On May 18th 1814 the first pupil, James McLorinan of Dublin was admitted to the school. His parents were drapers and belonged to the evolving prosperous class of Catholics who were willing to take advantage of the classical education, which Fr Kenney proposed to offer. The annual fee was 50 guineas, and the boys spent 11 months in the school with the annual holidays confined to the month of August.
Students were accepted from the age of seven. In winter they rose at 6am and retired at 8.45pm each day. In summer they rose at 5am and retired also at 8.45pm. The school uniform consisted of a cap made from rabbit skin, a blue blazer with brass buttons, a yellow cashmere waistcoat and corduroy trousers.
The first three Rectors were Fr Peter Kenney (1814-1817), Fr Charles Aylmer (1817-1820) and Fr Bartholomew Esmonde (1820-1821). Fr Kenney came back in 1821 and remained until 1830 when Fr Esmonde returned. In 1814 all three were young men. Fr Kenney was only thirty five while Frs Aylmer and Esmonde were both in their twenties. The fact that a large number of wealthy, sophisticated, middle-class parents of the period were willing to entrust the welfare of their sons to such young and inexperienced men for eleven months of the year, is ample testimony to the esteem and respect they had for the Jesuit system of education.
The reputation of the College spread rapidly and by 1815 there were 110 pupils enrolled. This figure rose alarmingly in 1816 to 201. It is difficult to ascertain where such a large number were accommodated. Various suggestions include the castle itself and in the castle yard where the Wogan Brownes’ stables, outhouses and offices were located. One thing was certain; the school was overcrowded and that overcrowding combined with a poor quality water supply led to a major outbreak of typhus in the College in 1819. Fr Aylmer, reacting to medical advice and to the concerns of the parents, closed the school and sent the students home for six months.
This hiatus enabled him to embark on an extensive building programme, which was to transform the College campus dramatically. 1819-1820 saw the construction of the Lower Line Building (now the Concourse) and the Higher Line Gallery (now the 1966 Building). The Higher Line Building was famous for its long gallery. Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), states that the corridor was, ‘more than 300 feet long’. This period also saw the construction of a shorter gallery parallel to the Lower Line Building. This is now the People’s Church.
Despite all the building, when the students returned in September 1819 the numbers had dropped significantly to somewhat over 100. The figure of 200 was not reached again until 1886 with the amalgamation of Tullabeg and Clongowes. Fr Kenney returned as Rector in 1821. He realised with just over 100 students in the school that he wouldn’t require the two-storey building that ran parallel to the Lower Line Building and which consisted of classrooms and dormitories. In August 1822 he converted it into a chapel for the boys and it became the People’s Church in 1907.
This material is largely taken from A Short History of Clongowes Wood College, which was privately published in 2011 by Mr Brendan Cullen, a local historian and formerly teacher of history in Clongowes (1971-2007). It is reproduced here by kind permission of the author.
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