Survey Data
Reg No
14819118
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Saint Brendan's Presentation Schools
Original Use
School
In Use As
School
Date
1875 - 1880
Coordinates
205938, 204422
Date Recorded
17/09/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached T-plan eight-bay two-storey school, built in 1878, with gabled breakfront and extensions to rear and west. Set within yard. Pitched tiled roof with terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimneystack and cast-iron rainwater goods. Flat and pitched roofs to extensions. Pebbledashed walls with smooth rendered plinth and string course at first floor level, and date plaque to first floor. Stone plaque to gabled breakfront reads: 'St. Brendan's Presentation Schools Opened 2 October 1878'. Replacement uPVC windows with painted sills. Square-headed door openings with replacement uPVC door to east and glazed timber door to south. School yard to rear with flat-roofed bicycle sheds and water tower constructed in 1961. Pitched slate roof with sprocketed eaves to tower. Statue of Saint Brendan stands on bracket to elevation of tower. Plaque beneath reads: 'St. Brendan Abbot of Birr Died 29 Nov 571'. Random coursed stone boundary wall to south, and rendered wall with gate piers and railings to east.
Appraisal
Although modest in design, this well proportioned school has retained some of its original fabric. Though modernised, altered and extended over the years, the original structure of the school is still clearly visible and is enhanced by noteworthy features such as the carved date plaque. A proud complex set within its own grounds, the school contributes to the streetscape and remains an important social focus within the town.