St. Columba’s College

St. Columba’s College was founded in 1843 by the Rev. William Sewell, the Lord Primate of Ireland, the Earl of Dunraven and others. Since its foundation it has been in communion with the Church of Ireland but the College has a vision of ecumenism which welcomes other faiths also. Four years later, in 1847, Sewell founded Radley College, in Oxfordshire, on a similar basis and the two schools have retained fond links to the present.

In 1849, St. Columba’s moved from Stackallan House in Co. Meath to its present 140-acre site on the slopes of the mountains in South County Dublin, with its centrepiece the 18th century Hollypark House. Many of its buildings date from this period, most notably the Warden’s House, the Cloisters, the Argyle building, the Big Schoolroom and the Chapel. 

It was Sewell’s view that young people should be educated in beautiful and spacious surroundings. This ideal has been conspicuously retained and strengthened by the College over the years so that those who visit us see buildings, grounds and gardens which are attractive to the eye and pleasant to live in.  A walk through  grounds displays architecture from the Georgian and Victorian periods as well as from the twentieth-  and twenty-first centuries.

Over the years the buildings have grown up around central quadrangles. Development of the College has been particularly evident over the past 20 years, starting with the Library and Reading Rooms in 1994. Other notable additions have been the 9-hole golf course (1995), the Sports Hall (1998), the Art Centre (2000), the refurbishment of the BSR (2003), the Grange boarding and classroom building (2004), the complete refurbishment of the Argyle as a boarding House with study and dining facilities on the ground floor (2005), new all-weather tennis courts (2006) and a second Astroturf hockey pitch (2007), the conversion of the Cadogan building into a new Music and Performing Arts School (2008), much staff housing, and the total re-development of the Science Block (2016).

The College is situated on a 140-acre campus in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. 

Major Facilities:

Beautiful William Butterfield-designed Chapel (1880).

Seven boarding Houses spread across the central area of the campus.

Two Dining Halls.

Purpose-built Library in the centre of the College (1994).

Specialist Cadogan music building, with individual and group practice and teaching rooms.

Major hall (‘Big Schoolroom’) for frequent plays, concerts and other whole-school events. About 15 drama productions each year.

Art Centre with two studio areas, photography and pottery facilities.

Science Block with physics, chemistry, biology and general laboratories. €1.75m redevelopment, completed in October 2016.

High speed wired and wireless internet connections across the campus.

Over 80% of our pupils board in our traditional yet modern and comfortable boarding houses. There are seven boarding houses (Glen, Gwynn, Stackallan, Tibradden, Hollypark, Iona & Beresford), each with an assigned Housemaster or Housemistress, Assistant Housemaster (or Housemistress) and a team of House Tutors. Every house has a friendly atmosphere but a unique personality and spirit. Day pupils are assigned to a boarding house and are encouraged to take part in inter-house activities.

The size of House ranges from 20 to 60 pupils. A Housemaster or Housemistress, assisted by at least one resident member of staff, is in charge of each house, and acts in loco parentis in every aspect of the children’s welfare throughout their time at the College. Housemasters and Housemistresses know the pupils in their houses very well, and are usually the main point of contact between parents and the College.