former National School, Cregganduff Road, Tullynaval, Creggan, CoArmagh

Former National School, Tullynavall, Creggan, County Armagh

This is a freestanding three-bay, double-height former schoolhouse, built in 1828 and renovated around 1920, now in use as an agricultural outbuilding and recorded as derelict. Although it retains several original features — notably its double-height round-headed window openings — the loss of all interior detailing and significant fabric replacement, particularly the roof, mean it does not meet the criteria for listing. It is recorded here for its historical interest.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing west, with an attached extension aligned to the south (added around 1900) and a partially collapsed two-bay extension aligned to the north. It sits at the end of a short laneway approximately 50 metres east of Cregganduff Road, aligned with the hedge boundary of the adjacent field. Access is through a replacement double gateway with square-on-plan rubblestone piers.

The roof is pitched corrugated asbestos with a leaded ridge line and asbestos rainwater goods on a concrete block eaves course. The main walls are roughly coursed rubblestone with limewash. The attached southern extension has concrete rendered walling. The northern rubblestone extension is roofless and partially collapsed.

The principal, west-facing elevation features round-headed window openings with redbrick voussoirs and stepped redbrick surrounds, fixed multi-pane metal-framed windows with a horizontally pivoting central pane, and concrete sills. The southern extension on this elevation has a pair of round-headed blind windows. The south elevation comprises the cement-rendered gable ends of the main schoolhouse and the abutting extension; the extension has a single three-light fixed-pane metal-framed window. A plinth course on this elevation includes a corduroy tooled datestone bearing the inscription "TULLYNAVALL SCHOOL BUILT A.D. 1828", which has likely been moved from its original position elsewhere on the building, possibly from the demolished eastern porch.

The east elevation has a projecting porch entrance to the left-hand extension, with an angled flat concrete roof and a rounded concrete support to the left. Three concrete steps lead to the interior. The timber door frame survives but the door is missing. The remainder of the east elevation is blank, apart from remains of a concrete-rendered rubblestone wall abutting the right end, likely the remnant of a previous porch entrance. The gabled north elevation has a single square-headed door opening with a concrete block surround to the right; the timber door frame survives but the door is missing, and the stone lintel is partially missing. The shadow of a previous porch entrance is visible, with remnants of concrete render. Concrete block and cement render repairs have been made to the apex of the gable. The right-hand side of the north elevation is abutted by the partially collapsed rubblestone extension.

Historical Background

Tullynavall School was constructed in 1828 close to the Presbyterian Meeting House in Freeduff townland, the place of worship for the small Presbyterian community established in the parish of Creggan in the 1730s. It was the only Protestant school in the parish at the time of its foundation. Funds were raised by public subscription, with the largest donation coming from Dr Atkinson, Rector of Creggan parish church. Alexander Hamilton, a local landowner and Counsellor-at-law, subscribed £5, and further amounts were donated by local gentry and their tenants. The site was gifted in perpetuity by Alexander Clark.

Initially known as the Tullynavall Classical and Mercantile School, the building was completed in 1828. The schoolmaster received an annual salary of £3 from Counsellor Hamilton, supplemented by fees from pupils charged according to their proficiency in learning. Between 40 and 70 pupils attended in the early years. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1837 record 94 pupils — 48 males and 46 females — each paying between 1s. 6d. and 2s. 6d. per quarter.

The school appears on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1835, captioned "School Ho[use]" and shown as rectangular on plan with a small extension to the east elevation, possibly a porch. This porch also appears on the second edition, and remnants of the structure have been confirmed by site inspection. By 1840 the school had come under the care of the Presbyterian General Synod, and on 16th March 1848 it began receiving financial support from the National Schools Board, at which point it became a National School. Despite the National School system's original intention to be non-denominational, management was undertaken throughout by a succession of Presbyterian ministers. A single schoolmaster educated an average of 37 pupils per day. The National School Board records, which begin for Tullynavall in 1848, give the building's dimensions as 36 feet by 16 feet and 12 feet high to the eaves.

Although pupils were largely from Presbyterian families, the school also received Catholic children from the surrounding community at various periods. Fourteen of the 59 pupils on the rolls in the last quarter of 1859 were Catholic, and in 1892 the assistant teacher was also recorded as Catholic. Enrolment registers show the school was mixed in terms of the religious background of pupils between 1867 and around 1890, followed by a long period in which children of Presbyterian or Established Church background almost exclusively appear, before the picture became more mixed again following partition in 1922.

On the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1862 the building is captioned "National School", and on the third edition of 1906–7 "Tullnavall School". By this time the east-facing porch appears to have been removed and a replacement extension had been constructed abutting the south of the main building. The datestone bearing the inscription "TULLYNAVALL SCHOOL BUILT A.D. 1828", now found in the foundation of this extension, was most likely moved from elsewhere — perhaps from the demolished porch.

By 1910, when an advertisement appeared in the Northern Whig for a Principal, there were 34 children on the roll. National Board records of 1913 noted that it was desirable for a qualified mistress to be appointed so that elder girls could receive instruction in needlework, and it appears that only female teachers were appointed after this time. In 1920 the school had an average of 28 pupils: 22 Presbyterian, five Established Church, and one Catholic. A proposal in 1922 to amalgamate with Creggan National School was ultimately rescinded, though the school remained under threat for the following two decades.

In 1923 the premises were recorded as renovated and in very good order, with teaching comprising oral and written English, arithmetic, history, geography, singing, drawing, and needlework. At the time of revaluation in 1934, there were 20 pupils on the roll. The school was assessed as having a single room with boarded floors and ceilings, a dado, and plastered walls. Dimensions recorded at this time were 37½ by 20 by 15 feet for the schoolroom, 7 by 19 by 9 feet for the single-storey porch extension, and 13 by 9 by 10 feet for an attached outbuilding that may have contained earth or water closets. A Presbyterian lady principal was advertised for in 1936, Tullynavall having once again become a one-teacher school. A further proposal to close the school was made in 1940, but following intervention from Armagh County Education Committee it remained open. On 10th July 1943 the Ministry of Education finally withdrew grants and the school closed.

By the time of the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1956, the building was recorded as in use as a church hall, though this use appears to have been short-lived. In recent years it has been used as an agricultural outbuilding. A new dwelling was constructed on the adjacent site to the south in 2022.