The Scholars and The School

1791 – First Statistical Account – 45 pupils reported…..

 

Statistical Account states that the schoolmaster is Mr Thomas Ross.  His salary is paid by Lord Reay (10 merks Scotch).  The other half of the salary is payable by ‘his Lordship’s tenants’.

 

Rates per quarter are 2s 6d for teaching Latin; 2s for arithmetic; 1s 6d for reading and writing; 1s for teaching to read.  The Schoolmaster’s salary is augmented by his work as Session Clerk.  A second school is operating in Westmoine and has circa 30 pupils.  There the schoolmaster’s wife teaches ‘some branches of female education’.

 

1845 – Second Statistical Account – written by Rev. Findlater in 1834

There are now 4 schools – 1 parochial; 1 Assembly and 2 subscription.

 

It is noted that the parochial school – the schoolhouse at Loch Croispol – does not have ‘the legal accomodations’ that a school should have so clearly by the mid 19th century this building is already being viewed as somewhat old fashioned and not ‘fit for purpose’ any longer. 

 

It is noted that since ‘relotting’ – the reorganisation of the land into tenanted farms, sheepwalks and the new form of ‘crofts’ – the middle classes have departed.  Rev Findlater comments that this has resulted in a changed attitude to education locally – it is less valued and esteemed than previously. 

 

Language and Literacy

 

In 1834 it is noted that 216 people over 15 years old cannot read or write – the figure for those between the ages of 6 and 15 is obscured in the on-line scan of this page of the Second Statistical Account unfortunately. 

 

In 1822 The Inverness Society for the Education of the Poor in the Highlands carried out a Survey of Gaelic and English speaking and literacy at parish level. A questionnaire survey was sent to 171 parishes and 89, including Assynt, Eddrachilles, Durness, Tongue and Farr were returned by the ministers for these parishes. In all of these parishes in 1822 over 80% of the population was reported to prefer speaking in Gaelic and less than 20% preferred English. In these parishes in our study area less than 20% of the Gaelic speakers could read but in Assynt between 20 and 39% of Gaelic speakers could read. Amongst the parish population who could speak English it was reported that all of them were literate.

 

 

The People on the ground…..

 

The population in 1755 was 1,000.

The population in 1801 was 1,208

The population in 1811 was 1,135

The population in 1821 was 1,004

The population in 1831 was 1,153

 

The population in 1834 was 1,180 in 206 ‘families’ –

 

• 448 under 15 years old = 38%

• 343 aged between 15 and 30 years old = 29%

• 185 aged between 30 and 50 years old = 16%

• 164 aged between 50 and 70 years old = 14%

• over 70 years old – 40 people = 3%

 

 

Compare this pattern to today’s age profile from the 2001 census –

 

The population in Durness is 353 people in 154 households -