Eye on Millig: A Rosneath school history lesson

Staff, parents and pupils — assisted by Cove Park’s Dawn Youll and artist Linda Florence — are busy organising appropriate events.

One of Linda’s aims is to produce an artwork which will reflect input from the children, including feedback from a recent question and answer session which included parents.

Also present at the session was local historian and Helensburgh Heritage Trust director Alistair McIntyre, who has undertaken considerable research on education in the area.

He tells me that Rosneath has had a school for a very long time because it was a parish from as far back as mediaeval times, with Rosneath Village, known as Clachan, at its centre, and I am grateful to him for what follows.

At the heart of the mediaeval parish was the church, and one had been in existence at Rosneath from possibly as far back as the Dark Ages.

An evangelist known as Modan — which may well be derived from two words, “Mo Aiden”, or “My Aiden” — is traditionally understood to have settled there and established a religious centre in the remote past.

In support of this claim, in 1880, when work was being carried out in the grounds of the present St Modan’s Church, a carved stone was discovered buried deep underground.

Now kept inside the church, it has been dated by experts to around 800 AD, and is thought by many to commemorate Modan himself. Some people think that the site chosen by Modan might even have been considered sacred in pre-Christian times.

It is not known exactly when the first school at Rosneath was founded. In the mid-16th century, the religious reformer John Knox put forward a plan for a school in every parish, but this was not realised until many years after his death.

However, Acts of the Scottish Parliament were passed in 1646 and 1696, making it a legal requirement for each parish to establish a school, to be paid for by local landowners.

Much of the parish of Rosneath was then owned by the Earls and later the Dukes of Argyll.

Although there may have been earlier teachers, the first definite name to emerge from the mists of time is that of Robert Monro, who was parish schoolmaster at Rosneath probably in the early 18th century and certainly before 1717.

The first teacher for whom an exact date can be given was John McNaughton, who became parochial schoolmaster on or shortly before 1800.

Although the Acts of the Scottish Parliament made a school in every parish a legal necessity, attendance at school was not compulsory.

Some parents may well have wished basic reading and writing skills to be imparted to their children, but for most families, the priority was to have children contributing to family income as soon as possible.

The majority of those children who did attend school probably would have done so only for a limited period.

The parish schools, although financed by the landowners, were actually under the control of the church, and schoolmasters — no lady teachers — were required to sign a document called the Confession of Faith.

This procedure was carried out in a bid to ensure that teachers did not have any views that were considered to be different from those of the established church.

The link between church and school at that time is further underlined by some additional roles that were expected of the schoolmaster, over and above his teaching duties.

He would be expected to serve as clerk to the Kirk Session, and lead the singing at church services. He might have additional duties, such as registering marriages and births, and was usually in charge of the Sunday School.

As recompense for all these duties, the master received payment, though the amounts were very small.

The parish schoolmaster was expected to put religious teaching at the heart of the curriculum. The pupils would all be taught to read and write, with the Bible and the Shorter Catechism — a set of questions and answers — as the main texts.

Discipline was strict, with the cane and the tawse, which is a leather strap, ready to hand. Hours were long, with lessons in some places starting as early as 6am.

The master was a key figure in the community, but this was not reflected in his income, which was very meagre considering all his responsibilities.

The salary had been set by the Acts of 1646 and 1696 at a minimum of 100 merks, and a maximum of 200 merks per annum which was a little over £11 sterling. These salaries were still in place more than a century later.

The Old Statistical Account of Scotland, drawn up in the 1790s, and made up of reports submitted by every parish minister, repeatedly refers to the inadequate salaries of teachers.

In many cases, schoolmasters had originally been educated with a career in the ministry in mind, but subsequently were unable to obtain a living in that capacity. The parish minister might thus have felt some special sympathy for his poorly-paid compatriot.

The schoolmaster’s total income at Rosneath, from all sources, was stated to be a little under £17 per annum in 1790.

Fees were at that time payable for instruction: at Rosneath, quarter fees for reading were one shilling, five pence in today’s money; for reading and writing, one shilling and sixpence; for reading, writing and arithmetic, two shillings. Latin incurred a higher fee.

The cost of living was, of course, very much lower at that time. Fees were payable by parents, but for those in very poor circumstances, parish funds were usually available to help out.

There was another totally unexpected and shocking source of income for schoolmasters in some places.

A widespread custom seems to have developed up and down the country whereby the master undertook to organise cockfights to take place at his school.

Defeated birds became the property of the master, destined for his cooking-pot.

This unseemly and barbaric practice lingered on in some districts until the early 19th century, but no evidence has come to light to suggest that Rosneath School staged such events.

After 1803, there were modest increases in salary. A house was now also provided for the master and his family, but this could vary in suitability.

The master at Rosneath was probably better placed than many. His schoolhouse at the end of the Clachan was the upper floor of a substantial building with gable end to the then church, the school being on the ground floor.

While the existence of a parish school at Rosneath was welcome, travelling there daily from the more distant parts of the parish was simply not practicable, particularly for younger children, and especially in winter.

While education was not compulsory, there was undoubtedly a desire on the part of many parents for their children to receive at least some education.

This is hinted at by the coming into existence of schools over and above the parish school, especially from about 1700 onwards.

One example of such a school was at Letter, near Coulport. Recorded as being there in 1800, it was being taught by a John McFarlan.

Even though it was not the parish school, it would appear to have been established with the approval of the church. That is implied by the presence of McFarlan’s signature in the Confession of Faith document.

At one stage there was also a school at Rahane.

In 1808, John Graham became Rosneath parish schoolmaster and remained there until about 1820. In 1810, there were some 40 pupils attending, and his total income was £40.

In 1820, he was succeeded by John Dodds, who remained in post for fifty years until his death in 1870. Much is known about him — which I will reveal next week.

email: milligeye@btinternet.com