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Lisnabo School

School
Lisnabo School
Photo: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Report the wrong picture

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Recorded change of use
Originally school; recorded by the architectural inventory as house
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What is recorded here

Detached six-bay two-storey former Church of Ireland school on U-shaped plan, built c. 1815, having six-bay two-storey front elevation (southeast), three-bay two-storey return to the southwest and a single-storey range to the northeast. Single-bay single-storey gabled porch to the front elevation (southeast) and…

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Detached six-bay two-storey former Church of Ireland school on U-shaped plan, built c. 1815, having six-bay two-storey front elevation (southeast), three-bay two-storey return to the southwest and a single-storey range to the northeast. Single-bay single-storey gabled porch to the front elevation (southeast) and storey lean-to return to the rear of the main block (southeast). Formerly also contained accommodation for teaching staff and school master. Now a private house. Hipped natural slate roof to main block having two rendered chimneystacks to the rear pitch; hipped and pitched roofs to returns. Painted smooth rendered walls over painted plinth. Square-headed window openings with replacement timber casement windows and painted stone sills. Round-headed door opening to the southwest side of porch with replacement timber panelled door and overlight. Set within extensive grounds to the south of Newtown-Forbes. Entrance gates to the south.
This substantial former Church of Ireland school building retains much of its early form and character despite conversion for use as a private house. The loss of original fabric to the openings fails to detract significantly from its visual expression and appeal. This building is unusually large for a rural school and may have been originally in use as a house. The irregular spacing of the window openings suggests that it has been altered on a few occasions, possibly at an early date. It also formerly had accommodation for teaching staff and schoolmaster (Lewis 1837). Its form with a courtyard to the rear is reminiscent of a number of mid-eighteenth-century Church of Ireland schools and character schools in Ireland, such as is found at Wilson’s Hospital and Farra in neighbouring Westmeath, albeit not with the same level of architectural detailing and without the use of high quality building materials. Lewis (1837) records that ‘ at Lisnabo is a free school for both sexes, founded and endowed by the Rev. J. Mitchell of Lismoy, who has charged his estate with an annuity of £50 for its support; the school house is an excellent slated building, with apartments for the master and mistress, and cost £700’. This building is of social importance as one of the earliest extant school buildings in County Longford and it is an important element of the built heritage and social history of the local area.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 13400817

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Photo credits
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
  • Maker not stated on source page, www.dreamstime.com
  • Maker not stated on source page, nigelborrington.com
  • Kmcnamee, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Maker not stated on source page, field-monuments.galwaycommunityheritage.org
  • Maker not stated on source page, www.gaia.com
  • Maker not stated on source page, www.joinmychurch.com
  • Maker not stated on source page, commons.wikimedia.org
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