George Heriot's School
The first of another occasional series, on schools. Edinburgh has a large number of private schools - about 25% of the city's children are educated privately, whereas in the rest of Scotland the figure is about 4%. This is one of the oldest private schools in the city - George Heriot's school. The school was founded in 1628 as a charitable foundation for the education of 'puire fatherless bairnes' (poor fatherless children) through a bequest in George Heriot's will. He was the son of a goldsmith, and himself became Jeweller and Goldsmith at the Court of King James VI. He amassed a fortune through this position, but died childless.
The school is right in the centre of Edinburgh, with Edinburgh Castle just behind it. Perhaps it's distracting to look out of the classroom window and see such a view - or perhaps the pupils don't notice after a while, like many Edinburghers. Some people wonder if Heriot's was a model for Hogwarts.
Wow, that's an amazing school. If we ever have kids, we'll send them to Heriot's, even if we have to move to Edinburgh!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful building and I would definitely have trouble concentrating if there is a castle outside to see! Such grandeur for a school. Interesting to think about it being a model for Hogwarts.
ReplyDeleteThis private school is very beautiful ! Thanks for the explanations, very interesting ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful building and interesting post.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful building and lucky children to be attending school in these environments. :)
ReplyDeleteGoodness what a beautiful building. Over here in the states...if a school is more than 40 years old it's considered ramshackle and due to be razed and rebuilt. We are such wasters....hangs head in shame.
ReplyDeleteLoveley photo....as usual! I so enjoy this blog.
Thanks for your comments. It is a lovely building, but there are also plenty of schools in Scotland that are not so beautiful, and I'll post some of them as I get around the country. My own school, up in the North, is 40 years old, and is the subject of big debates about demolishing it and doing a re-build. It's certainly not as pretty as Heriot's, but it gave me a great education, and for free.
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful school you have in Edimburgh. Lovely building indeed.
By the way my post: http://liviobonino.blogspot.com/2009/01/po-river-in-winter-day.html
I see you have an optimal knowledge of Torino city. Really the photos have been taken close to Borgo Medieval in Valentino park.
I hope your visit in my city has benn appreciated.
Aplogize my delay for the answer.
Ciao Livio.
That's a lovely photo, and what a prime spot to be educated.
ReplyDeleteSome people think Glasgow University's main building is also a model for Hogwarts, funnily enough. Though as JK Rowling is from Ed, I would be prepared to concede the point :)
This is a beautiful and informative post, what a wonderful castle to go to school in, although the Prof just commented that for little boys it would have been frightening as well.
ReplyDeleteA very beautiful photo.
It's so beautiful photo! Thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteHogwarts is partially based on Heriot's, partially based on Edinburgh Castle. I used to go to Heriots (just finished last term!) but i have just moved to England! It's great, but you can only really see the castle from the playground and the turrets (the turrets sound cool, but there's so many steps!!!)
ReplyDeleteMy children go to school here and apart from the beauty of the souroundings which they really do not notice. It is a brilliant academic setting which once again they do not notice.
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