History of St. Naul’s N.S. (formerly Keelogs N.S.)
Dean John Feely, who served as Parish Priest of Inver from 1849 to 1875, applied for several schools to be built in the Parish. These schools needed to be more than three miles radius off the closest school – these schools included Meenacahan, Glencoagh, Letterfad, Drumboarty, Drimnaheark and Lagan – all in the 1850s. Later he made applications for Keelogs, in 1856 and Lettermore, in 1872.
Dean J. Feely and Fr. M. Kelly, the curate made the application for Keelogs School in December of 1857. The site for the school was given by Robert Montgomery, who lived in Convoy House and who owned the Castleogary Estate in Inver Parish. Permission for a new school was granted and a one room thatched building was erected.
By 1900, the school building was becoming structurally unsound. When the inspector deemed the building to be unsuitable, the Commissioners of Education withdrew all grants and this forced the building of a new school – a two room school was then opened in early 1905 at a cost of £550.
After Lagan was merged with Keelogs there were three teachers in the school so a “pre-fab” was put in place beside the school. When a fourth teacher was appointed the school had two “pre-fabs” – the usual local shortened term for prefabricated buildings.
In 1990, a new school was built with four classrooms. It was officially opened by Government Minister Mr. Frank Fahy in 1991.
Information kindly supplied by Helen Meehan from her book ‘Inver Parish in History’.
