placenamesRathcoole
Ráth Cúil
A former charter school on Main Street records eighteenth-century philanthropy and a succession of later uses.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Ráth Cúil · Irish · main form · validated name
- Rathcoole · English · main form
Place & story
A school for twenty-five girls
Mary Mercer’s will of 1733 endowed a charter school at Rathcoole. Designed by an architect named Cummin, the building was erected in 1744–45. Its provision for twenty-five girls combined Protestant religious instruction with training in household and dairy work. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records a symmetrical, five-bay building with projecting end wings and a high slate roof. [2]
A dwelling and then a rectory
The school closed in 1826 when the Mercer Trust took over premises in Castleknock. Doctor Martin Talbot O’Kelly subsequently leased the vacant building and altered it as a private dwelling. It later became a rectory, occupied by Reverend William Johnston Thornhill from 1864 to 1888 and by Reverend William Francis Leathley Shea from 1895 to 1952. These changes explain its later name, Glebe House. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rathcoole. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Glebe House, Rathcoole, NIAH11213013 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.