Architectural plans, site maps and building estimates for secondary schools funded by the Erasmus Smith Schools educational charity founded in 1657, known primarily as grammar schools. This collection contains built and unbuilt structures as well as surveys of properties in Dublin, Galway, Tipperary, Drogheda, Ennis, and Nenagh.
Related records and files can be consulted at the ESS Archive - only plans, site maps and building estimates have been presented here. The plans were photographed on a 1 cm grid mat to gauge size.
Click through on 'All' or 'Image' under 'Objects in this Collection' to view the school plans. The plans can be ordered in a number of different ways by clicking on the drop down menu 'date created'.
Grammar schools were established in Galway, Tipperary, Drogheda and Ennis. Tipperary Grammar or The Abbey School, as it was known, passed out of the ownership of the Governors following legal action in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Ennis Grammar School had quite a short life span (1777-1890), after which the Ordnance Survey occupied the building. Galway Grammar School operated over 200 years, closing in 1960. Drogheda Grammar School is still open today although it passed out of the control of the Erasmus Smith Schools Governors in 1938, and is no longer in the original premises.
The High School, Dublin was established in 1870, not as a grammar school but as an intermediate or commercial school, with the aim of training boys for the civil service, colonial service, the army, the world of commerce and university - several exhibitions and scholarships were offered to Trinity College, Dublin. Its original building, which also contained the offices of the Board of Governors, was situated in 40 Harcourt Street, in Dublin’s city centre. Like many of the other city centre secondary schools, The High School, Dublin, moved out to more spacious grounds at ‘Danum’ in Rathgar in 1971. The school became co-educational in 1974 on its amalgamation with The Diocesan Secondary School for Girls, Adelaide Road, Dublin.
Records at the Erasmus Smith Schools Archive for the High School, Dublin date from 1870-present; Drogheda Grammar School (operating from 1679-1938), 1680–1956; Galway Grammar School (operating from 1678-1958), 1715–1962; Tipperary Grammar School, The Abbey School (operating from c.1676–c.1920), 1760–1939; Ennis Grammar School (operating from 1777-1891), 1832–1930. Other records that can be accessed at the Erasmus Smith Schools Archive include files of letters relating to the maintenance and staffing, plans for alterations to school premises and records of the events that shaped the schools. Records beyond the operational dates of the schools relate to legacy issues mainly to do with property transfer and sale. Further records for the full life span of the schools are contained in Board Registers and minute books.
