On 20th of October 1838 a petition requesting provision of a school at Coolavoota about 1 mile south of the present school was sent to the Board of Education. The petition presented the case for building a school in the area. The nearest school, which was in Kanturk was 4.5 miles away. Coolavoota was a District with a population of approximately 3000 people including 100-150 males and 80-100 females of school going age. A civil servant wrote in pencil on the petition that there was a private school within one mile of Coolavoota. This was probably a hedge school.
The ‘First School’
The first school was built eventually at Lismire Cross and the first teacher Nicholas Power was appointed at the age of 23 in 1846. He was assisted by Jane Jones, age 20. Nicholas Power had run a hedge school and when he moved to Lismire, his pupils came with him. Both teachers were paid an annual salary of £8.
The old school at the Cross was a two-storey building, the girls school on the upper level, boys on the lower. There was a shop in front of the old school gate, run by Mrs Sheehan. In 1892 a porch (a grant of £30 was received) was added onto the school and it was stated that this porch could also serve as a classroom.
In the early 1900s Lismire could boast of a pub and a dancehall. The Sinn Fein Court in 1920 was held in the dancehall. Dances were held on Sunday evenings and films were also shown there.
The ‘New School’
In 1940, a site for a new school was purchased for £40 from Ben Sheehan. The parish contributed £455, 5 shillings and 10 old pence as the local contribution to the Board of Works. The Department of Education paid the rest of the cost of erecting the school on today’s site.
The first principal of the new school was John Hishon. He had also built a shop next door to the school and this was in operation up to circa 2010. John Hishon was soon followed by John Morley who was the Principal of the school until his retirement in 1981. He was succeeded by Angela Duane. Anglea was Principal until her retirement in 1994, when John Casey took over. John Casey was Principal, until his retirement in 2009. Ailín Fitzgerald succeeded John Casey, and is the current Principal of the school.
Eugene MacAuliffe(RIP) of Bawnmore, was the first pupil through the door of the “new school” in 1940. Coal fires were used to heat the school and this form of heating was still in use until the 1980s. Willing volunteers used to make their way to the coal shed to replenish the stock in the galvanised bucket. It was a great escape, as long as you did not encounter any furry friends while about your chore in the shed!
The ‘Amalgamation’
In 1968, a neighbouring School, Tourard was amalgamated with Lismire and the children who had been attending Tourard, were transported by bus to Lismire N.S. Two of their teachers Ellen Hannigan, and Julia Greaney came from Tourard to Lismire and this necessitated the erection of prefabs at the back of the school.
In 1991 a very successful reunion was organised. Past pupils from all over the 32 Counties congregated to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school. It was a trip down memory lane for many people and Conor Murphy, Rights Commissioner, who was a past pupil of the old School, at The Cross, addressed a huge gathering in the Duhallow Park Hotel.
Upgrading and Renovations
In the 1980’s, central heating was installed and the school got a telephone! As the 1940s building deteriorated, the 1980s were a period when an array of buckets and other receptacles were at hand to regularly collect water dripping from the ceiling, due to a leak in the roof. If the wind blew from a certain direction on a wet day, many of the desks had to be moved to drier ground, as the windows were also leaking!
The school was re-roofed in 1991 and the windows and doors were replaced. 1996 saw the building of the General Purpose Room and Minister for Education and Science Micheál Martin performed the official opening in January 1998.
Extension
In 2006 funding was received from the Dept of Education to upgrade the existing building and to build on two new classrooms. A fundraising committee made up of members of the Board of Management, parents, teachers and members of the local community did trojan work and raised €100,000 which was used to build a third classroom and install an interactive whiteboard in each classroom. The new school was operational in September 2007 and was officially opened in June 2008 by the then Minister Batt O’ Keeffe.
Pitch
Next door neighbour, Gerard O’ Brien very kindly donated land to the school on the northern bounds of the school site. This land was developed as a pitch and was officially opened in 2014.
Pre-school
In 2017, the Board of Management sought the setting up of a playschool on the school premises. Tina Dunstan opened her playschool ‘Cherryblosoms Lismire’ in September 2017. Tina is still operational and offers a pre-school, before and after school service from Lismire School.
Much of the information outlined above has been received by word of mouth, and therefore cannot be stated as totally correct. However, I am hopeful that it is an accurate account of the history of Lismire N.S. from its conception in 1838.
Drafted by Ailín Fitzgerald (May 2021)