Wallace Hall (Thornhill)

The former Wallace Hall school (1911), now Closeburn Primary School, in Closeburn, with the upper roof of the original Wallace Hall (1720's) in the background.

The former Wallace Hall Academy building (1978) in Thornhill.

The original Wallace Hall was founded by John Wallace, a merchant in Glasgow and a native of Closeburn, who, in 1717, endowed £1400 for the purpose of erecting the school, on the basis for it to teach English, Latin, Greek, Writing, and Arithmetic, all for the children of Closeburn.[6][7] Upon his death in 1723, his executers purchased five acres of land, as well as farmland providing income for the rector, a year later the first schoolmaster was appointed.[6] The school established itself overtime as its reputation increased, in 1817, it was described as "indeed, one of the most celebrated academies of Scotland".[6] In 1911, a new building was constructed which would home Wallace Hall until 1978,[7] and now lives on as Closeburn Primary School.[8] The original building is now owned privately and run as a specialist education centre.[7] Furthermore, the John Wallace Trust continues to support young people in the Thornhill area by offering bursaries to help with the cost of higher education.[9]

Until the early nineteen seventies, there were two secondary schools in the local area: the six-year Wallace Hall at Closeburn and the four-year Morton Academy at Thornhill. In 1972 the two schools amalgamated and the new school at Thornhill took on the name of Wallace Hall.[6] Prior to this amalgamation, an extensive building programme was started in 1970 and completed in 1978 in order to accommodate the pupils of both schools. The school continued to flourish on this site until, however, as part of Dumfries and Galloway Council's £100 million project to build nine new schools, this building was replaced with a new Wallace Hall School, which was built opposite the original school, beside the school playing fields.[10] The construction of the building started on 16 January 2008 and the new school opened in January 2010.

The school closed temporarily in March 2020 following a government imposed national lockdown, as well as the announcement by the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that all schools and nurseries would be closing, all to prevent the spread of COVID-19.[11][12] During the later half of 2020 (August until December), the school reopened, however with severe mitigations in place (such as a One Way System in the corridors, staggered lesson times for each year group, Social Distancing, and later on, mask wearing),[13][14] this following a (then ongoing) formal risk assessment conducted by Barry Graham and other senior management staff on behalf of Dumfries and Galloway Council,[15] as well as guidance issued by the Scottish Government on the matter.[16]

In March 2021, following government restrictions easing, the school reopened again, implementing similar mitigation measures (such as mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing) to guard against the spread of COVID-19. In Spring 2022, all mitigations were dropped and the school returned to normal operations.

In May 2022, the school held its first diet of SQA examinations since 2019, having returned to normal operations after the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Jonny Blair, film director
• Dr Aglionby Ross Carson, educator
• Andrew Coltart, European Tour golfer
• Prof John Hunter joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Principal of two colleges at St Andrews University[17]
• Emily Smith, Scottish folk music singer
• Nicky Spence, opera singer
• Andrew Wallace Williamson, KCVO and Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the King in Scotland; also Dean of the Order of the Thistle and the Chapel Royal in Scotland, 1910–25; Moderator of the Church of Scotland 1913–1914

• Wallace Hall website
• News Article containing historical images of Wallace Hall (1911) and Endowment