Winchburgh, Main Street, Beatlie School, Main Building

NT07NE 120.00 09166 75083

NT07NE 120.01 NT 09115 75071 (Janitor's House)

NT07NE 120.02 NT 09139 75083 Air-Raid shelter

Siuated about 54m to the NW of the late 19th and early 20th century primary schools and now surrounded by high security fence is The Beatlie School. Built in 1907 with a basement to rear and roughly T-plan. Rendered; ashlar dressings.

Janitor's House 26m to the W and a possible brick built air-raid shelter in the playground 5m to the W.

Information from RCAHMS (DE), March 2007.

Symmetrical. 6-bay, single storey and basement to rear (on falling ground), roughly T-plan school. Rendered; ashlar dressings. S ELEVATION: advanced double pitched gables with paired Venetian windows, slit window to gableheads; tall single windows breaking eaves to right and left returns; flanking single windows; paired breaking eaves windows to outer bays. E ELEVATION: advanced gable to right, 2 windows set close to wall edge; tall window breaking eaves to right return; 2-bay central piended entrance pavilion set in re-entrant angle, door to left, bipartite windows to right. Paired windows breaking eaves to penultimate bay right. Single window to outer right hand bay. N ELEVATION: projecting gabled end, 2 windows set close to wall edge. W ELEVATION: identical to E elevation with small, detached 20th century flat roof addition. Windows boarded up. Pitched roofs; grey slates; straight skews; coped and rendered stacks.

The Winchburgh schools, forming some of the earliest building stock of the town, are a landmark set on a prominent site at an important junction on Winchburgh's main street. The schools also contribute greatly to the early 20th streetscape, with particular correspondence to the miners row cottages built along Main Street which have been recognised as "the foremost of their kind in Lothian" (McWilliam). The original school was probably erected after the establishment of School Board of Scotland Act 1872. It was most likely built after 1885 as there is no mention of it in Groome's Gazetteer of that year; however there is reference to a public school in Groome's circa 1895 edition. The formation of the Oakbank Oil Company in 1901 led to a significant increase in the population of Winchburgh thus necessitating the extension of the local public school. In 1901, the population of Winchburgh was 426, but within a year the population had nearly doubled and more school accommodation was required. James Jerdan, a competent Edinburgh architect, was responsible for the design of the school extension which successfully repeated the multi-gabled arrangement of the original building, yet provided distinctive early 20th century detailing with rounded gables and tapered stacks. The extension to the school was said to provide enough accommodation for additional 250 pupils, bringing the total number of scholars to 500. At this time, a school master's house (also designed by Jerdan) was erected further along Main Street to the E. The population of Winchburgh continued to grow rapidly due to the success of the shale mining industry and another school was built by Jerdan & Son in 1907. There was also provision made for the school caretaker and thus a purpose-built cottage was erected on the school grounds. Unusual to the site was a cultivated garden tended by the pupils. As the shale mining industry waned in the second half of the 20th century, the population of Winchburgh also decreased. The earlier school was recently known as the Winchburgh Day Centre but now lies vacant (2003). (Historic Scotland)