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Coralstown N.S. was officially opened on September ....... by Rev Dr. Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath.
This new building replaced a small two teacher school situated on the old Mullingar Kinnegad road.

Coralstown is a name given to an area much larger than the actual townland of this name. The Irish translation was generally given as ‘Baile an Coreil’, the townland of the quarry. However the correct translation is Baile Cearuill, the town of the Corrells. Records show that at 11th July 1663 Edward Correll owned the 569 acres in the townland of Correlstown and it was from this family name the townland derived its name.

HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL


Kinnegad was established as a separate parish in 1826. It consisted of Kinnegad, Clonard and Coralstown and each had a church. Both Clonard and Kinnegad had a school each and Coralstown had three schools – Knockaville, The Downs and Coralstown. Knockaville amalgamated with The Downs in 1969.

The present school in Coralstown was built in 2007 with a new classroom added in 2011. The old, old school on the Kinnegad road was built in 1932. Mr. Mick Geraghty recalls attending the old school in the last week of it’s existence in April 1932. This school was a two-storey building, which was later demolished and a teacher’s residence built in its place. This house is now the residence of Patrick and Gay McLoughlin. Mick recalls leaving the old school, being cleared out onto a roadway and to the sound of music played on a gramophone record as the children entered a brand new building.

The first school in Coralstown was located near the Post Office. In fact it was not a school but the church of Coralstown which was used as a school on weekdays. A man named Roger Cooper was the teacher. He had no time piece but he regulated opening and closing times by the passage of regular stage coaches. About 1830 a Mrs Dopping of Lowtown House, who was the landlord of the surrounding areas gave a site for a school at Crossanstown. Mrs Dopping also provided a site for a church nearby. Both the church and the school were situated in the townland of Crossanstown. The church which was quite close to the school continued in use until 1872 when a new church was erected at Heathstown and this church and cemetery remain close to the lives of all of us to the present time. The site of the old church was levelled and the old school was built on the foundations of the old school.