1814 - 1886

May 18, 1814 : School opened. The first pupil was James MacLorinan of Dublin. The school fee was fifty guineas per annum. This was later reduced to £40 which continued to be the fee until the First World War. There was only one vacation in the year, from July 31 to September 8.

1815 : 110 pupils in the school.

1816 : 200 pupils in the school. The old kitchen and block containing the old refectory and the study hall were built.

1819-20 : The Higher Line and Lower Line buildings erected. In the next fifty years the only new buildings erected were laundry, the stables and old infirmary which stood on the site of the present swimming pool.

1836 : The Community ceased to dine with the boys.

1837 : The Clongowes Debating Society founded with Thomas Francis Meagher as its first secretary.

1840 : The front avenue with its line of trees planned. The front gate and gate lodge built.

1845 : The bell erected on the Boys' Chapel, now the People's Church.

1855 : Some boys, with permission, allowed home at Christmas.

1866 : Christmas vacation for the whole school introduced. The College cemetery laid out.

1872 : The new infirmary built.

1874 : The Third Line building erected.

1879 : The Intermediate Education system introduced.

1886 : Clongowes and Tullabeg (near Tullamore) Colleges amalgamated. The old refectory and study hall burned down. A wooden building erected to act as a temporary study hall and refectory. This building then used for classrooms until 1932 and then as store rooms until 1966.