Ballyconnell School

History

Main manor house in the 1920s.

Ballyconnell House was built around 1763 by the Olpherts, a family of Dutch landowners. It is set in a wooded park of around 500 acres. Wybrants Olphert bought the property from Captain Henry Harte who was granted lands in Cloughaneely for his loyalty to the Crown during the Ulster Plantation. In 1921, the house was occupied by the Irish Free State Army and later purchased by the Irish Land Commission. The property was transferred to the Loreto nuns, who added a new chapel, classrooms, and dormitories, and it became Col´aiste Bhr´ıde, a preparatory college for girls. In 1965, it was purchased by the Diocese of Raphoe and became Holy Cross College, a boarding school for boys. It was used as a residence for boarding students until 1986. Údarás na Gaeltachta bought the estate in 1987. The Olphert motto ”Dum Spiro Spero” is still legible over the front door. It appears it closed in the mid 2000s, probably due to maintenance fees with regions of the structure in a bad way. It was passed to the state as has since been derelict.

The main atrium was pretty special.

The property is quite large, with four wings leading off from the main atrium that would have housed the school, whilst the adjoined manor house from the 1700s is extended after one wing.

Classroom.

Laundry room.

Atrium.

Main hall apparently.

Games room.

Kitchen.

Top of the atrium.

Small canteen.

Lecture theatre.

Into the old mansion. It was absolutely wrecked in here, with most rooms having collapsed.