Blackrock College

About

Blackrock College (Irish: Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became also a civil service training centre. The college, 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) from Dublin city centre, is just in from the sea, and is self-contained, with boarding and teaching facilities in 56 acres of parkland. It accommodates approximately 1,000 day and boarding students. As of 2023, Blackrock is run by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, in close co-operation with a dedicated group of lay personnel.

The college was founded in 1860 by Jules Leman, a French missionary with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, and was the first of the order's five schools in Ireland. Leman had a dual aim, namely to train personnel for missionary service in the Third World and to provide a first-class Roman Catholic education for Irish boys. It was originally known as the French College by the locals. A civil service training and university department (where students were examined and had degrees conferred by the Royal University of Ireland ) was later added and operated for over forty years, until University College Dublin grew, and the school focused more on the secondary curriculum.

Although never a seminary, some ordinations have taken place in Blackrock College. The first ordination there was on 22 April 1900, when Emile Allgeyer (a former student of Blackrock and the first to be made a bishop), ordained Joseph Shanahan who later became a bishop and has a house named after him within the school. From 1924 until 1933 the Holy Ghost Fathers studied theology at Blackrock Castle, before returning to Kimmage Manor. [ citation needed ]

In June 1932, college president John Charles McQuaid, hosted a large garden party on the grounds of the college to welcome the papal legate, Lorenzo Lauri, where the many hundreds of bishops assembled for the Eucharistic Congress of Dublin (1932) had the opportunity to mingle with a huge gathering of distinguished guests, including president of the executive council, Éamon de Valera, and others who had paid a modest subscription fee.

Blackrock pays homage to its historical founders and other influential figures through its six student house names: De Valera, Duff, Ebenrecht, Leman, Browne, Shanahan.

The coat of arms of the college is the third creation, dating back to 1936, and shows a blue cross and a dove in its natural colours on a silver field, with a lion rampant in the first quarter. This is blazoned in the 1937 College Annual as follows:

ARGENT: – On a Cross Azure, the Dove of the Holy Ghost, Proper, with seven Rays descendant, Or. In the first quarter a Lion rampant of the second.

On 30 April 1926 Leen at a sports day speech encapsulated the words Fides et Robur, which henceforth became the Rock motto. In 1928, a new College Crest, bearing four emblems around a blue cross was hurriedly officiated, primarily to show off the motto over the college's specially built new front gates. Not everyone was happy with this design and possible variations of a new design may have been experimented with; evidence exists that both in the crest and in the uniform, by reason of fault or debate, and most likely between 1928 and 1936, a distinctive crest had been "with nine rays descendant, Or". In 1936, McQuaid instigated a new and distinctive crest that to this day is in continual use (unchecked variations and wayward deviations are contracted into stores by stationery and uniform suppliers). It was adopted on blazers that year and a heraldic description of the arms of the college was published (though not officially registered) in the 1937 Blackrock College Annual. It was commissioned into stained glass in 1938, presumably in its true and intended likeness and survives today at the end of one of the house corridors, though its conformity to the true heraldic interpretations is not accurate; "a Lion Rampant of the second" would correctly reveal only a blue silhouette of a rampant lion, that is, minus any fine caricature details so apparent in the existing variations.

The coat of arms of the college is the third creation, dating back to 1936, and shows a blue cross and a dove in its natural colours on a silver field, with a lion rampant in the first quarter. This is blazoned in the 1937 College Annual as follows:

ARGENT: – On a Cross Azure, the Dove of the Holy Ghost, Proper, with seven Rays descendant, Or. In the first quarter a Lion rampant of the second.

On 30 April 1926 Leen at a sports day speech encapsulated the words Fides et Robur, which henceforth became the Rock motto. In 1928, a new College Crest, bearing four emblems around a blue cross was hurriedly officiated, primarily to show off the motto over the college's specially built new front gates. Not everyone was happy with this design and possible variations of a new design may have been experimented with; evidence exists that both in the crest and in the uniform, by reason of fault or debate, and most likely between 1928 and 1936, a distinctive crest had been "with nine rays descendant, Or". In 1936, McQuaid instigated a new and distinctive crest that to this day is in continual use (unchecked variations and wayward deviations are contracted into stores by stationery and uniform suppliers). It was adopted on blazers that year and a heraldic description of the arms of the college was published (though not officially registered) in the 1937 Blackrock College Annual. It was commissioned into stained glass in 1938, presumably in its true and intended likeness and survives today at the end of one of the house corridors, though its conformity to the true heraldic interpretations is not accurate; "a Lion Rampant of the second" would correctly reveal only a blue silhouette of a rampant lion, that is, minus any fine caricature details so apparent in the existing variations.

