Stirling’s Historic Schools

Allan’s Primary School, 1889

A school for the sons of Stirling tradesmen was established in 1724 through funds from local lawyer, John Allan. His educational trust granted money for the maintenance and education of boys.

As part of a redevelopment of Spittal Street, a new school was opened in January 1890 on the site of the old one, at a cost of £5,500. It was designed by local architects McLuckie & Walker to take 850 pupils including girls, although they had a separate entrance. The style is Queen Anne; a style more commonly found in English schools.

The opening ceremony for Allan’s Primary School was on Tuesday 6^th of January 1890. It was noted that Walker visited ‘Glasgow and Govan to see the best schools there, and to see whether any alterations could be made on the plans’. The visit was fruitful as, following the Glasgow trip, Walker altered the Allan’s Primary School plans.

The design included ‘the most recent improvements in school architecture, and the latest appliances in fittings and furnishings.’ At the opening ceremony it was reported that, ‘this school would equal any school throughout Scotland, if it did not excel in some respects those of Glasgow and Govan’ as it was ‘so well lighted and ventilated’.

The interior was designed to be as flexible as possible, with the infant’s section ‘divided by sliding partitions into three sections… the whole department can be thrown into one, and the whole 200 or 300 scholars taught any subject collectively’. This feature of removable or sliding panels was also used by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) in the Glasgow School of Art, built between 1897 and 1909.

The building remains as a primary school today and has around 170 pupils. It is Listed Category B and was refurbished in 1991.

Riverside Primary School, 1926-1928

Designed by Alexander Nisbet Malcolm, the Architect to the Stirling Educational Authority, Riverside Primary School was completed in 1928. Despite being a modern 20^th century school, there were still separate entrances for boys and girls.

The Stirling Observer described the brick building as ‘Stirling’s first advanced division school’ and ‘one of the most modern and up-to-date in the country’.

Originally built as a secondary school with a primary department, in 1972 the secondary pupils transferred to a new building in Causewayhead. The primary department expanded and Riverside became a primary school.

It is still a school today, and it provides Gaelic immersion education to its pupils.   

Repurposed Schools

Throughout the streets of Stirling City Centre, you can also find historic schools that have been repurposed for new uses.

Stirling old High School, 1854-6

Built in 1854-6 it operated as a school right up until the 1960s and was converted into a hotel in 1990. This Gothic Revival building was designed by the Hays of Liverpool, who also designed 31 Spittal Street and what is now Stirling Baptist Church at 67 Murray Place.

The observatory tower with its iconic copper dome was built as part of the High School extension undertaken in 1888-89 by architect James MacLaren (1853-1890), a former pupil of the school. Although he died young, at just 37, McLaren’s work would influence another young Scottish architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928).

The observatory was gifted to the school in 1889 by Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Liberal MP for Stirling and Prime Minister from 1905-1908. The telescope inside was donated by Laurence Pullar, a Commissioner and Magistrate of Bridge of Allan. Continuing the astrological theme, the Main entrance to the building is surrounded by twelve carvings of the signs of the Zodiac, stop by and see if you can spot yours.

The building is Category A Listed, and although it has been extended and altered over the years, it has retained its original character.

31 Spittal Street Snowdon School, 1855

This unusual Gothic style building, with its trefoil-headed lancet windows and pepper-pot turret, was originally a free school for the children of Stirling’s poor.

It was designed in 1855 by the Hays of Liverpool, two brothers who also designed what is now the Stirling Baptist Church at 67 Murray Place and Stirling old High School.

In 1868 it was certified as an Industrial School, taking a mix of boys and girls placed under detention by the courts. By 1875 it was a girl’s school, training pupils for domestic service, and it was renamed Snowdon School in the 1920s.

It is Category C Listed and until recently it was still an educational facility.

Castle Wynd, The Grammar School, 1788

This 3-storey building sits just below Stirling Castle and was a Grammar School for boys. Designed by architect and stonemason Gideon Gray, who also built the Golden Lion Hotel on King Street, it sits on the site of an older 16^th century grammar school.

After the opening of the Stirling Old High School in 1854 the building was used as a military store

The building is Category B Listed and is now the Portcullis Hotel.