Have you heard of the Irish Hedge Schools? Some of your Irish ancestors may have been taught in them. Recently, I came across this term and decided to do some research.
For about two hundred years, this was an illegal, informal, and unofficial local education system.
In the mid-1600s, Oliver Cromwell’s arrival in Ireland led to the outlawing of bardic schools (secular institutions.) Cromwell’s notorious reputation for the massacre of Irish people and the confiscation of their lands has made him an unpopular figure in Irish and English history. Cromwell referred to the bardic schools as popish schools due to his belief that they taught superstition, idolatry, and evil Celtic customs.
A few decades later, when William of Orange was the British king, the British enacted the penal laws. These banned Catholicism and banned priests, which, of course, prohibited the teaching of Catholicism, whether in church or school or anywhere else, for that matter.
In response to discrimination, communities began taking control of their education. This led to the developing of a network of informal schools, referred to as hedge schools, throughout the country. These schools were strategically located to avoid detection by local authorities ‘beneath the sunny side of a hedge’ and were run by schoolmasters who charged a fee for their services. Hedge schools provided instruction in various subjects, including Latin and Greek.
It’s believed that by the 1820s, Hedge Schools educated up to 400,000 students in 9000 schools. This remained in force until it was repealed in 1782. It wasn’t until 1967, with the Free Secondary Education Act in the Republic of Ireland, that secondary school education became open for all.
Because of the secrecy and illegalities, there are few records concerning these schools. Although you can scour the internet and find some teacher’s names in some places.
19.2.20 hedge schools. 19.2.20 Hedge Schools – Department of Classics – Trinity College Dublin. (n.d.). https://www.tcd.ie/classics/livinglatin/hedge-school.php
McDonnell, D. (2021, February 24). The Irish Hedge School. ClanDonnell. https://clandonnell.net/the-irish-hedge-school/
Costello, G., & Name. (2023, July 17). Hedge schools. Skehana & District Heritage. https://skehana.galwaycommunityheritage.org/content/topics/education/hedge-schools
Category: Sheephaven history. The Workhouse. (2023, September 4). https://dunfanaghyworkhouse.com/category/sheephaven-history/
Photo Credit
Kenneth Allen / The Hedge School, Doagh /
Loganalogy- The Family Historian 