Great pride as St Joseph’s CBS is open for business at Newfoundwell
March 1991
THE magnificent new secondary school opened in Newfoundwell, Drogheda, this week, had its origins in the coming together in 1974 of a new fundraising committee organised by the then Principal Bro. E. D. McKinney.
Its main aim was to provide a new C.B.S. secondary school for the people of Drogheda and it is to their credit that, 17 years later, this great project has come to fruition.
The construction and completion of the Newfoundwell school marks a new landmark for the Christian Brothers in Drogheda. In 1830, the then Archbishop of Armagh Most Rev. Dr. Curtis petitioned the C.B.S. founder Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice to send a community of brothers to the town.
In September 1857, the Superior General of the congregation Bro. M. P. Riordan, agreed to open a school by the Boyneside. Brother Vincent Cronin, who had experience in establishing schools, was appointed Director and with Brothers John Norris, Thomas Leahy and Francis Connolly, came to the town in
September 1857 and they lived initially in Free School Lane opposite the Franciscan Friary.
A site at Sunday’s Gate then known as “The Orchard”, was purchased and the foundation stone ol a two-roomed school at the new site was laid by the Mayor of Drogheda, Patrick Ternan, on March 1859. Seven years later, in July 1866, the school at Sunday’s Gate was stripped ol its roof and a second storey raised to accommodate four additional classrooms at a cost of £300.
A sum of £115 was donated by Most Rev. Dr. Dixon, £100 came from a bequest of Dr. Gernon, and the remainder was collected from the people of the town.
Drogheda was one of the first Christian Brothers schools in Ireland to have its own sportsground. In May 1927, Bro. T. A. O’Mahony purchased the showgrounds in Windmill Lane. As the showgrounds were rather narrow for games under G.A.A. rules, Bro. O’Mahony acquired an adjoining strip of land in September 1928. The grounds served their purpose well and were in constant use until taken over for the storage of turf during the World War Two Emergency.
In the 1930s, it became imperative to extend the primary school at Sunday’s Gate and a new six-room school was built in 1936. It was designed by a past pupil Louis Turley and built by Joe Healy. The official opening and blessing was performed by His Eminence Cardinal McRory.
The new building gave what, at the time, was thought to be adequate accommodation to the primary school but future increasing numbers created another accommodation problem. In 1952, Bro. J. D. Houlihan bought St. Brigid’s, but its four additional classrooms did not solve the problem for, almost immediately, he entered into negotiations with the Department of Education for the extension of the national school.
It was started in 1953 and completed by 1955. The builder of the splendid Our Lady of Lourdes School was Joe Healy and despite the Department ol Education’s grant, the sum of £6,200 had to be raised locally.
That the local contribution was met is due, almost entirely, to the energy and generosity of Most Rev. Mgr. Stokes, P.P. V.G.,