Clongowes Wood College

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Clongowes Wood College SJ is a Catholic voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Blessed John Sullivan (Jesuit) taught at Clongowes Wood College from 1907 until his death in 1933. One of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ireland, it had 450 students in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The school's current headmaster, Christopher Lumb, is the first lay headmaster in its history.<ref name="The Times">Template:Cite news</ref>

The school is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference being one of only three members based in Ireland.

School

The school is a secondary boarding school for boys from Ireland and other parts of the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The school is divided into three groups, known as "lines". The Third Line is for first and second year students, the Lower Line for third and fourth years, and the Higher Line for fifth and sixth years. Each year is known by a name, drawn from the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum: Elements (first year), Rudiments (second), Grammar (third), Syntax (fourth), Poetry (fifth), and Rhetoric (sixth).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Buildings

The medieval castle was originally built in the 13th century by John de Hereford, an early Anglo-Norman warrior and landowner in North Kildare.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He had been given extensive lands in the area of Kill, Celbridge and Mainham by his brother, Adam de Hereford, who had come to Ireland with 'Strongbow', the Earl of Pembroke.

The castle is the residence of the religious community and was improved by a "chocolate box" type restoration in the 18th century. It was rebuilt in 1718 by Stephen Fitzwilliam Browne and extended in 1788 by Thomas Wogan Browne.<ref>A Short History of Clongowes Wood College by Brendan Cullen, 2011, p. 2</ref> It is situated beside a ditch and wall—known as ramparts—constructed for the defence of the Pale in the 14th century. The building was completely refurbished in 2004 and the reception area was moved back there from the "1999 building."

The castle is connected to the modern buildings by an elevated corridor hung with portraits, the Serpentine Gallery referred to by James Joyce.<ref>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce. Chapter 5, 25 March, Morning: "A long curving gallery. From the floor ascend pillars of dark vapours. It is peopled by the images of fabulous kings, set in stone. Their hands are folded upon their knees in token of weariness and their eyes are darkened for the errors of men go up before them for ever as dark vapours."</ref> This gallery was completely demolished and rebuilt in 2004 as part of a redevelopment programme for the school buildings.

File:Modern Section, Clongowes Wood College - Kildare, Ireland.JPG
The Serpentine Gallery – a portrait corridor connecting Clongowes castle to modern buildings
File:Staff Reading Common Room - Clongowes Wood College - Kildare, Ireland.JPG
The Jesuit Community Library at Clongowes Wood College SJ
File:ClongowesCrest.png
The college coat of arms in the Community Reception Room at Clongowes Wood College SJ
File:Staff Dining Room - Clongowes Wood College - Kildare, Ireland.JPG
The Jesuit Community Reception Room at Clongowes Wood College SJ

In 1929, another wing was built at a cost of £135,000, presenting the rear façade of the school. It houses the main classrooms and the Elements, Rudiments, Grammar and Syntax dormitories.

An expansion and modernisation was completed in 2000; the €4.8m project added another residential wing that included a 500-seat dining hall, kitchen, entrance hall, offices, and study/bedrooms for sixth year ("Rhetoric") students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Boys' Chapel has an elaborate reredos, a large pipe organ in the gallery, and a sequence of Stations of the Cross painted by Sean Keating. School tradition has it that the portrait of Pontius Pilate in the 12th station was based on the school rector, who had refused to pay the artist his asking price.

The moat that outlines the nearby forest of the college is the old border of The Pale, with the Wogan-Browne castle (now the residence of the Jesuit community) landmarking its edge.

File:Chapel Clongowes Wood College - Kildare, Ireland.JPG
The Boys' Chapel at Clongowes Wood College SJ
File:Altar of Chapel Clongowes Wood College - Kildare, Ireland.JPG
The altar in the Boys' Chapel at Clongowes

History

The school traces its history back to a Template:Convert estate owned by the Wogan family in 1418 under the reign of Henry IV. The name "Clongowes" comes from the Irish for "meadow" (cluain) and for "blacksmith" (gobha). The estate was originally known as "Clongowes de Silva" (de Silva meaning "of the wood" in Latin).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The estate later passed to the Eustace family and became part of the fortified border of the Pale in 1494. The Eustaces lost their estates during the Restoration (1660).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The estate was sold by the Wogan-Brownes to the Jesuits in March 1814 for £16,000.

