Building Newry & Mourne

Proposed National School - Dromore Road, Warrenpoint

This illustrated drawing shows the site and block plan of a proposed National School situated on edge of Dromore Road, Warrenpoint in County Down.

The area 'available for Teacher's residence' is outlined in blue pencil, within which is also located the old school and residence. The replacement school building, to be constructed on ground at the lower section of the plan, is displayed in simple outline and indicates the relative location of boys and girls 'privies', or outdoor lavatories. Sited in close proximity to Warrenpoint town park and on the estate of Captain Hall, the proposed school, could accommodate 150 children. No date is provided on the site plan, but it was probably produced at some stage during the latter decades of the nineteenth century.

Proposed National School - Dromore Road, Warrenpoint

Proposed School, Warrenpoint

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs for the town of Warrenpoint mention three schools, but it is not possible to verify if the old school indicated on the site plan is one of them. However, of those that are described, it is most likely to be Warrenpoint Male and Female School, established about 1826. It alone is noted as having a dwelling house, garden and 'cow's grass' attached. The school is described as 'a good large slated house in very good order', being supported by the estate of Roger Hall and quarterly subscriptions from pupils.

Interestingly, the Memoirs note that the books used are supplied by the Kildare Place Society, a charitable foundation with an evangelical ethos. If the school is the same one and it was affiliated to this body, a marked change may have occurred, as the new school on the site plan is a 'National School', founded on the principle that 'literary' and 'religious' education should be kept separate, as proclaimed by the Commissioners of National education in 1831.


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This project is part financed by the European Union through the Interreg IIIA Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the East Border Region Interreg IIIA Partnership.

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