An Encyclopedia of Irish Schools, 1500-1800

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Year:
Pages:272
ISBN:0-7734-9050-7
978-0-7734-9050-5
Price:$199.95 + shipping
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This encyclopedia is a research tool for both specialists in Anglo-Irish culture and the generalists who would like to know something about the variety of schools that existed in Ireland before the installation of the Irish state schools in the nineteenth century. This volume's importance lies in its compilation of hard-to-find materials that are in archives or in Irish regional or religious oriented journals. For example, little has been written about the suppressed report of 1791 concerning the endowed schools of Ireland, or about the Irish House of Lords' Census of Catholic schools, "masshouses" and monasteries. There is a richness of material that awaits future researchers in Irish education.

Reviews

"This will be a useful research aid for specialists in Anglo-Irish literature, for students and scholars such as Ward who wish to have a more thorough understanding of the Irish, for students of the history of education or of comparative education, and for students of political and social conditions in Ireland during this time period." - American Reference Books Annual, 1996, Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

"The book begins with an extensive chronology of events bearing on education in Ireland, beginning in 1537 when the English outlawed Irish dress, language, laws, and customs. This is also the approximate date of the establishment of Kilkenny's School of Saint Canice by the Duke and Duchess of Ormond. It ends with establishment of the Newtown Waterford Quaker Academy. Between are dates of every type of school uncovered by Dr. Ward's research. . . . Types of schools considered and well-described include bardic schools; religious schools, e.g.,Catholic, Episcopal (Church of Ireland), Presbyterian, Quaker, and others; hedge schools, charter work schools, and independent academies, as well as others. The materials and methods of teaching used, schoolmasters, textbooks, laws against education, and vindictive views of the Irish and their education are also taken up." -- Charles S. Guthrie

"After years of painstaking research in the research libraries of Ireland, Britain and America, Ward has put together a very useful compendium which amalgamates both modern and contemporary sources, synthesizes what is known about early Irish education and academies, and offers many valuable insights into a fascinating subject. The work also serves an as invaluable source book for further research in the field. . . . The encyclopedia is especially valuable for its inclusion of previously overlooked evidence relating to education and schools garnered from Irish newspaper and periodical sources." - John C. Greene

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