In 1828, when the new church of St. John the Baptist was completed in Kilcornan,the old stone chapel in Stonehall was turned into a school house. It remained as such until the thatched roof was blown off during the ‘Night of the Big Wind’ in 1839. The next school, now known as ‘the old school’ was built in 1841 on a plot of land donated by Sir Aubrey de Vere. It was a long narrow oblong stone building with a small sloping porch at each end. The school had two classrooms with wooden flooring and was valued at three pounds. Classes began at 10 am and finished at 3pm.
In March 1940, Fr. D. Fitzgerald P.P of Kilcornan acquired a site for the new school at a cost of twenty pounds. It was not until 1950 that the go-ahead was given for construction. The contract for the school was in the region of five thousand pounds. Local contribution was seven hundred and fifty pounds and a crop of spring wheat was grown to pay this off.
The new school was completed in September 1953 and it was opened and blessed by Fr.Bluett. In the 1970’s, a new double pre-fab was added. In the early 1990’s extensive renovations were carried out on the original building and two new classrooms were added. Since 1953, there have been five principal teachers: Susan Madden, Padraig ‘Master’ O’Shea, Marie ‘Miss’ O’Sullivan, John Doyle and Kathleen Wixted.
**Information sourced from ‘(Forgotten) Kilcornan’, by Michael Costello
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