Armadale, Academy Street, Infant School & Gatepiers
School (19th Century)
Site Name Armadale, Academy Street, Infant School & Gatepiers
Classification School (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) High Academy Street
Canmore ID 232008
Site Number NS96NW 48
NGR NS 93545 68373
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/232008
- Council West Lothian
- Parish Bathgate
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District West Lothian
- Former County West Lothian
Academy Street
In the urban sense, there are no real streets in Armadale; simply an adjacency of buildings. Comfortingly solid and sedate Parish Church, c.1870, with neat belfry and pedimented porch. The Primary & Nursery Schools, 1878-1911, occupy the former Academy; symmetrical, two gables crowned with thistles flank a projecting central block. Fine double-storey halls with hammer-beam roofs and first-floor galleries.
Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
Single storey, 8-bay pavilion-plan (H-plan with addition central pavilion to S) former infant school with low single storey modern extension to right return of SW pavilion. Squared and snecked stugged sandstone rock-faced rubble; hoodmoulds; breaking eaves dormers. BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: coped coursed rubble wall to S (along High Academy Street) and to N (behind primary school); square-plan gatepiers to S, bell-cast caps.
After a lengthy battle with existing Subscription School trustees, the School Board of Bathgate Parish (instituted after the 1872 School Board of Scotland Act) was able to erect 2 board schools, as well as a schoolmaster's house (not part of the Statutory List), in Armadale on a new site north of the Established Church in 1878. As Armadale's population continued to grow and the age of school leavers was increased to 14 (in 1901), a 3rd school was built on the site around 1906. Shortly thereafter, one of the original 1878 schools was greatly extended to provide even more accommodation for its pupils.
Although altered only slightly by a modern 20th century link extension, the Armadale schools remain a landmark for the town set on an elevated site above Armadale's main street. The 2-storey and mezzanine 1911 former senior school (now the primary school) is the main focus of the site and boasts fine exterior and interior detailing, including an unaltered central double-hall and an elaborate double-staircase. (Historic Scotland)
