THE HISTORY

The land upon which the Old School House stands was sold by Ronald Archibald Lord MacDonald to the School Board of the parish of Strath in 1876 as "a site for a public school within the meaning of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872". I assume that the school house was built shortly thereafter.

The Old School House was built on the shore as the building materials were brought in by boat. The land upon which the Old School House is built was part of the common grazing and is identified in the original title deeds as a "grass field known as Sheep Fank Park". The school was closed by the Education Authorities in the early sixties and sold.

My grandfather, whose family farmed croft number 11, began his schooling here.

The Old School House has been substantially modified inside to convert it into a family home. The original layout had no upstairs and the window at the front was at shoulder height to ensure that no pupil was distracted by what was going on outside.

The school room included the main bedroom and the area now taken up by the stairs. The rest of the building was the schoolmistress's quarters. The current kitchen was her bedroom.

I put in the window to the west. It is the only one on that wall which faces the prevailing wind. PVC doubleglazing was not available then.

The sitting room was the kitchen with the sink in the window looking out over the bay. An internal wall separated the dining area, which was the sitting room. The bathroom was a storeroom.

The loos were external in the rear "T" section of the house. There was no access from them into the kitchen. The playground was segregated, with girls to the east and boys to the west.

NCM - Owner