GALLOWHILL SCHOOL
All William Reid and Elizabeth Nicol's children attended Gallowhill School, a couple of miles up the brae in the direction of Alford. The school was built in 1844 and had two classrooms, one for the infants and one for the older children, school-leaving age being 14 in those days.
The headmaster and his wife, who taught the infant class, also lived on site in the headmaster's house adjacent to the school. In the winter months soup was provided for the pupils' lunches - a hefty vegetable broth, with the vegetables being provided by Shannoch Farm.
My mother attended the school from around 1916 to 1923 and the headmaster of the time was a Mr Main. Mum remembers him as being very strict, especially with his own son David, who was regularly hit by his father, for not being clever enough. In addition to Mr and Mrs Main, there was a new assistant teacher Miss Pratt. This same Miss Nora Pratt became the school's last head.
In the 1851 Census for the area, one Margaret Reid was a pupil teacher at the school, but by the time of the next census in 1861 she had graduated to an assistant teacher. Margaret was born in Dorbshill, Logie Buchan, the daughter of a Charles Reid and Margaret Taggart. Unfortunately this Margaret Reid is not directly related to our family.
The school closed sometime in the 1930s, presumably with the birth rate being cut and very few families now with eight, nine or more children, the school became surplus to requirements. I have a document compiled in the 1880s, which says that in 1879 the accommodation in Gallowhill was for 126 children with an average attendance of 87. It had a grant of £81.8s.6d.
The Hall at Gallowhill School
One classroom looking through to the other
The school still stands intact and one can see the two classrooms still divided by a wood and glass partition, the hall, where morning assembly and prayers would have taken place and the cloakrooms complete with iron pegs, which must have held many a winter coat. On wondering around the school, it is very easy to 'hear' the sounds of long past schoolchildren echoing around the large rooms and to 'see' them as they go about their daily routines, learning, playing, crying, laughing - secure in their present and innocent of the futures ahead of them.
Below I have reproduced a
poem that my mother and her siblings learned by heart during their time
at Gallowhill School. Mum was still able to quote this poem, word
perfect, 80 odd years later:
Also - a counting verse for cherry stones, flower petals etc. Girls used this rhyme to foretell their future husband!
A laird, a lord, a lily, a leaf
A piper, a drummer, a hangman, a thief.