It's taken me several years to make the trip but I eventually did it! The place is definitely in a worse state than other peoples pictures I've seen on the net but a good explore and took me 3 hours to cover every accessable bit. It's been thrashed a fair bit more too, for instance, compare my pic to one stella took:
Stella:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-oz-PaB6ag0w/TURWoSeiWqI/AAAAAAAABJY/9-IZGgUee7E/s720/DSC_0018.jpg
Mine, 9 months later:
There looks to be some sporadic attempts to stop access in various areas, but at the moment unless you're 20 stone in weight there isn't much of an issue. There are a few spots I've seen in other peoples reports that I never found, I think these areas may have been blocked up from the inside for some reason.
Ah well, someones still cutting the grass anyway!
Enjoy.
History:
The building was opened by the state in 1940 as a prep school for teacher training. In 1960 it was bought over by brothers of the de la salle order and was run as a secondary level boarding school up until 1989. The brothers sold it to private investors in 1989 and the building has lain idle ever since. In 1999, it was acquired by the department for developing irish language and around €600,000 has been spent developing plans to convert the site into an education centre of some sort. Since the bottom fell out of the economy, it is unlikely that redevelopment will get underway any time soon. Most folks will be familiar with the college as the location for St Jude's reformatory school in the 2003 film 'song for a raggy boy'. Filming mostly took place on the ground floor which had to be redecorated to get the look of a much older building.
Stella:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-oz-PaB6ag0w/TURWoSeiWqI/AAAAAAAABJY/9-IZGgUee7E/s720/DSC_0018.jpg
Mine, 9 months later:
There looks to be some sporadic attempts to stop access in various areas, but at the moment unless you're 20 stone in weight there isn't much of an issue. There are a few spots I've seen in other peoples reports that I never found, I think these areas may have been blocked up from the inside for some reason.
Ah well, someones still cutting the grass anyway!
Enjoy.
History:
The building was opened by the state in 1940 as a prep school for teacher training. In 1960 it was bought over by brothers of the de la salle order and was run as a secondary level boarding school up until 1989. The brothers sold it to private investors in 1989 and the building has lain idle ever since. In 1999, it was acquired by the department for developing irish language and around €600,000 has been spent developing plans to convert the site into an education centre of some sort. Since the bottom fell out of the economy, it is unlikely that redevelopment will get underway any time soon. Most folks will be familiar with the college as the location for St Jude's reformatory school in the 2003 film 'song for a raggy boy'. Filming mostly took place on the ground floor which had to be redecorated to get the look of a much older building.
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