Granton Junior School, West Granton Road - at the SE corner of Granton Square

Granton Junior School

Thank you Alastair McBeath for allowing me to reproduce this photo. I assume that this class is from the original Granton School that stood on the south side of West Granton Road, close to the SE corner of Granton Square.

(A new Granton School opened later further south, in Boswall Parkway.**)

The writing on the slate at the front of this photo reads:

Granton Rd

Juniors

Group 3

This photo was published as a postcard. The card has no publisher's name on it and has not been sent through the post. When might the photo have been taken.

Acknowledgement: Alastair McBeath: Granton, Edinburgh: January 22, 2010

** Please see Answer 5 below for a response to this comment.

Answer

David King

Trinity, Edinburgh

Thank you to David King, Secretary and Webmaster of Granton History Group who wrote:

The Photo

Taken between 1885 and 1914?

"This photo was definitely taken before summer 1937, when the replacement school opened in Boswall Parkway.

I wasn’t aware that it was ever called Granton Junior School. I thought it was just Granton School. The text on the slate is a surprise – for a start it was on West Granton Road, as you say, not Granton Road.

Classes in Scottish primary schools were generally grouped into:

- ‘Infants’ (P1 and P2)

- ‘Juniors’ (P3 and P4)

- 'Seniors’ (P5, P6 and P7)

so the Juniors bit may reflect that.

At a guess, from the girls’ clothes, it was taken some time between the school opening in 1885 and World War I but hopefully someone else can narrow it down.

Acknowledgement: David King, Trinity, Edinburgh: January 31, 2010

The School

Granton History Group

This Granton History Group web site page has a recent photograph of Granton School in West Granton Road, and says:

"The school was built for Cramond Parish School Board in 1885 (at the time that part of our area was outside both Edinburgh and Leith.) By the 1930s it had become too small for the increasing number of children in the area, and a new building was built at Boswall Parkway.

The West Granton Road building was later used by St David's RC School before it too moved to a new building in Boswall Parkway in 1937. ***

*** Correction '1937' should read '1955'. Please see Answers 2, 3, 4 below.

The building at West Granton Road has since been used by the Compass Adventure Centre and is now used by Granton Youth Centre."

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 31, 2010

Answer

Jim Robertson

Berlin, Germany

Thank you to Jim Robertson, Berlin, Germany, for leaving a message in the EdinPhoto guest book.

Jim wrote:

St David's RC School

"I think David King's date for closing of St David's RC school at West Granton Road is incorrect as I attended the school there in 1949 as did my sister and brothers until the mid-1950s."

Jim Robertson, Berlin, Germany: Message posted in EdinPhoto guest book, February 2, 2010

Answer

David King

Trinity, Edinburgh

David King replied:

St David's RC School

"I agree. St David's RC school continued to use the building at West Granton Road after 1937 until it moved to a new building constructed in West Pilton Place. I'll update the Granton History Group web page.

I don’t have exact date of the move to West Pilton Place, but:

- the 1952-53 street directory shows it at West Granton Road

- the 1960-61 street directory shows it at West Pilton Place."

David King, Trinity, Edinburgh: January 31, 2010

Answer

Peter Stubbs

Edinburgh

St David's RC School

"I've checked the Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories.

- The 1955 directory shows the school as being at West Granton Road.

- The 1956 directory shows it as no longer being there.

So the St David's appears to have used the West Granton Road building from about 1937 to 1955."

Peter Stubbs: February 4, 2010

Answer

Eric Fitzpatrick

Skipton, North Yorkshire, England

Thank you to Eris Fitzpatrick for responding to one of the comments from Alastair MacBeath, below the photo at the top of this page.

Eric wrote

St David's RC School

"St Davids never had a school in Boswall Parkway.

However, at St Margaret Mary's church in Boswall Parkway (the church for St David's school) the two aisles were used as classrooms on, Mondays to Fridays, for the intake of new pupils, until they were ready to be transferred down to St David's at Granton Square.

I was one of the pupils in the St Margaret Mary's church aisles in 1943, before transferring to St David's at Granton Square."

More Schools

"We then moved up to share the annex with Ainsley Park school in Pilton Avenue, while their new school was being built. I was there until 1950, then I went to St Anthony's on Lochend Road. I stayed in Crewe Road West at the time.

Eric Fitzpatrick, Skipton, North Yorkshire, England: 7+8+8 May, 2014