Upon talking up office in 1873 the members of the Slamannan School Board set about upgrading and replacing the existing portfolio of school properties. It investigated the advantages and disadvantages of extending the buildings that it had inherited from the Parochial School in the Main Street and wisely decided that it would be better to find a new site. Alexander Watt, architect, Glasgow was asked to provide plans for schools at Slamannan and Avonbridge and produced broadly similar designs for the two sites. In November 1874 tenders were invited:
“To Builders, Joiners, & c. Slamannan School Board. Estimates wanted for the MASON, JOINER. PLASTER, SLATER, PLUMBER, and GASFITTER WORKS of Two proposed NEW SCHOOLS and TEACHERS’ HOUSES, viz.,
1. Slamannan,
2. Limerigg,
Each to accommodate about 300 Children. Plans and Specifications to be seen and Schedules of Measurement obtained (2/6 each) from Mr Alexander Watt, Architect, 67 Renfield Street, Glasgow…” (Falkirk Herald 14 November 1874).
The school opened at the west end of the village on 11 September 1876. It consisted of a principal school room, 64ft long by 26ft broad, which could be converted into two rooms by a folding door. At each end of this room was a class room, 16ft by 18ft, and a retiring room for the teachers, while at the back was an infant class room 24ft square. The whole building, as also schoolmaster’s house, outhouses, walls, and so on, cost around £2,500. As the school was designed to accommodate 350 pupils this represented a rate of £7 7s per scholar. The building was relatively plain, thus keeping costs down, but its substantial character reflected civic pride. The staff at the time of the opening consisted of Mr Horne (head teacher), Miss Hutchison (female teacher), an assistant, and three pupil teachers.
A problem was discovered with the cleaning of the school in that there was no source of hot water. So, in 1877 it was agreed that boilers were to be erected in the sculleries of the adjacent teachers’ houses so that they could be used for this purpose.
School numbers rose rapidly and in 1880 a small extension was put onto the north end of the infant department, the work being executed by John Main, joiner in Slamannan. The following year the school was designated as the place for higher education within the parish. Further additions were made in 1884. Details are hazy but it appears that a new separate infant block was built to the northeast and the old rooms that it had occupied were converted into primary classrooms.
Early on the morning of 23 December 1891 fire broke out in the lately erected addition to the infant department. Before assistance could be procured the building was so enveloped in flames that any attempt to extinguish it was to no avail. Instead, efforts were directed to save the main school buildings and schoolmaster’s houses adjacent. The cause of the fire was attributed to the overheating of the stove. The damage was estimated at £500. It was rebuilt.
Minor alterations were carried out to Slamannan School in 1901 by the following contractors: mason and joiner works – Mr Forrester; plasterer and slater works – Mr Gillespie; plumber work – Wallace & Connell. James Strang was now the architect employed by the Board.
Over the following decades the provision of education in the parish changed. In 1903 supplementary classes were begun and in 1925 Rosemount School closed to infants and the pupils were moved to the Slamannan Public School.
As the school age was increased so to the accommodation at Slamannan had to be increased to provide for a two years’ advanced course.
In 1927 A. N. Malcolm, the Stirling County Architect, visited Slamannan School and he was asked to prepare additional accommodation so as to give eight classrooms instead of the seven then available, with the necessary staffroom and cloakroom accommodation, and for the erection on adjoining ground to the west of the playground of an addition consisting of two classrooms for 40 pupils each, one science room, one cookery and woodwork room, a hall, and a cloakroom and staffroom. The new building was estimated to cost £4,800 and was to be constructed before the alterations which were to cost £10,000 more. The location of the hall was swapped so that it came under the later scheme. The first phase, the new build in roughcast brick for the advanced division, was completed in March 1931 and shortly thereafter work began on the second phase. The walls of the old school were left as a frame but the interior was gutted and rebuilt for use of primary pupils. The large central porch on the street frontage was removed and the datestone transferred to the west gablet. A new datestone of 1932 was inserted into the east gablet. It was probably at this time that the arched windows were reduced in height and flat lintels inserted. New classrooms were added to the north of the old ones forming a central quadrangle. The reconstruction and addition to Slamannan School formally opened on 13 September 1932. Altogether the school provided accommodation for 600 pupils.
A circulating library for the village had been opened in the school in 1926 but by 1945 it had closed. Attempts to re-open it seem to have been unsuccessful. However, gym equipment, in the form of eight climbing ropes, 24 sets of wall bars, and one set of balance beams, was provided in 1949. The gymnasium was said to be a very good structure. A few years later, in 1953, machine tools were put in place for metalworking classes as part of the boys’ secondary department. That same year, part of the ground reserved for the erection of a school meals kitchen and dining hall was utilised as a school garden for instructional purposes. In 1955 it was decided that the junior secondary department of Slamannan School would be discontinued.
A disastrous fire in the mid-1960s destroyed the new western block. It was replaced by a two-storey steel-framed building which was joined to the north-west corner of the old block. This point of junction is now the main entrance of the school. A large assembly hall was erected to the north of the entrance with its east wall composed of large glass panels. The private dwelling to the west of the old block, Rosehill Cottage, was acquired and demolished to make way for a hard-surface playground which subsequently became a car park. These major improvements were ready for the start of the new term in August 1968.
| YEAR ARRIVED | HEADTEACHER | YEAR LEFT | No. PUPILS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1873 | Robert Horne | 1903 | 278-409-454 |
| 1922 | Mr A G Abbie | 1932 | |
| 1932 | John Miller | 1936 | |
| 1936 | Thomas McEwan | 1939 | |
| 1939 | George Watt | 1943 | |
| 1943 | John B Thomson | 1952 | |
| 1952 | David Cousin | ||
| Lorna Hart | Present |
In 2018 Heathrigg Nursery, just thee doors down the road, was incorporated into the school. This involved alterations to the internal divisions of the three classrooms in the wing facing the road. Doors were slapped out of the front to give access to a new wooden veranda which acted as a transition to the enclosed playground bestrewn with play features. This work was overseen by the Hadden Group.
Sites and Monuments Record
| Slamannan Public School Bank Street | SMR 1103 | NS 8530 7300 |
Falkirk Local History Society 