St Killian's College

The college's building history predates the school by over 100 years. Garron Tower was built in 1850 at a cost of £4,000 as a summer residence for Frances, Marchioness of Londonderry (1800-1865), the wealthy wife of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. She had inherited this part of the Antrim family's estates from her mother, Anne Katherine MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim, who married Sir Henry Vane-Tempest of County Durham. The college was founded as St MacNissi's College, in 1951 as a boarding school for boys. The buildings were acquired a year earlier in 1950 by Bishop Daniel Mageean for use as a boarding school for boys. The school opened in September 1951. On 1 April 2010, the Council for…

The college grounds are situated on a plateau approximately 200 feet (61 m) above the Antrim Coast Road (part of the A2) at Garron Point, overlooking the North Channel and out towards the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. The grounds include a golf course, several sports pitches, a wooded forest, several gardens and a seawall. The college's main building contains the priests' dining-room, priests' sitting-room, 100 desk study-hall, kitchens, cloakrooms, first-aid room, classrooms, offices, and a food-storage area. A number of artworks, including by local artists such as Charles McAuley and Sam McLarnon, hang in this old section of the school. A chapel was built in 1955 and a 150-room boarding…