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Photos: Inside the abandoned schoolhouses of rural Ireland

Archaeologist Enda O’Flaherty’s photography project captures the ruins of old national schools left dotted across the Irish countryside.

TABLES AND CHAIRS lie empty in disused national schools across the country, covered in rust and dust as branches twist in through nearby windows.

Cork-based archaeologist Enda O’Flahety documents what remains of the desolate buildings in a photography project aimed at capturing the long decline of rural Ireland.

O’Flaherty began the project last year after coming upon an abandoned schoolhouse during a work field trip and realising that few modern visual records of such buildings exist.

He now spends many of his weekends travelling to photograph these deserted schools, found through either word of mouth, architectural archives or luck.

The small, typically single-roomed properties were vacated in recent decades as improvements in transport triggered the establishment of larger schools covering greater catchment areas.

Their ruins, in O’Flaherty’s words, are in many cases “a mark of rural depopulation where communities dwindled as young people chose to leave the countryside” for work.

His existing photo collection covers over 70 national schools and will form the basis of a new book he hopes to publish by the end of 2016.

Here are just some of the highlights.

Bundoran National School, Co Donegal

Capture Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Cloghboola National School, Co Cork

dsc03857 Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Slievereagh National School, Co Cork

adsc03109 Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Whiddy Island National School, Co Cork

Capture Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Hollygrove National School, Co Galway

Capture

Sonnagh National School, Co Galway

sonnagh-national-school-slieve-aughty-mountains-co-galway Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Eyon National School, Co Limerick

adsc01455 Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Ballymachola National School, Co Mayo

Capture Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Lisglennon National School, Co Mayo

Capture

Shanvaghera National School, Co Mayo

Capture Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

Tullystown National School, Co Westmeath

20160217_224247 Enda O'Flaherty Enda O'Flaherty

For more of his work, follow O’Flaherty’s blogFacebook page or Twitter account.

Read: The GPO’s flashy new 1916 exhibit is a cross between Rebellion and Call of Duty

Read: Nine free and easy ways to learn about Irish history online

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21 Comments
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    Mute Seth Cheffetz
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 7:51 AM

    Or maybe parents get excited to make their kids so happy and share something special with them…

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    Mute Carina Clarke
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 9:02 AM

    I’m doomed so. I wonder which is causing more damage. The Santa myth, or the ‘we have no internet because the router is broke myth’. At the minute my 11year old is saying “he can’t live like this” and I’m saying neither can I “tidy your room up”.

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    Mute Billy Larkin
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 2:54 PM

    Unashamedly so.

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    Mute Sam Bartell
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:03 AM

    Feck sake, what a load of tripe! Parents home with kids, prezzies, family, bit of craic and its analysised to death. Did Scrooge fund that research?

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    Mute A H
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:39 AM

    It’s funny you mention Scrooge, as Dickens has a whole novel written about not letting children play or use their imagination, “Hard Times”. Did it at school and it depressed me. “NEVER Wonder” is what the father used to tell his kids. I guess those researchers are fans of his.

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    Mute A H
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:03 AM

    Jesus H. This is depressing. We were all told lies to make our childhood more magical and fun. We have years ahead of mundane responsibility and the drudgery of everyday normal experience. I am not a serial killer because me ma told me there was a santy and I don’t have major trust issues because I was “lied” to. I would worry about the children of these psychologists and feel sorry for them. Anyone who has half a braun knows that without imagination and play, your children can become damaged.

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    Mute A H
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:04 AM

    *brain

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    Mute Lily
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:49 AM

    I couldn’t sleep with excitement on Xmas eve. I love to see the kids all happy and crazy with excitement. Once they questioned if Santa was real or not I told them the truth.

    I never believed in Santa as a kid. So I never experienced the magic. I gave that magic to my kids for 7 years before each got wise and questioned Santas existence.

    I did get to relive a bit of my childhood, I played barbies with my daughter (I never owned a barbie as a kid). I got to play cars, darts and shoot nurf guns with my boys. Much fun is had on Xmas day getting down on the floor and playing with my kids. It’s what parenthood is about, sharing the fun with your children. It’s the best feeling ever. Christmas is just an excuse to go crazy all at once.

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    Mute Jesper
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 7:59 AM

    Yes it would be far more beneficial to this corporate world if we eradicate all imagination and sense of wonder from as early an age as possible. People need to wake up and live.

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    Mute molly coddled
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 11:09 AM

    Christmas growing up was a magical time for us, my dad used to make it a wonderful time. We would go to bed on Christmas Eve with no tree or decorations only to wake up Christmas morning and the sitting room would be like a winter wonderland, tree, decorations and sooty footprints. But it wasn’t just for us kids it was more for my mum who never had an enjoyable Christmas growing up, he loved her deeply and would go all out just to make it memorable for her. I miss them both deeply.

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    Mute Kieran OKeeffe
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 12:46 PM

    @molly coddled:
    Lovely memories Molly..thanks for sharing..anyone else miss the time when Christmas started in December?..before the proliferation of discount shops..and endless ads..

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    Mute Maurice Bourke
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:39 AM

    People wanting to ‘ignore the harshness of real life’ is nothing new. It’s the reason the lottery exists and thrives but I think people put Christmas on for kids rather than this.

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    Mute Joe Bloggs
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 11:19 AM

    The moral of the story is: life is shit, so you may as well depress your kids now as it will save time later.

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    Mute Barbara Atkinson
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 12:45 PM

    ‘May’ ‘may’ ‘may’ . be weird if parents did not get excited!

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    Mute Cian Foley
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    Dec 24th 2016, 1:56 AM

    i wrote a song for us parents about how having kids brings the magic back… check out the vid here if you have a spare couple of mins… https://youtu.be/t-r9u1esunQ

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