The college, 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) from Dublin city centre, is just in from the sea, and is self-contained, with boarding and teaching facilities in 56 acres of parkland.

[1] As of 2023, Blackrock is run by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in close co-operation with a dedicated group of lay personnel.

The college was founded in 1860 by Jules Leman, a French missionary with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, and was the first of the order's five schools in Ireland.

Leman had a dual aim, namely to train personnel for missionary service in the Third World and to provide a first-class Roman Catholic education for Irish boys.

[citation needed] In June 1932, college president John Charles McQuaid, hosted a large garden party on the grounds of the college to welcome the papal legate, Lorenzo Lauri, where the many hundreds of bishops assembled for the Eucharistic Congress of Dublin (1932) had the opportunity to mingle with a huge gathering of distinguished guests, including president of the executive council, Éamon de Valera, and others who had paid a modest subscription fee.

The coat of arms of the college is the third creation, dating back to 1936, and shows a blue cross and a dove in its natural colours on a silver field, with a lion rampant in the first quarter.

This is blazoned in the 1937 College Annual as follows: ARGENT: – On a Cross Azure, the Dove of the Holy Ghost, Proper, with seven Rays descendant, Or.

In the first quarter a Lion rampant of the second.On 30 April 1926 Leen at a sports day speech encapsulated the words Fides et Robur, which henceforth became the Rock motto.

In 1936, McQuaid instigated a new and distinctive crest that to this day is in continual use (unchecked variations and wayward deviations are contracted into stores by stationery and uniform suppliers).

It was commissioned into stained glass in 1938, presumably in its true and intended likeness and survives today at the end of one of the house corridors, though its conformity to the true heraldic interpretations is not accurate; "a Lion Rampant of the second" would correctly reveal only a blue silhouette of a rampant lion, that is, minus any fine caricature details so apparent in the existing variations.

[citation needed] The college and its sister schools in Ireland are today held in trust by the Des Places Educational Association,[7] which, as the college's patron, aims to maintain the Spiritan ethos in all five schools – Blackrock, Rockwell, St. Mary's, St. Michael's and Templeogue – conducted by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in Ireland.

The curriculum offered is broad, covering all common subjects in the State Examinations including Latin, German, art, music, business, materials technology wood, science and history.

It resembled other spacious houses in the area including Willow Park and Castledawson, but a later owner, Thomas O'Mara, extensively redeveloped the building and its surrounds, adding the castellated finish, hence making it into a 'castle'.

[11] The principal sport in the college is rugby, with Blackrock having won the Leinster Schools Senior Cup 70 times (a figure larger than every other teams wins combined).

Five members of the All Ireland Club Championship winning Kilmacud Crokes team of 2008–09 were past pupils of Blackrock College.

There has been a renaissance on the cricket pitch in the last 10 years since the building of the new sports hall which is fully equipped with 2 full-sized practice lanes.

[citation needed] A transition year program to set up and maintain a radio station, broadcasting to the surrounding south Dublin area, is undertaken annually.

Blackrock College Radio has featured many famous and influential guests including Enda Kenny, while in office as Taoiseach, Neil Flynn, Ryan Tubridy, Eamon Gilmore, Leo Cullen, Mary Hannifin, Micheál Martin, Ruairi Quinn, Brent Pope, David Norris, The Heathers, Bobby Kerr, and Denis O'Brien.

[citation needed] Up until 2017, the Transition Year students organised the annual St. Patrick's Day Badge appeal which raised large sums of money throughout Ireland for the Irish charities GOAL and Aidlink.

[citation needed] Goal organized a trip to India in both 2012 and 2013 to the Transition Year boys, inviting them to see the projects which they helped fund through their Badge campaigns.

[citation needed] The school also has a long-standing relationship with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, contributing large sums of money raised through various projects.

[citation needed] Other projects for St Vincent De Paul include the second and third-year duck races, which raise money through sponsorship.

The club also annually sends a group of self-funded volunteers to help with humanitarian projects in Africa, most commonly: establishing clean water supplies for villages and constructing schoolhouses, infirmaries or similar institutions.

In his memoirs, Straight Left: A Journey in Politics Ruairi Quinn cites the ethos and "sense of solidarity" with the Third World that was imparted to students, including Bob Geldof, as a formative force.

[citation needed] Early Free State ministers such as Art O'Connor (secretary for agriculture 1921–1922), and Éamon de Valera, six times Taoiseach and the 3rd president of Ireland, studied and later taught in Blackrock.

Many businessmen have also attended the school such as David J. O'Reilly, chairman and former CEO of Chevron Corporation, and Brendan O'Regan, founder of Shannon Airport and proponent of the Irish peace and reconciliation process.

Philip R. Lane (governor of the central bank), Ronan Dunne (EVP and group president of Verizon Wireless) also attended the college.

Alumni in the fine arts include designer Paul Costelloe, composer Michael McGlynn and visual artist Robert Ballagh.

The current Ireland international team includes Ian Madigan, Jordi Murphy, Garry Ringrose, Andrew Conway and Joey Carbery, other Rugby internationals Include Vasily Artemyev (formerly of Russia), AJ MacGinty (USA) and Dylan Fawsitt (USA) In other games, Michael Cusack, founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association taught at the school and played early forms of hurling with the pupils.

Retired Dublin GAA footballer Cian O'Sullivan and professional golfer Paul Dunne attended the college.