What is "hedge school"

Hedge \Hedge\, n. [OE. hegge, AS. hecg; akin to haga an inclosure, E. haw, AS. hege hedge, E. haybote, D. hegge, OHG. hegga, G. hecke. [root]12. See Haw a hedge.] A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden. The roughest berry on the rudest hedge. --Shak. Through the verdant maze Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk. --Thomson. Note: Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest; hedgeborn, etc. Hedge bells, Hedge bindweed (Bot.), a climbing plant related to the morning-glory ( Convolvulus sepium). Hedge bill, a long-handled billhook. Hedge garlic (Bot.), a plant of the genus Alliaria. See Garlic mustard, under Garlic. Hedge hyssop (Bot.), a bitter herb of the genus Gratiola, the leaves of which are emetic and purgative. Hedge marriage, a secret or clandestine marriage, especially one performed by a hedge priest. [Eng.] Hedge mustard (Bot.), a plant of the genus Sisymbrium, belonging to the Mustard family. Hedge nettle (Bot.), an herb, or under shrub, of the genus Stachys, belonging to the Mint family. It has a nettlelike appearance, though quite harmless. Hedge note.

1. The note of a hedge bird.

2. Low, contemptible writing. [Obs.]
   --Dryden.

   Hedge priest, a poor, illiterate priest.
   --Shak.

   Hedge school, an open-air school in the shelter of a hedge, in Ireland; a school for rustics.

   Hedge sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a European warbler ( Accentor modularis) which frequents hedges. Its color is reddish brown, and ash; the wing coverts are tipped with white. Called also chanter, hedge warbler, dunnock, and doney.

   Hedge writer, an insignificant writer, or a writer of low, scurrilous stuff. [Obs.]
   --Swift.

   To breast up a hedge. See under Breast.

   To hang in the hedge, to be at a standstill. ``While the business of money hangs in the hedge.''
   --Pepys.

n. (context historical English) A rudimentary school in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland, held outdoors or in a house or barn.

A hedge school ( Irish names include '' scoil chois claí'', scoil ghairid and scoil scairte) is the name given to an educational practice, particularly in 18th and 19th century Ireland, so called due to its rural nature rather than being held outdoors. It came about as local educated men began an oral tradition of teaching the community. With the advent of the commercial world in Ireland after 1600, its peasant society saw the need for greater education.

While the "hedge school" label suggests the classes took place outdoors (next to a hedgerow), classes were normally held in a house or barn. Subjects included primarily the reading, writing and grammar of Irish and English, and maths (the fundamental " three Rs"). In some schools the Irish bardic tradition, Latin, history and home economics were also taught. Reading was often based on chapbooks, sold at fairs, typically with exciting stories of well-known adventurers and outlaws. Payment was generally made per subject, and bright pupils would often compete locally with their teachers.

While Catholic schools were forbidden under the Penal laws from 1723 to 1782, no hedge teachers were known to be prosecuted. Indeed, official records were made of hedge schools by census makers, such as that in Clare. The Penal Laws targeted education by the Catholic religious orders, whose wealthier establishments were sometimes confiscated. The laws aimed to force Irish Catholics of the middle classes and gentry to convert to Anglicanism if they wanted a good education in Ireland.

Hedge schools declined from the foundation of the National School system by the British government in the 1830s. Most of the Catholic bishops preferred this, as the new schools would be largely under the control of the Catholic Church and allow better control of the teaching of Catholic doctrine. James Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin wrote to his priests in 1831:

A study of hedge schools by Yolanda Fernández-Suárez of the University of Burgos found that hedge schools existed into the 1890s, and suggested that the schools existed as much from rural poverty and a lack of resources as from religious oppression.

Marianne Eliott also mentions that they were used by the poor and not just by the Catholics.

After 1900, historians such as Daniel Corkery tended to emphasize the hedge schools' classical studies (in Latin and Greek), but while these studies were sometimes taught (based on a local demand), they were not taught in every school.

Fernández-Suárez quotes a Board of Education inspector visiting a school in 1835: