Gormanston College
Gormanston College, is a fee-paying, coeducational Catholic secondary school under the trusteeship of the
Franciscan Province of Ireland. The College is located at Gormanston Castle (built
1786) in County Meath, about 32 kilometres (20 miles) north of Dublin, Ireland.
The student body numbers 604 and enjoys a strong international flavour. There is a mix of boarding and day boarding (day boarding is co-educational). Gormanston is a private fee-paying College.
The College ethos strives to be fair and firm in an atmosphere where students are directed towards the values of mutual respect, social awareness and reverence for Gospel values. Our College Motto is
Dei Gloriae, Hiberniae Honori which translates
To the glory of God and the honour of Ireland. There are over 600 students enrolled at the College and it accommodates both day boarders (both genders) and boarders (male).
The College was founded in the middle of the twentieth century when Gormanston Castle and demesne was acquired by the Franciscan Order from Mrs. Pamela O'Connor whose husband was the late sixteenth Viscount Gormanston. He held this title from 1914 until his death in 1940, and was a member of the Preston family who were Viscounts Gormanston since the fourteenth century. This longevity means that Viscount Gormanston is the Premier Viscount of Ireland. The foxes of County Meath gather in the precincts of the Castle when a member of the Preston family is about to pass away. The current Viscount Gormanton is
Jenico Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston who lives in Kensington, London.
Ronald Bennett, a priest on the staff of the College for several decades from 1963, pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of sexually abusing students. He received a a five-year suspended sentence on
July 26 2006 and entered into a bond of €1,000 to keep the peace for five years and undertake to abide by the Franciscan code of practice.
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Gormanston College*
Franciscan Province of Ireland*
RTE News, June 29 2006*
Education in Ireland
