The remains of the parish school are situated at the south end of Loch Croispol (NC 390677) approximately 1km west of Durness Village Square and close to Balnakeil Craft Village. It is sometimes referred to as Balnakeil School or Loch Croispol School, both terms are almost certainly late 20th Century ones. Although lacking the context of settlement today, it was situated in the township of Crocbreac, one of a number of pre-clearance townships in the area. The substantial former parish manse dating from 1728 stands nearby, although the ruined parish church at Balnakeil is 1km to the north.

 

Constructed in the early 1760’s, it was built to a very high standard almost entirely of local limestone bound with lime mortar. The different courses of stone were leveled with Easdale slate. Window sills and the slabbing round the chimney top are possibly schist from nearby Faraid Head.  The gable ends were crow stepped as can be seen in the remaining west gable. Initially thatched, it was later (possibly about 1793) re-roofed with pantiles. Plaster remains found while moving stones in preparation for archaeology showed that at least the east end interior was lath and plaster lined. The building has one window to the east of the door on the south wall and two to the west. On the north wall there are two, possibly three windows, one of which has been partially blocked up. To the west end is a clearly defined garden surrounded by a dry stone dyke with turf on the top. A blocked up gateway is evident in the south side which faced the old routeway to Borralie and Clashneuch, two pre-clearance settlements close by.

 

The Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge established a school in Durness possibly as early as 1708. A local story related the school was the first parish school in Scotland – it may be that the first SSPCK school was established in Durness. The building of the school was pioneered by the Rev Murdoch MacDonald, the parish minister from 1726 to1763. A significant figure in the Province of Strathnaver or MacKay Country, he was a great supporter of not just education, but of the arts, most notably as a backer of the great Gaelic poet, Rob Donn. His son Joseph was the first person to collect and write down bagpipe music and in 1760 wrote ‘The Compleat Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe’, a seminal work in the world of piping. MacDonald struggled to gain support for the school, but with funds from Lord Reay, chief of Clan MacKay, work probably began before his death in 1763. The first written record appears in the Kirk Session minutes for December 1765 when it was noted the building was still not finished, but by March 1766 the building appeared to be ready. The Kirk Session accounts give frequent references to the school in the period 1765 to 1814, with the bridge over the school burn appearing to need fairly frequent repair. The Statistical Account for the early 1790’s states there were approximately 45 pupils at the school and that the building ‘will be in excellent repair very soon’. It also details the subjects taught and the fees involved. The New Statistical Account of 1834 paints a different story stating ‘The former has not the legal accommodations’. By this time there were three other schools in the parish. In a testimonial in court papers relating to the contesting of the will of Patrick Campbell, who left £10,000 to education and the poor in Durness, there was some sort of major breakdown between the parents and the schoolmaster in 1841 and all the children were withdrawn from the school and sent to the school at Ceannabeinne about 6km to the east. Owing to a watertight contract, the Kirk Session was unable to sack the master, despite going to the Court of Session in Edinburgh and he continued in post with no pupils until 1861! An Education Act of this date finally removed the teacher and it is probable that the school was then closed and abandoned at this date. There are no local tales of ‘my grandfather went to that school’ or indeed of the school continuing as a house, it is only remembered as a ruin and as a school. The current ruinous state of the building would be conducive to the decline of a building over that period of time since 1861.

 

The school sits on the western edge of the Durness Glebe which extends to some 40acres and is still owned by the Church of Scotland and tenanted by a local crofter. The Glebe is used exclusively for sheep grazing. Access to Loch Croispol for fishermen is along the north side of the building and fishing rights of the Church of Scotland are held by a local fishing group who built and maintain the bridge over the burn on the approach to the school.

 

Graham Bruce

12 August 2009