SMR 499 / NS 8557 7323
By traditional practice the parish school at Slamannan was held for half of the year in the west at the village of Slamannan and for the other half in the east at Crossroads near Avonbridge. At a meeting of the Kirk Session on 12 May 1695 the minister, James Stevenson, reported that he had trouble finding a house at the west end of the parish for the school at a reasonable price every six months. He suggested that a piece of ground at Kirkburnhead belonging to the Lands of Rashiehill could be bought so that a school building could be erected there. The Session empowered him to buy it for 200 merks and on 19 May 1695 he reported that this had been done. The sasine describes it as:
“all or about thrie roods of land or thairby boundit as follows, viz by the Kirkburne and Gleib on the north By ane butt of Mothall land att the bridge on the east, Bye ane march dyke betwixt it and Castlehill land on the south By ane poffill of land called Mosscastle belonging to George Rankine on the west thairof lyand in the parochine of Slamanan and sheriffdom of Stirling with the free ishe and entrie thairto, and with all liberties and privileges of the samen for building of ane school and schoolhouse thairon, and other pious uses.”
Although there are no direct references to it, it seems that a school building was erected at Kirkburnhead and from then on the rotation with the east end of the parish took place after each full year.
The two schools continued to be held in the parish, one near the church and the other at Easter Dykehead, in alternate years. A move arose in 1788 to fix the school at one central location though it was 1794 before a house was rented at the Hill, 1½ miles east of the church, from William Wise. This trial ended at harvest-time 1795 when it was decided to return to the old way of doing things. Shortly thereafter, in 1803, the Kirk Session came into the possession of a house near the church known locally as “the Slate House.” The name seems to result from the use of slates rather than tiles or thatch for the roof which was rather unusual at this date; it was not from the use of school slates for writing. The slates were contained within plain skews which terminated in roll-moulded skewputs. The two storey house had a lintel over the door bearing the date and initials “17 D A M S 76,” divided by a false keystone. As the schoolmaster in 1776 was Donald Archibald it seems reasonable to assume that he had the house built. At 38 years, Archibald was the longest serving schoolmaster that century – the average for the other twelve teachers being a mere 5½ years. The fact that he had his initials, together with those of his wife, engraved over the door suggests that this was a private dwelling built next to the school rather than a building sponsored by the heritors. It was, however, built on Kirkburnhead which had belonged to the Kirk Session. The house was properly named “Clerkshall,” a name probably derived from the appointment of the schoolmaster as the Session clerk. It appears as such on Forrest’s plan of the parish in 1806. The building was repaired and prepared for use as a school. This may have included the enlargement of the ground floor windows to allow more light into the schoolroom which measured 34ft 7in by 18ft 9in externally. The insertion of a window at the back (west) side of the schoolroom is specifically mentioned.
The ground floor of Clerkshall opened as a school at Whitsunday 1804 with a house for the schoolmaster on the upper floor reached by a new external stair to the rear of the building. Despite this provision, discussion continued for another four years about moving the school to a more central location near North Arnloss.
This school building was far too small but it was 1849 before moves were made to replace it with a new one on a new site. Andrew Rankin of Castlehill was approached and agreement was reached to acquire land behind the post office at the east end of the village. Part of the deal was that Rankin would take over the old school building at valuation. The new building was to cost £260 over and above what was received for the old one.
As often happened, there was a change in plan. Instead, it was decided to build on the plot adjacent to Clerkshall and to use the old school building as offices as well as the schoolmaster’s house – reverting to the probable position before 1804. This scheme was put into practice and it was this school that was handed over to the Slamannan School Board in 1873.
The Ordnance Survey described Clerkshall as :
“A two storey dwelling house near the centre of the village of Slamannan, the residence of the parish school master. It is two stories and has a good garden attached… It is the property of the Heritors of the parish.”
Of the adjoining school they say:
“The parish school of Slamannan is a small one storey building, with one apartment, which is used solely as a school, the teacher’s residence being in another part of the village. The teacher’s salary is £34.4.2 ½ with a free house and garden. The average attendance is 90, two thirds of whom are males. In addition to the elementary branches Latin, French, Greek and mathematics are taught.”
Upon the opening of the Slamannan Public School in 1876 the buildings in Main Street were put up for sale. For many years Clerkshall was used by McAlpines as a scrap-yard and was eventually demolished in the 1960s.
Bibliography
| RCAHMS | 1963 | Stirlingshire: An Inventory of Ancient Monuments (Quoted at 1 below) |
| Waugh, J. | 1977 | Slamannan Parish Through the Changing Years. |
- “An unnumbered house in Main Street, formerly the schoolhouse. This has now been subdivided into two flats, and has an outside stair of brick, but it was originally a single dwelling with an inside stair. It measures 34ft 7in by 18ft 9in externally; on the ground floor there is a central door with a window, now enlarged, on either side of it, and on the first floor three windows, symmetrically arranged. The door has a lintel bearing the date and initials 17 D A M S 76 divided by a false keystone. The masonry is random rubble with dressed stones at quoins and voids; there is a moulded eaves-course, and the gables show plain tabling with a large roll skewput at each corner. 8573 NS 87 SE 20 March 1953” [No. 271, p.320]
Falkirk Local History Society 