The history of the Old Schoolhouse, Ballapousta, Co. Louth

"Drakestown National School" was built in 1823 and was funded by John Taaffe of Smarmore Castle. It cost 130 punts to build 40punts of a grant was awarded by the Kildare Place Society towards the cost. The first master was John O'Neil who trained at Kildare Society a second teacher was employed the master's wife Rose O'Neil. The O'Neils lived in free accommodation. The Kildare Society was a body set up to provide a system of primary education for the poor in Ireland. It trained teachers, published books and contributed to the financial upkeep of schools.

The school was one of only four 'Chapel Schools' in the county; i.e. schools set up by the local landlord on church property to educate the local children. The school was affiliated to the National Board of Education on December 23rd 1836, the first school in the parish to do so. It was a mixed school from the beginnings. In 1842 the school was refurbished and extended with the construction of a second large room. This work was funded by local contributions. In 1883 the school was divided into separate boy's and girl's schools with separate playgrounds for boys and girls. On February 1st 1895 the school was declared a mixed one by the Department because of a fall in numbers however in March that year it was again separated into two schools. The two schools were not amalgamated again until April 1915.

In 1963 a new Boyd- Barrett three-room school was constructed its present site just over 100m away from the original school. The old school still continued to be used to cater for the ever-increasing numbers of children. In 1995 an extension was added to the new school consisting of three classrooms and a GP room, and finally the last classes left the old school house and moved to the new premises. The Old School house was only used on a temporary basis for different events until 2008 where it was renovated by Aishling Silke to cater once again for children offering preschool service and afterschool services. We look forward to celebrating its 200th birthday in 2023!