by Sinead Burns, Aileen O'Shea and Deirdre Burke

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Barefield. (Built 1874)

Sr.Gabriel O'Riordan

I was a pupil in Barefield School from 1918 to 1926, a long time ago. Life in General has changed radically since and so have the schools. Through the hard work and dedication of the present Principal and Staff, I understand that Barefield school is widely acclaimed as one of the best schools in Co.Clare. In my day the school was smaller. The boys and girls were taught separately. My father and Mother taught the children from infants to Std.7 and Mrs O Driscoll and Mrs Hogan taught the girls. Each teacher had three or four classes to teach, no easy task at the time. The saleries were small. My father told my sister that when she herself qualified as a teacher, that his salary was 57 pounds a year ! Can you believe it ? His salary must have increasd as the years advanced or else he would never have been able to support and educate five of us.

Teachers in the twenties had none of the teaching aids such as videos, radios, calculators, computers, beautifully illustrated books and magazines that are available today.Their strength lay in there own personalities and in the knowledge and information they recived in training colleges such as Mary Immaculate in Limerick and De La Salle training college in Waterford. They had a love of learning themselves which they passed onto their pupils.

We got a great grounding in Irish, English, Maths and Religion. Less time was given to History and Geography but we got a broad outline of Irish History and we knew the position and names of countries on the map of the world with a more detailed knowledge of the main towns in Ireland.

We had a singing class once a week. We began the class by exercises in tonic solfa as a warming up exercise.We learnt a Plain Chant and could sing the Missa de Angelis with assurance. We were taught some lovely hymns for the feis such as Adoro te Devote, Ave Verum, Salve Regina, Salve Mater. As one of our own priests in the parish, Father Cahill, was director of Plain chant in the Diocese, he usually put the final touch to these hymns before the contest. We learn't some lovely songs too. I still remember Ban cnuic Eireann O, Silent O Boyle and All in an April Evening!. We had no Keyboard or guitar or even an mouth organ or tin whistle. The only tool my father had was a tuning fork. He had a good voice himself and he was able to demonstrate to us how wanted us to sing each song.

We had sewing class once, every two weeks. We learn't hemming, running stitch, back stitching herrinbone, buttonhole and patches of every kind. We arranged our specimens in a special book to be shown to the Inspector when she came.

We learnt by heart many English poems such as, All things Bright and Beautiful,The old women of the roads, The lakes ,Isle of Inisfree, The Exilies return, I see the blood upon the rose, The deserted Village, Elegy in a country Churchyard and many others. Shakespeare was not ommited either. We learn't speeches from,the Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Ceasar and we were taught to recite the lines with expression. We didn't fully understand what we reciteed but the rythm and sound of beautiful language has always appealed to me. The story of each play was outlined for us and we read 'Tales from Shakespeare.' I still remember many of the lines we learnt and it is a wealth we have carried with us through the years.

Our preparation for Confirmation was a thorough one. Hart's Christian Doctrine was explaineed to us.We knew the contents of Schusters Bible History, both old and new testaments and of course we knew the Maynooth Catechism by heart.We were examined in Church by Bishop Fogarty and the parishoners were free to come and listen to us while we were been examined. We were determined to do it as well.

We got great practice in Maths both mental and written. The teacher had charts with long tots and cross tots and each pupil took there turn to add up these figures correctly. Today, most people are so dependent on computers that if there was a power failure in a shop the whole cashier would be lost.

When I left Barefield school to continue my education in the Mercy Convent Ennis. I was able to follow all subjects through the medium of Irish. Looking back I can say our teachers had an Art of making subjects interesting and they gave us a foundation I valued my whole life.

Although no one would wish to turn back the clock, its good to remember the work done by teachers in the past, most of whom taught for the love of teaching. They were interested in developing the minds of young people entrusted to their care. They worked under difficult circumstances and recieved shabby payment for their splendid work. But they were happy people, believed in their lifes work, loved God and the neighbour and won the respect and admiration of all who knew them. May they rest in peace!

The Clergy of Doora Barefield Parish

The three churches of Doora Barefield are Barefield, Knockenean and Doora Barefield. The church history of Barefield dates back as far as 1894.This lists shows the members of the clergy :

In Their Own words

We asked the Parish Priest to fill out a sheet of questions and here are the results :