Reviewing the monthly reports of Blantyre School Board, published in local newspapers, I found evidence that before Auchinraith School was built, it had been proposed to be built…..in Larkfield!
The site of the current High Blantyre Primary was initially the preferred site for a new school in 1899, a school desperately needed due to capacity at High and Low Blantyre Schools. However, with plans for the school already drawn up, the Larkfield site was ‘pulled’ at the last moment, with the location instead changing to Auchinraith.
The reason was that the School Board Building Committee had discovered that laying a drain and sewers from the new school at Larkfield, along Broompark Road, on to Stonefield Road and connecting into the sewer some distance away would have been a considerable expense to ratepayers.
The Board also considered the existing drainage at other locations and the fact that the Middle Ward County Council was considering making Blantyre into a special drainage district, meaning there would be additional funding for such projects. The Board were pleased to have caught this in advance, saving ratepayers from being exposed to a considerable expense the following year.
The Larkfield site was abandoned and the rest , as they say is history. Auchinraith School is pictured in this brilliant photo, taken shortly after it opened in 1900.
