Mr. David Peattie, the second schoolmaster of that name in Strathkinness,

was appointed in 1832. Shortly after his arrival there was a petition from

local inhabitants asking for a reduction in school fees because of ‘the low

state of the wages’. The Kirk Session agreed to reduce the fees for twelve

months. Reading was to cost two shillings, reading and writing two shillings

and sixpence, and arithmetic three shillings.

With the establishment of a preaching station in Strathkinness by the St.

Andrews Kirk Session a new school was built, probably in 1836. This building

used as both school and preaching station, was the cause of a disagreement in

1864, when the responsibility for its repair was not acknowledged either by

the Kirk Session of St. Andrews, which had previously been responsible for

school buildings within its parish, or by the newly created quoad sacra Church

of Strathkinness. Money used to repair the school had been used to build a

new church, and the St. Andrews Kirk Session said they could not afford to

repair the school. A joint committee approached the Bell Trust (an educa-

tional trust set up in the 1830s) and a grant of £50, sufficient to repair the

school, was given. One of the conditions of the grant was that the name

‘Madras’ should be added to the name of Strathkinness School. It is not

known, but it is doubtful, whether this was ever carried out.

During the 1800s many changes in schooling took place. There were more

aids to teaching, such as maps and blackboards as well as more books available.

Sanitary arrangements, although primitive, were becoming compulsory, and it

;~ reported that in Cameron in 1861 the ‘school should be swept and dusted

on Wednesdays and Saturdays after school hours, and washed at least twice

a year’. It is not known exactly what subjects were taught in Strathkinness

School until the 1870s when teachers were obliged to keep log books.

A parallel development in schooling in Strathkinness took place after the

‘ounding of the Free Church School. Soon after the Disruption in 1843,

when the Free Church broke away from the Established Church, many

churches and schools were set up throughout the country. In 1846, three

years after the establishment of the Free Church in Strathkinness, the

Reverend Adam Thorburn, the first free Church Minister there, told the St.

Andrews Free Church Presbytery that the Free Church School was nearly

completed. They were ‘awaiting a certificate of attestation of £100 from the

Free Church Education Committee’. This Free Church School (later the

Mitchell Hall and now restored as a private house called ‘The Old Hall’), was

built near to the first Free Church, which was originally built in 1801. It was

later used by Thom the Joiner as a workshop and then as a garage by Danskins

Transport and since demolished.

Mr. Thorburn was appointed a member of the Education Committee of the

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