Kilgraston School


(Kilgraston House)

An independent Roman Catholic girls boarding school in Perth & Kinross, Kilgraston lies a half-mile (0.8 km) southwest of Bridge of Earn. The school occupies an A-listed Adam-esque mansion, which was built by Francis Grant of Glenlochy c.1800 and located within 29 ha (72 acres) of parkland. The entrance is through a grand Classical archway of Roman style (c.1820), leading to a tree-lined driveway. Grant had made his money in the West Indies but inherited the Kilgraston Estate from his brother in 1793, who had bought it from the Craigie family nine years previously. The stylish interior was reconstructed after being destroyed by a fire in 1872. There are some fine rooms, including the Entrance Hall, Saloon (now a Hall) and Drawing Room (now the Library) which features a particularly fine marble chimney-piece and plasterwork. The building was requisitioned for use as a hospital during the First World War and then bought by the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1930. The Society operated Kilgraston until 2000 when it became an independent charitable trust. Today the school provides nursery and primary education for girls and boys between the ages of 2½ and 9, and secondary education through to sixth form for girls only, with a roll of 335 students (2011). The early 19th C. stable block was converted to stylish classrooms in 1992. Developments include a dormitory block and old chapel (attached to the main house and dating from the 1930s), a courtyard of buildings to the rear of the house by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia (1961), incorporating a new chapel, a sports hall (1991), a new theatre (2005) and an indoor 25-m swimming pool (2008). It is the only school in Scotland which has its own equestrian centre on campus.


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