Michael Street National School

Detached seven-bay single-storey national school, opened 1862; dated 1865, on a symmetrical T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey gabled projecting lower porch. Undergoing renovation, 2007, to accommodate continued alternative use. Now disused. Replacement pitched artificial slate roof on a T-shaped plan on collared timber construction centred on pitched (gabled) artificial slate roof (porch), ridge tiles, zinc-covered cut-granite coping to gables with rendered chimney stacks to apexes having paired cut-granite stringcourses below capping, central "wallhead" chimney stack to rear (east) elevation having corbelled stepped capping supporting terracotta tapered pot, and uPVC rainwater goods on slate flagged eaves. Rendered, ruled and lined walls on battered base with benchmark-inscribed rusticated cut-granite quoins to corners; roughcast surface finish to rear (east) elevation. Round- or segmental-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing mild steel storm panels over eight-over-twelve timber sash windows having fanlights. Set in relandscaped grounds.

A national school representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of New Ross with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the symmetrical footprint centred on an expressed porch; the elegant profile of the openings with those openings showing conservative Georgian glazing patterns; and the high pitched roofline. NOTE: The national school was the subject of a drawn out dispute when the Commissioners for National Education in Ireland ordered the removal of a cross over the door saying it was a religious emblem and contrary to the rules governing the operation of the national school system. Reverend Denis Kenny PP (d. 1875) refused to comply and, the Commissioners withdrawing their financial support, closed the school and dismissed the staff. The national school reopened when the Christian Brothers agreed to take it over and reverted back to the parish and Reverend John Kirwan PP (d. 1888) in 1882.