File:First Pupil James McLornan Plaque.JPG
Plaque outside reception, commemorating its 1st pupil James McLornan on 18 May 1814

The school accepted its first pupil, James McLornan, on 18 May 1814.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1886, the Jesuit-run St Stanislaus College in Tullabeg, County Offaly, was amalgamated with Clongowes Wood College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Joseph Dargan served as rector in the 1970s. Leonard Moloney was the headmaster from 2004 to 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Michael Sheil retired as rector in 2006 and Bruce Bradley<ref name="clongowes1">Template:Cite web</ref> (headmaster 1992–2000) was his successor. In September 2011 Michael Sheil returned as rector.

As of 2021, there are four Jesuits living at the school, two priests and two brothers.<ref name="clongowes1"/>

Clongowes is also part of an initiative to ease religious tensions in Turkey, currently being headed by Alan McGuckian (former teacher in Clongowes now Bishop of Raphoe) in Istanbul.

Prefect of Studies/Headmaster

Rectors

Historical accounts

One early history of the school is The Clongowes Record 1814–1932 by Timothy Corcoran (Browne and Nolan, Dublin, 1932). A half-century later, a history was written by Fr. Roland Burke Savage, SJ and published in The Clongownian school magazine during the 1980s; that same decade, Peter Costello wrote Clongowes Wood: a History of Clongowes Wood College 1814–1989, published by Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1989).

File:Statue of Ignatius of Loyola in reception Clongowes Wood College - Kildare, Ireland.JPG
Statue of Ignatius of Loyola in reception area

Sport

Clongowes is known for its strong pedigree in rugby union. Despite a relatively small size, Clongowes has won the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup nine times, winning its first final in 1926. Following this, there was a gap of 52 years until the next title in 1978. Beginning with a 3rd title in 1988 and up until 2011, Clongowes has appeared in 13 finals, more than any other school in the competition during this period.Template:Citation needed Clongowes secured a first set of back-to-back titles with wins in 2010 and 2011 before being awarded a joint title in the 2020 season which was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cultural associations

The school featured prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A documentary depicting a year in the life in the school was screened in 2001 as part of RTÉ's True Lives series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The popular fictional series of Ross O'Carroll Kelly has mentioned Clongowes Wood on a number of occasions in the book and Irish Times column.

Notable alumni

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Arts and media

Law

Politics and diplomacy

Military

  • Francis Clery — British Army General who commanded 2nd Division during the Second Boer War
  • Eugene Esmonde — Second World War pilot and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross
  • Aidan MacCarthy — Air Commodore RAF, doctor, author of 'A Doctor's War'
  • Pat Reid — British Army officer who escaped from Colditz, noted nonfiction and historical author

Religion

Science and medicine

Business

Sports

  • Tadhg Beirne — Irish rugby union international, British & Irish Lion #838, Munster rugby player
  • Brian Carney — Irish rugby league player
  • Will Connors — Irish rugby union international, Leinster Rugby player and former Ireland sevens player
  • Thomas Crean — Irish rugby union player, British & Irish Lion #53, British Army soldier and doctor, Awarded the V.C.
  • Gordon D'Arcy — Irish rugby union international, British & Irish Lion #720, Leinster rugby player
  • Ted Durcan — Champion Flat Jockey, winner of multiple global classic races
  • Paddy Hopkirk — international rally driver, winner of Monte Carlo Rally
  • David Kearney — Irish rugby union international, Leinster rugby player
  • Rob Kearney — Irish rugby union international, British & Irish Lion #766, Leinster rugby player
  • James Magee — Irish cricketer and rugby union player, British & Irish Lion #56
  • Fergus McFadden — Irish rugby union international, Leinster rugby player
  • Max McFarland — Scotland rugby sevens international
  • Noel Purcell — Irish rugby union player, Irish & GB water polo Olympian, the first man to have represented two countries at the OlympicsTemplate:Citation needed
  • Patrick Quinlan — Australian cricketer and lawyer
  • Arthur Robinson — Irish first-class cricketer
  • Dan Sheehan — Irish rugby union international, Leinster rugby player

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Partner schools

See also

References

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Template:Jesuits in Ireland Template:Schools and colleges in County Kildare Template:Private schools in the Republic of Ireland Template:Authority control

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