Glasgow, 184 Possil Road, Rockvilla School And Retaining Wall
Boundary Wall (19th Century), School (19th Century), Steps (19th Century), Wall (19th Century)
Site Name Glasgow, 184 Possil Road, Rockvilla School And Retaining Wall
Classification Boundary Wall (19th Century), School (19th Century), Steps (19th Century), Wall (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Dawson Road
Canmore ID 161877
Site Number NS56NE 1242
NGR NS 58802 67141
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/161877
- Council Glasgow, City Of
- Parish Glasgow (City Of Glasgow)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District City Of Glasgow
- Former County Lanarkshire
Rockvilla School stood on this site at the corner of Possil Road and Dawson Road in Glasgow.
The school was part of a drive by the Glasgow School Board (formed in 1873) to tackle the deplorable state of education in the city. The board had conducted a census which had revealed that of over 87,000 children of school age, only 57,000 could be accommodated in the city’s schools. What is more, around 35,000 children were not receiving any education at all. (Worsdall, F. Victorian City: A Selection of Glasgow’s Architecture. Richard Drew Publishing, 1982.)
As a response the School Board began to draw up plans for new schools, and the site for Rockvilla School was bought, and plans drawn up, in 1874. The school was designed by John Honeyman, and built between 1874 and 1877.
Situated on top of a rocky hill above the Glasgow Branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal, the school was two-storey stone building with a main block and a round tower. Inside, the building was divided into two large and two small classrooms. (Worsdall, F. Victorian City: A Selection of Glasgow’s Architecture. Richard Drew Publishing, 1982.)
Rockvilla School closed in 1960 because a re-housing programme for the area meant that the school lost most of its students.
The building was then used as an occupational centre, which closed in 1964.
Any use of the building following the occupational centre is not known, but it is thought that it was merely left empty and increasingly derelict.
In 1991 the school, janitors lodge and the retaining wall on the corner of Dawson Road and Possil Road were all listed as Grade B.
In 1994 the land on which the school stood was acquired by British Waterways. The Title Plan for this purchase does not show the school on the piece of land although it was still extant at that point.
A 2007 English Heritage Research Report into Fire Loss in Historic Buildings notes that the school caught fire in 1995: http://fred.english-heritage.org.uk/pdf/743.pdf
Finally, in 1996 the school was demolished: http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-33621-184-possil-road-corner-with-dawson-road-r
Today all that remains of the school is its curved retaining wall, with the separate entrance steps for boys and girls. These separate entrances are an original feature of the school. They were a specific requirement of the Glasgow School Board which, although allowing co-educational schools, rigidly enforced the rule that boys and girls must be kept apart as much as possible.
On the wall there survives the inscription:
'School Board of Glasgow
Rockvilla Public School'.
Information from Scottish Canals, 2013
NS56NE 1242 58802 67141
Architect: John Honeyman, 1877.
Glasgow, 184 Possil Road, Rockvilla school and janitor's lodge.
Demolished 1996.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
