Warrenstown College.

Book on history and people of Warrenstown College to be launched

The life of Warrenstown College and its students and staff is to be celebrated in a new 500-page book 'Warrenstown Remembered, which will be launched on the former college premises at the end of this month. Warrenstown College, renowned for its high standards of agricultural and horticultural training, closed in 2009, after some 8,000 students passed through its doors and gates over some 85 years.

Warrenstown House and some 540 acres were bequeathed to the Salesian Order by Mrs Eliza Matilda Lynch in the early 1920s. The Salesian Agricultural College at Warrenstown had its first student intake in 1923. The development of Warrenstown Agricultural College mirrored the development of the State.
The college and lands were uniquely sited, overlooking the Skane river and valley and with Killeen and Dunsany Castles as backdrop.
Over the years, the agricultural college lands, traditionally grazing for cattle, were improved through good husbandry and became multi-enterprise, running Friesian and Jersey cow herds supplying top quality milk to the Dublin city market, together with drystock including sheep, and tillage—cereals, sugar beet and potatoes. Farmyard enterprises were pigs and poultry.
In latter years, a separate horticultural college was established, growing up to 100 acres of horticultural crops including vegetables and glasshouse crops, mainly for the Dublin market.
Students attended lectures and formal practicals in animal and crop husbandry for agricultural students, and vegetable and glasshouse production for those studying horticulture, together with farm machinery. Students benefited from practical work on each of these enterprises, building experience and confidence for future careers in farming and in the agricultural and horticultural sectors.
Particular emphasis was placed on the factors governing profitability. All instruction was to the highest standards, imparted by priests, brothers, lay teachers and technicians, together with on-the-job learning when working alongside the farm staff.
Warrenstown College worked closely with the Advisory Service in Meath. The college pioneered silage making in the county.
Major redevelopment took place in the late 1970s and new farm buildings were constructed in line with modern research at An Foras Talúntais (Teagasc), Grange, and abroad.
Reduced State spending on agricultural education facilities nationally, combined with the decline in Salesian vocations, led to the closure of the Agricultural College in 2001. The lands were sold in 2008. The Horticultural College closed in 2009.
In all, some 8,000 students nationwide, including those attending part-time, benefited from the courses at Warrenstown. The college prided itself in having as past pupils, a minister for agriculture, Mark Clinton, and two IFA presidents, Padraig Walshe and Eddie Downey, together with key executives and managers in the agricultural industry and many progressive farmers across the country.
The story of Warrenstown College as a centre of education has a bright ending.
The main college buildings and 20 acres were acquired by Coláiste na bhFiann and the campus is once again busy with residential courses attended by young people, this time intent on improving facility in the Irish language in the environment of Irish culture.
The ‘Warrenstown Remembered’ book is a unique historical record, being a combination of the history of a famous Meath college and recollections of students and staff who were there down the years. The book comprises 500 pages. There are over 150 contributions, ranging from the article by a past pupil in his 90’s who attended in the mid-1930s in the decade following the opening, to pieces by former students who were there in the 1990s.
The book is lavishly illustrated with some 100 old and modern images of the College and of many of those who were there and are part of its great history. It will be a limited edition with just 500 copies available, priced at €25.
The ‘Warrenstown Remembered’ book will be launched by Sean Boylan, past pupil, herbalist and renowned former trainer of hugely successful Meath football teams, at a gathering at Warrenstown College on Sunday 27th November next, at 2pm. All past pupils, former staff and neighbours of the college are invited.