Dumbarton Academy
The Dumbarton Academy is a secondary school in the Scottish town of Dumbarton in West Dunbartonshire . The former school building was included in the Scottish List of Monuments in 1981 in Category B. In 1995 it was upgraded to the highest category A.
history
Dumbarton was raised to the rank of Royal Burgh in 1222 . The school is first mentioned in 1486, making the Dumbarton Academy one of the oldest schools in Scotland. The school was not financed exclusively by school fees, but also received municipal grants. In the 1860s, for example, only three shillings (around EUR 15 today) per quarter had to be paid for reading lessons, which also enabled poorer classes to attend school. The full course, which included reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, Latin, French, Greek and mathematics, cost 22 shillings per quarter. At that time, 108 male and 46 female students attended the facility.
Since wealthy parents sent their children to school by train as far as Glasgow , probably due to the poor spatial situation, a new school building was built in the 1860s. After a design by Thomas Gildard was initially accepted , the whiskey producer James Smith , who resided outside in Overtoun House , campaigned for a design by the Glasgow architecture firm Melvin & Leiper , which was ultimately decided in favor. After the foundation stone was laid in June 1865, the building was finally completed in 1867. In 1882, a fire devastated parts of the building, which was restored and reopened the following year. The school moved to a new building as early as 1914, although the primary school remained in the building until 1921. A modern new building was completed in 2013 for £ 15.5 million and the school will move to this after the interior work is complete.
Description of the listed old building
The two-story, neo-Gothic building is located on Church Street in the south of Dumbarton (Location: 55 ° 56 ′ 49.4 ″ N , 4 ° 34 ′ 1.6 ″ W ). After the school moved out, the building was used as a police station and as an administration building for the electricity supplier. A fire broke out there in 1976 and the building has been in ruins ever since. In 1992 the city applied for the demolition, which was rejected two years later. At the beginning of the 1990s, the building fabric was still described as good. However, after no changes were made in the following years, the condition deteriorated noticeably. In 1991 it was entered on the register of endangered buildings in Scotland. In order to prevent the facade from collapsing completely, an application was made for partial demolition, which was finally approved and carried out.
The street-side facade is symmetrical. A square, four-story tower with the entrance area rises up in the center. It is accessible from the outside via three pointed arch portals. Further pointed arch and twin lancet windows are installed on the upper floors . The tower closes with a rose window on the top floor, octagonal corner turrets and crenellated reinforcement.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ a b H.M. Stationery Office: Report by Her Majesty's Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into Schools in Scotland , Volume 4, pp. 127-129, 1868.
- ↑ Entry on Dumbarton Academy in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ↑ Almost there as new Dumbarton Academy building tops out ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Entry on buildingsatrisk.org.uk ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- School's online presence
- West Dunbartonshire Regional Council information
- Entry on Dumbarton Academy in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
Coordinates: 55 ° 56 ′ 37.4 ″ N , 4 ° 34 ′ 1.6 ″ W.