In the 1880s the large-scale working of the Slamannan coalfield extended up to the Black Loch. Many of the colliers housed in the new miners’ rows were Irish and followed the Roman Catholic faith. Consequently they, together with the colliery owners, raised a school in 1885 at Barnsmuir a little to the east of the Limerigg Public School. The schoolroom was used as a chapel on Sundays and is labelled as “St Mary’s R.C. Chapel & School” on the 1899 Ordnance Survey map.
Attached to the school was a residence for the priest, who presumably acted as the teacher. In 1884 it had been Rev Grady and in 1895 it was Father Mason who corresponded with the Slamannan School Board about the provision of free school books. The Board was providing them for its own schools but pointed out that as St Mary’s was not under its management it could not do so for it. After consultation with the Scottish School Board this decision was subsequently reversed. The school used a system of school monitors and in 1896 an incident occurred when a 15 year old monitress had occasion to discipline one of the Irish boys there. On her way home she was attacked by the boy’s brother who worked in the colliery.
Despite the initial book rebuff it is clear that the school and the board worked closely together and the attendance figures for Barnsmuir were supplied to the School Board every year. In 1894 the average attendance was 75 and in 1898 it was 71. As the coal was worked out these numbers declined and in 1911 there were only 49 pupils. It was decided to close the school and at the beginning of the 1911/1912 session 45 of the pupils enrolled at Limerigg Public School and four at Slamannan.
Sites and Monuments Record
| ST MARY’S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL Barnsmuir | SMR 2273 | NS 8655 7040 |
Falkirk Local History Society 