Crianlarich is a village in the north of the Stirling Council area, but was previously part of Western Perthshire. The village originally formed around the meeting of two military roads and later in the 19th century it became an important railway crossing. The OS maps (available to view in the Archives searchroom) below show the development of the village from 1864 to 1898. By 1898 the village has a police station and school. Perth County Valuation Rolls show that a schoolhouse existed by 1881. Records from Killin School Board also reveal mortgages for changes to school buildings in 1881, 1892, 1904 and 1914.
The Archives holds the building plans for the creation of a new school and schoolhouse in the 1960s. The plans show both the existing site and the proposed site.
The new school was to be bigger with a separate schoolhouse. Demolition of the old police house provided the extra space required. Previously the school had a separate outbuilding for the kitchen, but the new school would include the kitchen off the dining room.
Being a small school there were only two classrooms, one for the Infant Class and another for the Primary Class. This set-up continues to work for the school today, however, the Schoolhouse is now used as a nursery. The new school was officially opened on Wed 26 Feb 1969.
School children moving on to secondary school in the 1970s would have attended a junior secondary school in Killin. If they wanted to continue their education further they had to travel by rail to McLaren High School in Callander. The Statistical Account of Scotland from 1979 informs us that “Of these, 12 to 15 [children from both Crianlarich and Tyndrum] travel daily by rail, 24 miles, leaving their homes about 7 a.m. and returning home about 6 p.m. Verily they work for their education if not for their living!”
