The Schools

The education of the children of the lochside had benefitted from the schools which had been established by various methods, and with the assistance of the Church, and the Society for the Propagation of Christian
Knowledge. The Free Church authorities had built their own school in Acharn to meet the needs of their members’ children When the Scottish Education Act was passed in 1863, and the responsibility for education
passed to the State and education became compulsory, the Free Church School, being a modern building, was chosen to be the Parish School.

Later schools were built,or existing buildings taken over, to serve as schools at Ardtalnaig, Ardeonaig, Kiltyre, Lawers and Fearnan. While the facilities offered to the pupils prior to the Education Act must have been very basic, the results gained are truly remarkable. John
McGregor was the meal-miller in Fearnan at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and his sons were taught at the village school. Three became ministers, one became the rector of Stranraer Academy and the fifth Librarian to the Parliament of New Zealand. Duncan Dewar, a native
of Acharn, and pupil of the school there, became minister of Dull Parish after graduating from St. Andrews University. He survived there and paid his fees and lodging on £15 per annum. It has to be said that he walked home once each term to renew his bag of meal, and to restock his larder. Perhaps Lawers school had the most remarkable record, in that it produced one Member of Parliament, nine ministers, eleven teachers and seven
doctors, all before the passing of the Education Act.
The Schoolmasters were remarkable men, often self-educated and some of great intellect. Robert Armstrong, the teacher at Kenmore, made a permanent contribution to the culture of Scotland when, with his son, he published the first Gaelic dictionary in 1825.

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