skills—crop and animal husbandry—and typically had attached farmland. When the National School system was established in 1831, provision was made for such schools, but by 1844 only eleven had been established throughout Ireland. With the onset of the Great Famine in 1845, the need for greater awareness of basic farming methods and knowledge of non-potato crops became pressing. The Dundrod school was built in this atmosphere, with the local landlord, the Marquis of Hertford, supplying a plot of farmland and helping to fund construction. The school opened on 1 May 1848 under master Isaac Lowry, who proved a poor teacher with little interest in the agricultural curriculum. By early 1851, his disinterest, combined with local apathy and waning support from the Marquis, caused difficulties. Hertford withdrew his aid and the farm lease reverted to him in April. Lowry resigned in September, and the school closed at the end of that month. When it reopened in early 1853, the school had lost its farm and became a straightforward National School. The end of the Famine likely contributed to this change; many similar Agricultural Schools established during this period suffered identical fates. Dundrod school continued operating, latterly as a Primary School, until the mid-1970s, after which it became a church hall for the neighbouring Presbyterian church. The bellcote, considered an extravagance at its 1847 cost of £10, along with the chimneys and a small return to the north elevation, have all been removed in recent years, and the roof has been re-slated with artificial tiles.