Old Castle lade Into Girls' School.

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6626, 12 August 1931, Page 11

Old Castle lade Into Girls' School.

EDINBURGH. To turn a castle into a school is the means of transforming what in those days of high taxation might bo termed a white. elephant into a useful proposition adopted by Lady Marjorie Dalrymple, sister of the Earl of fcitair. The transformation of Oxenfoord Castle has been carried out in such a way as not to prevent its being again occupied as a private house should tho occasion arise. This has meant the improvement of the water supply and the installation of up-to-date bathrooms. The baSemCht, which was the stone-flagged servants' hall, will provide a room for drill and the activities of Girl Guides. A former wine cellar has been transformed into a whitepainted cloakroom. The girls at Oxenfoord will have a certain time each day for unorganised leisure to be employed in their own way. Constant organisation of play as well as work, Lady Marjorie contends, saps initiative. Other castles and old buildings in Scotland have met with a less fortunate end than Oxenfoord. One priory near Arbroath was even sold for £l. Another, Amisfield House, near Haddington, .Was razed and the stones of the lovely old dwelling house were used to build a school at Preston Pans. Some, other buildings have simply been deserted owing to the impossibility of obtaining a big enough staff to run them, efficiently.