Established in 1646, Corstorphine Primary School has been a pillar of our village community for generations. We have seen remarkable changes over the years – this page offers a brief journey through our school’s story but we’ll also share titbits on our news page, highlighting key milestones and memorable moments from our past. We’d love to hear from you if you have any stories or records to share.
A Potted History
There was likely a school operating in Corstorphine before 1646, but that year brought with it a new Scottish Education Act that ordered locally funded, Church-supervised schools to be established in every parish in Scotland. In September that year, we have our first named schoolmaster – James Chalmers (see below for a full list of all our headteachers).
In 1818, plans were drawn up for a new school building on Corstorphine High Street, and building was complete by 1820. Prior to this, our school had been a thatched cottage in the High Street near the path leading to the United Free Church.
In 1848, a new school was built on the same site and this was extended in 1894, 1932 and again in 2013. The eagle-eyed among us may spot this reflected in dates on the school walls.
Our School Badge
Our current school badge (pictured) shows the Forrester colours of red and black. Depicted is a hunting horn, also representative of the Forrester family, and a lantern. This is symbolic of an oil lamp that was kept at the old parish church long ago to guide travellers across the boggy ground between Edinburgh and Corstorphine. To pay for lamp oil the church was given the rent from an acre of ground roughly between what is now Farmer’s Autocare and the bridge at Riversdale. When the lamp was not used in the 17th century the rent of the Lamp Acre was given to the schoolmaster as part of his wage – and therefore of great importance to the school!
Previous versions of the badge have existed – we know that in 1928, the badge showed three hunting horns and later it was a simple C with leaves around it.
Headteachers
A full list of all the headteachers of Corstorphine Primary School can be found here.
Our Houses
At Corstorphine we have four houses: Forrester (yellow), Gordon (blue), Lennie (red) and Murray (green). The reasons behind the names of the houses are not certain, but the following seem to be the most reasonable explanations:
Forrester – The Lords Forrester were an important family in Corstorphine for generations, their ancestral seat being the now-lost Corstorphine Castle.
Gordon – A couple of streets in the area – Gordon Road and Gordon Loan – are so named because a Charles Ferrier Gordon of Halmyre in Peeblesshire owned the ground.
Lennie – An area adjacent to Corstorphine, Lennie includes Lennie Hill which is situated to the West of Cammo. Turnhouse Golf Club takes up most of its Southern slopes.
Murray – Murray Cottages were so named because David Murray, a chartered accountant, and his daughters left money in 1877 to build twenty homes for “aged men or women above sixty years of age (unencumbered with children)”
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank The Corstorphine Trust for their help in gathering this information. We also gratefully acknowledge the research of Alison MacKintosh, author of The Corstorphine Story.