St Finbarr's College, Farranferris

Defunct secondary school in Ireland

Farranferris, also known as St Finbarr's College, was a secondary school in Cork City, Ireland. It opened in 1887, closed in 2006, and was an important institution in the twentieth century history of the city.

At the time of the Penal Laws Irishmen who wanted to study to become priests had to travel overseas and many of them went to France (Cork, for example, had close links with Irish colleges in Bordeaux and Toulouse). French colleges were closed down during the French Revolution and this caused a drop in the supply of priests to Irish parishes. In 1795 St Patrick's College, Maynooth was opened to provide for the education of Catholic priests in Ireland (supported by the British Government to prevent priests being influenced by revolutionary ideas from abroad) and that same year the Bishop of Cork set up a post primary preparatory seminary in Ballyvolane House (near present day Ellis's Yard), it was to prepare boys for Maynooth and other seminary colleges. The residential seminary in Ballyvolane House closed after a short time and in 1813 the Bishop of Cork established Saint Mary's Seminary across the road from the North Cathedral. A recession associated with the Napoleonic Wars closed Saint Mary's after eight years. Cork's next preparatory seminary would be set up by the Vincentians in 1845, it would occupy a building that had previously been the Lord Mayor's Mansion House (now Mercy Hospital) for twelve years before moving to a vacant school building located at Saint Patrick's Place (in the red brick building where Cork's 96FM is based now). The Patrick's Place building did not have facilities for boarders. In September 1876, the Bishop of Cork took control of the Saint Patrick's Place seminary and renamed it Saint Finbarr's Seminary. The first president of Saint Finbarr's was Fr. J. J. Coughlan. In April 1881 the church acquired Carrollina House in Montenotte so Saint Finbarr's could function as a residential seminary for pupils who wished to become priests (Carrollina, which was situated where the Ardnalee housing estate now stands, was named by John Carroll in 1770s, he was a great grand nephew of Charles Carroll). At the beginning there were fourteen students in residence in Carrollina. The new college opened in September 1887; the pupils who had lived in Carrollina moved to the new dorms and the old classrooms at Saint Patrick's Place were handed over to the Christian Brothers (who founded a new school in its place). Farranferris closed to boarding pupils at the end of the 1999–2000 academic year. Fr. Aidan O'Driscoll was President of Farranferris when it closed in 2006.

Since Closure the old college has become the Farranferris Education and Training Campus, with Northside Community Enterprises becoming the main tenant. Farranferris hosts Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers, with some 280 children. In 2022 the Mater Dei Academy an Independent Catholic School (founded in 2020), moved onto the campus.

The school was successful at hurling, having won the Dr. Harty Cup and Dr. Croke Cup on several occasions.