Clongowes Wood College
Clongowes Wood College is a private secondary
boarding school for boys in
County Kildare,
Ireland run by the Society of Jesus (The
Jesuits) since 1814, making it one of Ireland's oldest
Catholic schools. The school featured prominently in
James Joyce's semiautobiographical novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Its current Headmaster is Fr. Leonard Moloney S.J. and Fr. Michael Sheil S.J. is the rector. Clongowes is one of a number of
Jesuit schools in Ireland.
In 1886,
St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, was amalgamated to Clongowes Wood College. Histories of the college were written by Fr. Roland Burke Savage S.J. (published in 1987) and Peter Costello ("Clongowes Wood: a history of Clongowes Wood College, 1814-1989", published in 1989) . It currently has 450 students. 2006 is the 193rd academic year.
The medieval castle, which is the residence of the religious community, was improved by a "chocolate box" type restoration in the 19th century (fashionable at the time); it is situated astride the Ramparts, which are the ditch and wall constructed for the defense of the Pale in the 14th century.
The castle is connected to the modern buildings by an elevated corridor hung with portraits, the Serpentine Gallery referred to by
James Joyce. The Serpentine Gallery was completely demolished and rebuilt in 2004 as part of a redevelopment programme for the school buildings.
The Boys' Chapel has an elaborate redos, a large pipe-organ in the gallery, and an interesting sequence of Stations of the Cross painted by
Sean Keating.
There are six class or year forms, namely Rudiments Grammar, Syntax, Humanities, Poetry and Rhetoric. These are grouped into three Lines - Third, Lower and Higher.
Alumni of Clongowes are known as Old Clongownians (OCs)
*
Gordon D'Arcy*
John Bruton former
Fine Gael TD and
Taoiseach *
Richard Bruton TD brother of
John Bruton government minister in
Fine Gael government and currently deputy leader
*
Brian Coffey*
Hugh Coveney, former Fine Gael TD and government minister
*
Thomas Joseph Crean, recipient of the
Victoria Cross during the Boer War and Irish rugby international
*
Eugene Esmonde, recipient of the
Victoria Cross during World War II
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John Vincent Holland, recipient of the
Victoria Cross during the First World War
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James Joyce, author of
Ulysses *Nick Hewer, advisor to
Sir Alan Sugar and appears on BBC's
The Apprentice*
Robert Kearney (
Leinster rugby union player)
*
John Kelly Chief Executive, Irish Chamber Orchestra
*
Tom Kettle, War Poet.
*
Paul McGuinness manager of U2
*
John Charles McQuaid, former
archbishop of Dublin and
Primate of Ireland*
Thomas Francis Meagher, nationalist, revolutionary and Union general during the
American Civil War*
Charles Mitchel, RTE newsreader and actor
*
Michael O'Dwyer (Indian colonial administrator)
*
Kevin O'Higgins, Free State Minister assassinated in the 1920's.
*
Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the budget airline
Ryanair*
'The O'Rahilly' Rebel leader in the GPO
*
George Noble Plunkett*
Kieran Prendiville (writer/ producer of BBC television shows such as Tomorrow's World, Ballykissangel)
*
John Redmond, leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party*
Michael Smurfit industrialist and businessman
*
Oliver St John Gogarty poet and writer
*
John Taaffe famous Offaly TD
*William Wallace (former Buccaneers captain 04-05)
*
J.T. Walsh (American Actor)
*
David Wheatley (Irish poet)Clongowes Wood is the only school outside England to have three or more
Victoria Crosses.
*
Clongowes Homepage*
Clongowes Youth Club
