Belmont N.S. shares its name with Belmont House. The Irish name for Belmont N.S. is Cnoc Uí Fhaith. The story goes that some time ago, there lived a giant in Belmont and another in Cnocma. They had a quarrel and it ended in a terrible fight. The Cnocma giant flung a huge stone at his enemy. He, seeing the stone approach, struck it with a violent blow of his sword and broke it into three parts. Two parts of it remained on the hill with the marks of the giant's fingers on one of them. The other part rolled down the hill to a field in Ballyglass and there they remain to the present day.

In fact, the name comes from the Irish word faiche for lawn, due to the beautiful lawns surrounding Belmont House. 

There is a hill-fort on top of the hill which can be divided into two main features: one an extensive earthwork enclosure of pre-historic origin now marked by a stonewall boundary, the other a relatively modern private graveyard for a local family, the Blakes. There is a lone ash tree in the middle. 

 Michael Bermingham of Dalgin House who died on June 10th, 1835 was buried there. His wife Sarah (Sal) was one of the Blake family of nearby Belmont House. She died in 1870, aged 96 and is also buried there under the ash tree. 

Belmont National School:

In 1881 the “old” school on this site was built on land donated by Jack Tierney. It had one room at first, later enlarged in 1900 with an enrollment of 138 pupils..

By 1970 the physical condition of the school building was diminishing. Windows and doors were in desperate need of repair. The old school was demolished to the ground and the new school was opened on the same site and finally completed on November the 20th, 1972. 

In the 1990’s, Dalgin N.S. closed. They amalgamated with Belmont N.S. and a school bus was put in operation to bring children from the Dalgin area to Belmont N.S.

The school got a new name ‘St Brendan’s N.S.’ Everyone still knows the school as Belmont N.S. In 2000, it was decided to create a new school crest to reflect our school. The ash tree on Culkin’s Hill is part of our crest, reflecting the love of nature and heritage we have in this school. 

                                                        Carnageehy N.S

Carnageehy is a high point in the parish of Milltown. It is located on the other side of Culkins hill to the south of Belmont. The Irish name for the village is Cheathrú na Gaoithe which translates to “Windy quarters”. 

Carnageehy N.S opened in 1957 in the middle of Carnageehy. The school had two classrooms.The school only got its uniform in the early 2000’s. The uniform was a tracksuit with a crest in the corner. The only thing on the crest was the Ash tree on top of Culkins hill which connects Carnageehy N.S with Belmont N.S because of the tree.

Belmont and Carnageehy tried to connect further by amalgamation but the Department of Education said that if we amalgamated the schools would have to be split campus so the amalgamation never went ahead.

However Belmont and Carnageehy still came together for sports events and even went ahead to win the Cumann na mBunscol in 2002. Belmont and Carnageehy even shared a support teacher for a number of years.

Unfortunately Carnageehy school closed in 2014 due to a lack of students. The school was only open for 57 years. The school closed with in and around only 14 pupils in total. Two of the pupils ended up coming to Belmont.

God knows why but somehow we have the roll books for Carnageehy in our attic, which the Milltown Heritage Committee probably already know because they were in our attic fishing around for over three hours, (not pointing fingers or anything but Pauline I’m looking at you). 

Fionnuala wrote the following poem to tie the elements of our project together. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZN2lsY72PA

The Ash Tree

On the hill standing tall

Lies the Ash tree that will never fall.

Connecting three schools together as one,

It started when John Bermingham had a son.

His son Michael got Dalgin House.

But what he wished for was a spouse.

From Belmont House he met sweet Sarah,

It was the start of a new era.

So off they went to live on the mound

Where they grew a special bond.

With each other they grew old

Until they died and turned to mould.

Under that special Ash, they lie together.

Connecting Dalgin & Belmont forever.

Dalgin and Belmont schools came together as one.

This was easier said than done.

On the other side of the hill,

Lays Carnageehy calm and still.

From that school in a certain place,

You’ll be able to turn and face

That gorgeous Ash in all its glory.

Which beholds this wonderful story.

Belmont and Carnageehy together for sport,

Teamed up with pride of the finest sport.

The Cumann na mBunscol cup they did lift.

To everyone it was a gift.

Sadly for Carnageehy they failed to stay

Open for some more days.

Joined as we tried to do,

It didn’t work and we felt blue.

Our heritage is tied up in that ash tree,

Belmont, Dalgin & Carnageehy.

By Fionnuala Ruane