Edgeworthstown primary school bicentenary 'a massive opportunity' to attract visitors to Longford

Edgeworthstown played a 'significant' part in the establishment of the national primary school system here in Ireland and it should be a central part of the bicentenary year of celebrations in 2031 with huge potential to attract more visitors.

That was the message from Matt Farrell, the chairperson of the Maria Edgeworth Centre when he addressed councillors recently and he asked for their support as he delivered a presentation during the December meeting of Ballymahon Municipal District.

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The local historian, who thanked councillors and council staff for their time, said they had been working tirelessly to take advantage of the opportunity of Maria Edgeworth and her family's contribution to society.

"We know there is great potential in it, over the years we have researched other centres similar to ours, the Brontë Centre, the Wordsworth [House] centre and the Jane Austen Centre and they are attracting over 100,000 to 150,000 visitors a year and we think we can do something similar here."

Mr Farell said they are currently focused on how the Edgeworth's made a huge contribution to the establishment of the national primary school system here in Ireland, which a lot of people are unaware of.

He stated how they had developed a strategy called the Edgeworth digital network and it involves the library in Oxford, the national library in Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy, UCC, universities in Rome and "We have developed a wonderful and very desirable collection and 2031 is the bicentenary year of the establishment of the national primary school system here in Ireland and the role played in Edgeworthstown was very significant."

Mr Farrell, who relayed a brief history, said in 1791, Maria's father Richard Lovell Edgeworth, as a politician for Longford, was appointed to a select committee to the state of education in Ireland and his family then were very interested in it.
"In 1796, Maria published her first novel called 'The Parent's Assistant' and it was a book to help parents raise children and it's still very popular today in some circles.

"In 1798, they [Maria Edgeworth and her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth] published 'Practical Education', which was a new thesis on how an education system should be established in Ireland, it was published in a number of European languages, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

"And in 1799, her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth published the first education bill ever here in Ireland and he presented it and spoke on it in the house of parliament in Dublin in 1800 and due to the chaos of the rebellion of 1798 and the British Government taking over Home Rule and direct rule and the fall of the Irish parliament the bill collapsed and it just disappeared.

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"But Edgeworth continued to fight on and he was appointed to two commissions of enquiry into education.

"This led to what was called the Stanley Letter and he was the lord lieutenant for Ireland and he wrote a letter to the British prime minister saying there was an appetite in Ireland for a primary school system and the British Government decided to fund it.

"Up until recently I always thought that was the first education act, but parliament never passed an act, they just decided to fund a system in Ireland."

Mr Farell said in 1835, Maria Edgeworth applied for funding to build a school in Edgeworthstown and 'that today is where the Maria Centre is'.

"It wasn't until 1871 that the British introduced a similar system in England, Scotland and Wales and Edgeworthstown was the blueprint for that."

Massive opportunity
Mr Farrell said this 'opportunity is going to arise' and he had been speaking to the Department of Education who have it on their agenda to celebrate this and he said he believed it would be something similar to the Decade of Centenaries.

"I've also spoken to the members of the centenaries committee and they are aware of it and it's on their agenda and I've met with the director of the national archives and they are very interested in it as well.

"We're the first to hop on this bandwagon but if we don't get tuned into it some other county is going to take it."

Mr Farrell said they wanted 'buy-in' from the council, hands-on support to develop the project and they want help in identifying the project.

Cathoirleach, Cllr Martin Skelly said as more detail is outlined he believes the municipal district and Longford County Council will be very supportive of the project.

His Fine Gael colleague, Cllr Paul Ross praised Mr Farrell and described the project as being 'very innovative and ambitious'.

"You are coming well ahead of the posse when you are going five or six years ahead of the time."

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Fianna Fáil Cllr Mick Cahill described Mr Farrell as a 'great champion'.

"Anything we can do we certainly will, you have great drive and vision."