Newbridge College

It was founded in 1852 and historically is the successor of the Priory of St. Eustace in Naas. In 1852, Fr. Dominic Walker and Fr. Nicholas Freyne established the College in response to the demand for secondary education which was a result of Catholic Emanicipation and which had been so cruelly interrupted by the dark days of the famine. In the fir... st year, the college had an enrolment of 50 students. In 1870, the second church was built and at this time a restriction on the numbers enrolled was imposed. This was lifted in 1894 and the enrolment grew to 100. The College rapidly established itself as one of the leading centres of Irish Catholic education. Indeed in 1852, just fifty years after its foundation, it was described by advanced nationalists as being "wondrously Catholic and Irish". Some few years later William Bulfin in his classic "Rambles in Erin" (Dublin 1907) said of Newbridge College that it was doing good work for Irish education: "It is an educational institution that does its business on an Irish plan. It is bringing up youths in the knowledge and love of their native land". Newbridge_College_History.jpgRead More