Meath Industrial School
NAME Meath Industrial School/Avondale Hall
AREA LOCATION Carysfort Avenue
MAP LOCATION OSI map of 1898-1913 place it in the townland of Carysfort.
GENERAL The school opened at Elm Cliff in 1871 and was registered by the Marquis of
Hartington on 5th May. Whilst the school was a reform school, it also took in boys who were found
to be destitute on the streets by use of detention orders. The committee only had a short lease
on the house and in 1876 they had 48 boys at Elm Cliff, and the house was in a poor condition.
The committee were offered a lease on land at Merrion Road but this turned out to be too small a
site, so a site of 10 acres was purchased on Carysfort Avenue at a cost of £1800. The project was
costed at £6300. The cost of the house and gatelodge was £4800. The plan was to use some of
the site as a market garden for teaching purposes as well as providing an income to the school.
The move to Carysfort happened in 1877 when the main building was finished but facilities like
laundries and workshops were yet to be built. They were certified as having capacity for 100 boys.
The boys were taught English, arithmetic, writing, spelling and geography. They learned shoe
making, tailoring, watchmaking and jewel setting. They also made small items of furniture
including stools which were on sale to the public. In 1881 Edward Cecil Guinness presented the
committee with a cheque for £60 in order to purchase musical instruments and form a school
band. In 1895 a gymnasium (76' x 36') was built on the site, the architect was James Franklin Fuller.
The census of 1911 shows 137 pupils in the building. The poet James Stephen (1883 -1950) was
educated here.
In 1917 the premises were taken over by the British Army as an Military Orthopaedic Hospital
following the mounting casualties on the Western front and the boys were transferred to Balmoral
Industrial School in Belfast. The Military Orthopaedic Hospital on Carysfort Avenue treated patients
between 1917 and 1931. It dealt mainly with amputees and supplied and fitted prosthetic limbs
for ex-servicemen. It had beds for more than 500 patients and remained open until 1931 when
patients were transferred to Leopardstown Park Hospital.
In 1994 permission was sought and granted to demolish the gate lodge and various other buildings
(including the hospital morgue) on the site.
YEAR BUILT 1876 - 1880
VALUATION
ARCHITECT Unknown, builders Messrs Beckett in 1876
James Franklin Fuller/Messrs Beckett, builders of the gym - 1895
SOURCES Contemporaneous newspapers
OCCUPANTS
1877 - 1917 Meath Industrial School
1917 - 1931 Military Orthopaedic Hospital
1932 Auctioned
1941 - 1975 Mr B McKinley (owner)
1941 - 1956 Irish Red Cross Society
1962 Site for Sale and Avondale Lawn built
1975 - 1984 Gymnasium in use by Dublin Crystal.
1994 Permission sought to demolish the lodge and various other
buildings on the site.
Avondale Business Centre built in front of the school.
2008 Permission sought to refurbish Avondale Hall
STAFF
1871 - 1874 James Wilson, Master (rip 1874)
1874 - 1875 James Treanor
1876 - 1877 Mr & Mrs John Hatton
1878 - 1890 Mr Vanston - Master (Mrs Vanston - Matron)
1899 - 1901 Robert Adderley - Manager
1901 Henry John Johnson - Assistant School teacher
John William Mansfield - Assistant School teacher
Harriot Ross- Matron
Annie Perry - Nurse
1906 - 1912 John & Nellie Beeby - Manager & Matron
1911 Alex Keanaghan - Assistant School master
Robert Kennedy - Assistant School master
Jane Bower - Needle mistress
Mary J Phelan - Laundress
Ellen Turner - Cook
1917 Louisa Despard - Nurse/Massage
PUPILS
1880 William Grey
1893 Alfred Castleton
1896 James Joseph Nelson
1910 - 1917 Howard Glazebrook
CURRENT
STATUS Extant and vacant
CONTRIBUTOR © June Bow & Karen Poff
DATE May 2019
AREA LOCATION Carysfort Avenue
MAP LOCATION OSI map of 1898-1913 place it in the townland of Carysfort.
