To the north of the Parochial School, fronting the west side of Schoolyard Brae, was a stone tenement of 17th century houses called the Red House. Latterly it was white due to the lime-wash, but the name may derive from a time when the render was a different colour.
The southern part of the block was single-storeyed and the northern part was two with an attic. Between the two sections a rectangular stair tower projected into the street. In 1762 certain representatives of the burgh brought a legal case against the parish minister over the use of funds derived from the assets of the town to pay the minister and the upkeep of the church. One of those assets, it was claimed was the Red House. Even though it was shown that the tenement belonged to the Seabox Society, a room within it was used as a schoolhouse (Salmon 1913, 293). That this still was relevant suggests that the school was in fact the parochial school. Indeed, it is hard to believe that there would be another in the town centre at so early a date.
If this was indeed the parochial school of that date it would make more sense of the complaints of the pupils in the late 1760s that steam from the Schoolyard Pit to the north came in through the windows!
Sites and Monuments Record
| Schoolyard Brae | SMR 2289 | NS 9985 8155 |
Falkirk Local History Society 