History

In the Past The Old School in Carrigtohill was a two-story building situated on the outskirts of the village. It was built of stone and took the builders twelve months to build. The girls school was upstairs while the boys had classes downstairs. The most teachers it had at any one time was four - two for boys and two for the girls. One of the best known headmasters of the boys' school was a Mr. Bowdren and the headmistress of the girls' school was Sister Celestine.

At the time of its closing in 1956 there were 90-100 pupils enrolled. The Inspectors name was Mr. Hegarty. The building had become unsafe because of constant flooding on the ground floor. The girls moved to their new school on the main street while the boys moved to their new school on the western end of the village.

In 1956 The Boys School was built in 1956. There were only two teachers in the school at this time. One teacher taught Junior Infants up to Second Class, while the second teacher taught Third to Sixth. Shortly afterwards a third room was built on. In the 1970's the Dean built on six other rooms because of the growing numbers of boys in the area.

Now Scoil Mhuire Naofa is an all Boys' School situated at the west-end of the village of Carrigtohill. There are currently 257 pupils on roll ranging from 4 years to 13 years. There are 16 teachers including principal, learning resource teachers language teachers and resource teacher for travellers. There are 5 Special Need Assistants and the school also has the services of a secretary and caretaker.

Location:

Scoil Mhuire Naofa is situated in East Cork in the South of Ireland. It is just off the N8 to Rosslare, halfway between Midleton and Cork City. The island of Fota, where there is a Wildlife Park, and a splendid garden surrounding Fota House, as well as the historic harbour town of Cobh are in close approximation. Overlooking Carritwohill, and the surrounding plains stands a proud Barryscourt Castle

Barryscourt Castle is said to have been built in 1206 by Philip de Barry. It is unique because it was the first castle in Ireland built by the Anglo Normans. In 1581 Sir Walter Raleigh took charge of the castle for a short amount of time, but eventually the castle returned to David Barry who was a remarkable man in his day and who was persuaded to make many adjustments to the castle.

In the 18th century this great castle was passed into the hands of the Coppingers. Stephen Coppinger then built a house here in 1716, and there it stood until 1990 when it was transformed into the castle that it is today. It now has a beautiful coffee shop and a craft shop.