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St Patrick's College, Maynooth

The college was created against the background of the upheaval during the French Revolution and the gradual removal of the penal laws. Until this time a significant number of Catholic priests were educated on the European continent, particularly in France, outside of Ireland. The college was established in 1795, by act of the Parliament of Ireland to provide "for the better education of persons professing the popish or Roman Catholic religion". The college was intended to provide for the education of Catholic priests in Ireland who prior to the act had to go to the continent for training; also the added value in this was the reduction of the amount of priests returning from training in revolutionary France (with whom Britain was at war) thus discouraging potential revolution. The value to the government was proved by the condemnation by the Catholic Church hierarchy of the 1798 rebellion and later support for the Act of Union. The land was donated by the Duke of Leinster. The building work was paid for by the British Government; parliament continued to give it an annual grant until the Irish Church Disestablishment Act became law. When this law was passed the College received a capital sum of £369,000. The trustees invested 75% of this in mortgages to Irish landowners at a yield of 4.25% - 4.75% per annum. This would have been considered a secure investment at that time but agitation for land reform and the depression of the 1870's eroded this security. The largest single mortgage was granted to the Earl of Granard. Accumulated losses on these transactions reached £35,000 by 1906. The first building to go up on this site was designed by, and named after, John Stoyte; Stoyte House, which can still be seen from the entrance to the old campus, is a well-known building to Maynooth students and stands in close proximity to the very historic Maynooth Castle. Over the next 15 years, the site at Maynooth underwent rapid construction so as to cater for the influx of new students, and the buildings which now border St. Joseph's Square (to the rear of Stoyte House) were completed by 1824. Following the controversy regarding the Maynooth Grant, the College received a higher annual grant from the British Government, as well as a sum for repairs.