Nano Nagle
Nano Nagle was born in Ballygriffin near Mallow, Co. Cork in 1718. The Penal Laws did not allow Catholics to be educated and so Nano began her education at the local Hedge School, and later was sent to France for her secondary education.
On her return, Nano wished to provide education for the children of Cork. In 1775 she opened seven small schools there. This was the beginning of the Presentation Sisters. Soon the sisters opened schools throughout Ireland. One of these schools was George’s Hill, Dublin.
History of Presentation Education in Drogheda
In 1811 the people of Drogheda requested that some of the Presentation Sisters should come from George’s Hill and set up a similar school here. On Whit Monday 1813 the first Presentation School for boys and girls was opened in the basement of a small house in Fair Street. In 1858 a bigger school was necessary and a new two storey building was erected on the site of the old school room. In 1870 the Daughters of Charity took over the education of boys in the town. The Presentation School, now for girls only, expanded further and in 1914 it was necessary to build an extension.
The Sienna Sisters operated a secondary school for girls in Drogheda until 1921. In 1922 the Presentation Sisters opened St Philomena’s High School to provide secondary education for their primary pupils and then in 1939 Our Lady’s College Greenhills Boarding School was opened.
Roll books/registers of the period which contain hundreds of names
Do you have an ancestor who attended the Presentation School, Fair Street, Drogheda, Co.Louth between the years 1822-1839 in the case of girls and between 1859-1870 in the case of boys?
By clicking on the links above you will have access to the roll books/registers of the period which contain hundreds of names.
The site is also a treasure trove of interesting information about Drogheda in the 19th century.
The original research for this information was carried out by Christy Quigley and was originally published in the journals of the Old Drogheda Society 1992, 1994 and 1996.
History of our school
In June 1974 a new Presentation Primary School was opened on the Ballymakenny Road. Staff and pupils transferred to this spacious modern school from Fair Street. In 1982 an extension of a further two classrooms, a remedial room and a storage room were built. In 1989 the playground areas were extended and improved and landscaping of the grounds took place in the years that followed.