The very first school in Rosslare was a Hedge School which was located down the Burrow. This outdoor school was secretly set up to educate the local children who were Catholic. In the early 1800s Catholics in Ireland were denied access to education.
After some time school buildings were provided for Catholics and the first school built in Rosslare was located in Duggan’s Lane (opposite the Cedars Hotel). A private house now stands on the site of the old school.
This was a private school and so the children had to pay for their education. The teacher was Mrs. Lowe. She taught junior and senior infants and first class. A large yellow curtain was used to divide the infants’ classroom from the first classroom. Children from second to sixth class attended Tagoat School.
Coming of the Sisters of Mercy (Involved in Primary Education)
In the early 1900s Canon Doyle, Parish Priest of Tagoat wished to set up a new school in Rosslare. Mrs. Lowe was getting old and the school building was not in good repair. He wanted to bring the Sisters of Mercy from Wexford to Rosslare.
In February 1911 a house, called Mervyn Lodge, was purchased from Major Irwin, a local Protestant landowner. The new convent, called St. Brigid’s, was first occupied on the 20th June 1911 when Mother Margaret Mary, Sister M. Teresa Sinnott, Sister M. Alphonsus Lamberth and Sr. Juliana Mullens went to Rosslare and remained for the night. The convent was blessed by Rev. Canon Doyle PP Tagoat and Mass was celebrated in a room fitted out as an oratory.
Other Sisters arrived during the summer. Sr. Xavier O’Callaghan and Sr. Gertrude Davis, Mother M. Agnes McGuire who died there in August. Sr. Mary Clancy joined the group at a later stage.
When the Sisters settled down in the convent and when the house had been renovated pupils began to come for tuition. They were taught in one of the parlours. The numbers increased and one of the out offices – stables and sheds – was changed into a classroom. By this time there was a National school in the village but the numbers were decreasing while the numbers in the Nun’s school were increasing. Fr. Luke Doyle and the people of the parish decided the Sisters should take over both schools. Mrs. Lowe and the other teacher/s were near pension and they willingly gave over the school for a substantial sum of money which was paid by the Sisters. The teachers got a pension for life. The out offices at the convent were then reconstructed and converted into classrooms for second to sixth class. The senior classes ceased going to Tagoat School and attended the Convent school in Rosslare.
The infants and first class pupils attended the village school in Duggan’s Lane which continued for some time.
In 1932 a new school was built in the field opposite the Convent. The school had three classrooms, each with its own fireplace. Over the years the school was renovated and extended. One new room was added in 1966. In 1973 three more classrooms were added and the initial rooms were converted into the present Assembly Hall. A partition, a folding door cuts off the Library which was donated to the school by Doctor French who was a good friend of the community. He left £5,000 in his will for library books to be used by the children. There is a plaque to his memory on the wall of the library.
There was a further extension to the school in 1984.
In 1986 the Sisters celebrated the 75th anniversary of their arrival in Rosslare
In that year also Ms. Christine Duggan was appointed first lay Principal.
In 1996 with the retirement of Sister Noreen Rice, the Sisters of Mercy ended their 85 year of participation in primary education in Rosslare.
In 2015 the convent was closed. The remaining Sisters transferred to other convents .
In 2016 the property was sold to the parish for parish use.
Southern Province 