Strabane Grammar School was a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

located just outside

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Northern Ireland. It was within the

Western Education and Library Board The education system in Northern Ireland differs from elsewhere in the United Kingdom (although it is relatively similar to Wales), but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the '' national school'' system and ...

area. As part of the 2020 scheme, the school was officially shut down on 30 June 2011 to join with Strabane High School, to create Strabane Academy.

Location

The school was located on of wooded grounds at

Milltown House Milltown House is a historic building in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The two-storey gabled cottage-style house and gate lodge was constructed in ''c.'' 1836 for Major John Humphreys (father of Cecil Frances Alexander), agent to ...

just outside

. It overlooked the River Mourne to the south of the town.

History

The main school building, Milltown House, was built in 1887 and for a time was the residence of hymn-writer and poet Mrs.

Cecil Frances Alexander Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818 – 12 October 1895) was an Anglo-Irish hymnwriter and poet. Amongst other works, she wrote "All Things Bright and Beautiful", " There is a green hill far away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's Ci ...

, best known for her hymn "

All Things Bright and Beautiful "All Things Bright and Beautiful" is an Anglican hymn, also sung in many other Christian denominations. The words are by Cecil Frances Alexander and were first published in her ''Hymns for Little Children'' of 1848. The hymn is commonly sung ...

". Milltown House was used as the headmasters study, the reception, a history room, a staff room, an IT suite and two English rooms.

Future Plans

Having lain derelict for too many years, the site is in jeopardy of terminal decline, or being sold off by the current owners (the Education Authority) to the highest bidder. An effort is underway, led by several community groups to secure the historic site and repurpose it for community purposes. One such group is Strabane Rugby Football Club who have never had a permanent ground, though they played on this site for a spell until it closed.

Notable alumni

Sarah Friar Sarah Jane Friar (born 24 December 1972) is an Irish-American business executive who is the chief financial officer of OpenAI since June 2024. She was the chief executive officer of American technology company Nextdoor from 2018 through 2024, a ...

* Stephen Ogilby *

William Porterfield William Thomas Stuart Porterfield (born 6 September 1984) is an Irish former cricketer and a former captain of the Ireland cricket team. He played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. A left-handed batsman, he played for I ...

Boyd Rankin William Boyd Rankin (born 5 July 1984) is a Northern Irish former cricketer who played international cricket for Ireland, and briefly also played for England. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He is the brother of fellow cricketer David Ran ...

Sharon Wauchob Sharon Wauchob is an Irish designer who studied at the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London. Shortly after graduating, Wauchob moved to Paris, where she worked for Koji Tatsuno. Later, she worked as an in-house designer a ...

References

External links

Plaque to Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander at Milltown House
{{authority control Grammar schools in County Tyrone Strabane 1956 establishments in Northern Ireland 2011 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 1956 Educational institutions disestablished in 2011 Defunct schools in Northern Ireland