Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Canmore School List

Performing an 'Advanced Search' on http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/ for schools in Harris returned the following list.
Most of these results relate to schools that were marked on the OS 1st Edition 6-inch Map of 1881/2 thus saving me the task of poring over images of those maps online!
(NB - The Six-figure references may not always refer to the precise site of the school)

NORTH (3)
Scarp NG987136
Scalpay NG215965
Steinish (Kyles Scalpay) NG206982
(Tarbert Primary School 1896)

BAYS (7)
Drinishader NG173947
Scadaby NG173926
Collam NG152914
Kyles Stockinish NG13?91?
Geocrab NG115909
Manish NG104892
Finsbay NG073867

WEST COAST (1)
Borve NG030940

SOUTH (2)
Obbe (Now Roineabhal House, formerly the School) NG025862
Strond NG030842

The majority of these schools were designed by the architect Alexander Ross in the 1870s but the feature that strikes my eye is the concentration of schools in the Bays including, for example, Drinishader, Scadabay and Collam that are only 5 (Golden!) road miles apart. It would be quite possible to make an estimate based upon the 1881 Census records of how many Scholars each of these schools would have contained, but that is one task too far for me to undertake, unfortunately.

4 comments:

  1. It would be nice to be able to lay your hands on the school logs for these schools. Would this be possible?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Highland Council Archives in Inverness might have such information:

    http://www.highland.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/what-to-see/archives/highlandcouncilarchives/

    ReplyDelete
  3. The reason for the relatively dense concentration of schools in the bays was a combination of the clearances and the fishing and kelp industries, both of which brought people from the much more arable west coast of Harris.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The reason for the relatively dense concentration of schools in the bays was a combination of the clearances and the fishing and kelp industries, both of which brought people from the much more arable west coast of Harris.

    ReplyDelete