Eriskay School History
Comann Eachdraidh Eirisgeidh (Eriskay Historical Society), founded in 2010, is committed to preserving the heritage and culture of Eriskay. Our mission is to ensure that future generations can appreciate and learn from the rich stories, traditional skills, and artifacts that have been passed down through the generations, safeguarding them from being lost.
School History
The Eriskay School and St. Michael’s Church are among the most historically significant buildings on the island. Both of which have moved from their original locations on the island. The first smaller school is shown in the Haun on the 1882 map, northeast of the present location. Unfortunately, we have no records of the pupils attending the school in the Haun, possibly as it wasn’t compulsory to attend school at that time.
The school served not only as an educational building for schoolchildren, but also as a vibrant community hub. It hosted adult education classes, wedding receptions, dances, and ceilidhs, contributing significantly to the social fabric of Eriskay until the community hall was built in the 1980s. The school closed in 2013 due to declining enrolment, with the remaining pupils transferring to the newly built Daliburgh School in South Uist.
Purchasing The School
With overwhelming community support and funding from The Scottish Land Fund, we received the keys for the former Eriskay School and schoolhouse in May 2021, just after the Covid 19 Pandemic. This acquisition allowed us to rescue and preserve a building of historic significant (built c1870) on behalf of the community, give a base for Comann Eachdraidh Eirisgeidh and a hub for the community itself.
We conducted a thorough feasibility study to evaluate options and develop a suitable design proposal for the project. Our plan is to transform the school into a vibrant cultural museum and community asset, creating a sense of pride and strengthening community identity. The old Eriskay school is steeped in our heritage and offers the perfect base for our historical society to safeguard and celebrate our rich heritage and culture.
When we received the keys in 2021 from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the building was damp and had fallen into disrepair. The images below show how the building looked in 2021, after lying empty for 8 years since its closure in 2013. Despite the decay, the school still had vibrant colors in the rooms, with bright murals and children's artwork clinging to the walls, offering a glimpse of the energy that once filled the space. Some original features of the school, like the partition that opened between Rooms 2 and 3 for island ceilidhs, weddings, and Christmas parties, and the distinctive style of the large windows, were still visible, though in need of serious restoration. The roof in Room 1 (Primary 1 to 4) had a large hole, leaving it open to the elements and rapidly deteriorating. It's always sad to see educational spaces fall into neglect, especially with lingering traces of schoolwork and memorabilia left behind.
Follow our journey whilst we redevelop the old Eriskay school into the vibrant community building it once was, named Ionad Eilean na h-Òige after Fr. Allan MacDonald’s poems, where he described Eriskay as an island full of life due to the number of young people living here.
The phases of change the building is undergoing are detailed on the following pages.