Fascinating finds made as Old Clyne School, Brora, reveals its secrets in multi-million pound refurbishment project
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Construction workers stripping out the dilapidated Old Clyne School in Brora have made some interesting finds, according to the chairman of Clyne Heritage Society.
Workers from Thurso-based O’Brien Construction Ltd began a major £3.5 million project on April 1 to transform the former parish school, which dates back to 1863, into a community heritage centre and museum.
They have since tidied up the grounds, stripped out the floorboards and joists, the 1903 partition walls and the lath on plaster walls on both the ground and upper floors.
The building is owned by Clyne Heritage Society (CHS) which will run the new heritage hub.
Chairman Nick Lindsay said two empty half bottles of whisky had been found, both on the ground floor of the original 1863 part of the building.
One of the bottles was under the floorboards and the other was behind the lath on a plaster wall.
Dr Lindsay said: “Intriguingly, the bottle found behind the wall had a rolled-up piece of sandpaper inside and had been resealed with a cork.
“It was not unusual for builders and or joiners to sink the contents of a bottle during the job and place a signed message inside before entombing it behind walls or under floorboards.”
Clyne Heritage Society invited Brora resident Mary Matheson, who was born in the Old Clyne School in 1946, to pull the sandpaper out of the bottle to reveal its 120-year-old secret.
The message written on the reverse of the sandpaper reads: “Alick F Ross carpenter, East Brora, and Robert Sutherland, Badnellan, are after finishing this bottle on November 29th 1904”.
Plasterwork with the name ‘Cap. Ross Brora’ written on it in pencil was also found - and the name is well known to Dr Lindsay.
“Captain Andrew Ross purchased the Old Clyne School from Clyne Parish Council in 1903, when the new school was built at Academy Place,” he said.
“This is the same notorious Captain Andrew Ross who built Brora’s Grand Hotel in 1906, only to set fire to it for the insurance money in 1910!”
Another discovery was a wooden plank used in the construction of a staircase dating back to the 1903 conversion of the building. The plank is signed by George F Murray, a carpenter who lived at Ivy Cottage on Victoria Road. He was married to Janet Gunn of Academy Street.
Dr Lindsay was fascinated to discover that the side of the staircase was made from recycled timber food cases.
And workers were also delighted to uncover a 1863 external round window, which had been blocked up when the 1875 west wing was added
Other less significant finds include a 1948 penny and an old golf ball.