GENERAL The school opened at Elm Cliff in 1871 and was registered by the Marquis of
Hartington on 5th May. Whilst the school was a reform school, it also took in boys who were found
to be destitute on the streets by use of detention orders. The committee only had a short lease
on the house and in 1876 they had 48 boys at Elm Cliff, and the house was in a poor condition.
The committee were offered a lease on land at Merrion Road but this turned out to be too small a
site, so a site of 10 acres was purchased on Carysfort Avenue at a cost of £1800. The project was
costed at £6300. The cost of the house and gatelodge was £4800. The plan was to use some of
the site as a market garden for teaching purposes as well as providing an income to the school.
The move to Carysfort happened in 1877 when the main building was finished but facilities like
laundries and workshops were yet to be built. They were certified as having capacity for 100 boys.
The boys were taught English, arithmetic, writing, spelling and geography. They learned shoe
making, tailoring, watchmaking and jewel setting. They also made small items of furniture
including stools which were on sale to the public. In 1881 Edward Cecil Guinness presented the
committee with a cheque for £60 in order to purchase musical instruments and form a school
band. In 1895 a gymnasium (76' x 36') was built on the site, the architect was James Franklin Fuller.
The census of 1911 shows 137 pupils in the building. The poet James Stephen (1883 -1950) was
educated here.
In 1917 the premises were taken over by the British Army as an Military Orthopaedic Hospital
following the mounting casualties on the Western front and the boys were transferred to Balmoral
Industrial School in Belfast. The Military Orthopaedic Hospital on Carysfort Avenue treated patients
between 1917 and 1931. It dealt mainly with amputees and supplied and fitted prosthetic limbs
for ex-servicemen. It had beds for more than 500 patients and remained open until 1931 when
patients were transferred to Leopardstown Park Hospital.
In 1994 permission was sought and granted to demolish the gate lodge and various other buildings
(including the hospital morgue) on the site.
YEAR BUILT 1876 - 1880
VALUATION
ARCHITECT Unknown, builders Messrs Beckett in 1876
James Franklin Fuller/Messrs Beckett, builders of the gym - 1895
SOURCES Contemporaneous newspapers
OCCUPANTS
1877 - 1917 Meath Industrial School
1917 - 1931 Military Orthopaedic Hospital
1932 Auctioned
1941 - 1975 Mr B McKinley (owner)
1941 - 1956 Irish Red Cross Society
1962 Site for Sale and Avondale Lawn built
1975 - 1984 Gymnasium in use by Dublin Crystal.
1994 Permission sought to demolish the lodge and various other
buildings on the site.
Avondale Business Centre built in front of the school.
2008 Permission sought to refurbish Avondale Hall
STAFF
1871 - 1874 James Wilson, Master (rip 1874)
1874 - 1875 James Treanor
1876 - 1877 Mr & Mrs John Hatton
1878 - 1890 Mr Vanston - Master (Mrs Vanston - Matron)
1899 - 1901 Robert Adderley - Manager
1901 Henry John Johnson - Assistant School teacher
John William Mansfield - Assistant School teacher
Harriot Ross- Matron
Annie Perry - Nurse
1906 - 1912 John & Nellie Beeby - Manager & Matron
1911 Alex Keanaghan - Assistant School master
Robert Kennedy - Assistant School master
Jane Bower - Needle mistress
Mary J Phelan - Laundress
Ellen Turner - Cook
1917 Louisa Despard - Nurse/Massage
PUPILS
1880 William Grey
1893 Alfred Castleton
1896 James Joseph Nelson
1910 - 1917 Howard Glazebrook
CURRENT
STATUS Extant and vacant
CONTRIBUTOR © June Bow & Karen Poff
DATE May 2019