Tamhain is a small island in the east of Galway Bay located about 10 kilometers from Orán Mór. According to the 1901 census there were 105 people and they were all bilingual. The school had a troubled history on the island between complaints about the quality of teaching and the poor condition of the building itself from the year it opened in 1862. It was closed entirely in 1903. Conradh na Gaeilge, which was strong at the time, considered that the Irish language would not have the least chance on the island without a school and the closing of the school made the leaders of the Covenant very angry.
To talk and give us an insight into Scéal na Gaeilge and Scoil Taimhain, graduate historian Tom Bartlett will be with us in Órán Mór Library on Saturday 9th March from 2:30pm to 3:30pm. Tom was a history lecturer for twenty years at UCG (as it used to be). He has lived in the old school for thirty years and has expertise in the history of the building as well as the history of the Irish language in the area.