Blackrock is now run by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in close co-operation with a dedicated group of lay personnel. The annual fees for students in 2011 were €6,300 for day boys, €17,250 for boarders and €18,250 for overseas boarders. [ citation needed ]

The college and its sister schools in Ireland are today held in trust by the Des Places Educational Association, which, as the college's patron, aims to maintain the Spiritan ethos in all five schools – Blackrock, Rockwell, St. Mary's, St. Michael's and Templeogue – conducted by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in Ireland.

The curriculum offered is broad, covering all common subjects in the State Examinations including Latin, German, art, music, business, materials technology wood, science and history. Inspections by the Department of Education found exemplary standards of teaching and learning. The Irish Times placed the college in the "Top Ten" schools in the state, based on the proportion of students who accept a place in higher or further education. There are dedicated facilities for home economics and materials technology. [ citation needed ]

The boarding school is housed in Williamstown Castle (known by students as "The Castle"). Williamstown Castle was built around 1780 on lands rented by the Fitzwilliams, later Pembrokes, to Counsellor William Vavasour. It resembled other spacious houses in the area including Willow Park and Castledawson, but a later owner, Thomas O'Mara, extensively redeveloped the building and its surrounds, adding the castellated finish, hence making it into a 'castle'. O'Mara had acted as an election agent for Daniel O'Connell, who dined in the castle on occasion, and for years a portrait of O'Connell adorned the room which is now the oratory. Tiernan Mealiffe is the director of boarding in the college. The boarding school contains around 100 students. Boarding is available from first year up to sixth year. Some day boys join the boarding school in 6th year in preparation for their Leaving Certificate. [ citation needed ] Boarders are allowed to leave the castle with permission. [ citation needed ]

Sport is viewed as an integral part of a Blackrock College pupils education and each pupil is expected to participate in some activity. The principal sport in the college is rugby, with Blackrock having won the Leinster Schools Senior Cup 73 times (a figure larger than every other teams wins combined).

It has also won the Leinster Schools Junior Cup 53 times. Blackrock won the inaugural cup competition held in 1887 and has been consistently the most successful team, winning the cup at least three times in every decade since.

Retired Blackrock rugby union players include Fergus Slattery, Niall Brophy, Hugo MacNeill and Brendan Mullin (all playing before rugby union was professional), former British and Irish Lions, Ireland and Leinster captain Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Byrne, Victor Costello, Luke Fitzgerald, and the current Leinster Rugby head coach and former Irish international Leo Cullen. Current professional players include Bristol and Ireland's Ian Madigan, Leinster and Ireland players Garry Ringrose, Caelan Doris and Jordi Murphy, Munster and Ireland's Andrew Conway and Joey Carbery, Sale Sharks and US Eagles' AJ MacGinty, Connachts Dave Heffernan and multiple others around Ireland and the world.

Gaelic football is played in 4th year in the college. Past pupils Mark Vaughan and Niall Corkery are forwards on the Dublin Gaelic football team. The school also has a hurling team for 2nd and 3rd years. Five members of the All Ireland Club Championship winning Kilmacud Crokes team of 2008–09 were past pupils of Blackrock College. [ citation needed ] The college has a soccer team for its senior pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th years. [ citation needed ] In 2003 a team from the school won the Leinster and All-Ireland U-17s schools cup. [ citation needed ]

The college has a swimming team, which combines 1st to 6th year. The college competes in Leinster Senior Schools and has won the senior relay cup multiple times, most recently in 2017, and the Irish senior schools, regularly making finals and achieving gold in 2017. [ citation needed ] The school has two 25-metre (82 ft) swimming pools on the grounds. The junior school Willow Park also has a swimming team. [ citation needed ] The college has teams in other water sports such as water polo and 4th years participate in rowing. [ citation needed ]