History & Ethos

Rockwell College was established in 1864 by the Holy Ghost Congregation (now the Spiritan Congregation) which had already established Blackrock College in Dublin. Rockwell College was referred to as ‘The Scotch College’ as its function was to educate young men as seminarians for the Catholic Church in Scotland. The grounds had, for many years, been an estate in the ownership of Charles Thiebault, a French landowner.

In initially, just 18 pupils were enrolled in Rockwell College. It quickly earned a reputation for academic excellence - a reputation it still holds. As the years progressed the College evolved from educating for the religious orders to educating lay students, boarders and day pupils, also. Its alumni includes a range of figures from Ireland’s political and literary past: 1916 Signatory Thomas McDonagh attended Rockwell College, as did former President Patrick Hillary.

Eamonn De Valera taught here and often visited during the upheaval of the period 1919-1922 as well as later, when Taoiseach and then President. Literary figures Padraic Ó Connaire, Liam O’Flaherty and Gabriel Rosenstock were pupils too. Famous faces in sport such as Denis Leamy, Willie Duggan and Joseph & Donnacha O’Brien also attended Rockwell College.

For over a century, Rockwell College only educated boys. This changed in the late 1980s, with the arrival of girls firstly as Repeat Leaving Certificate pupils and, over the next few years, as boarders and day pupils in all year groups. The College was managed directly by the Holy Ghost (Spiritan) Congregation until 2006 when the first Board of Management was established. Since then, the College retains it very close connection to the Spiritan Congregation while being managed by the Board of Management under the trusteeship of the Spiritan Education Trust.