Morrice School, 32 North Deeside Road, Kincardine O'Neil

Dated 1856, the Morrice School is a single-storey and attic, three-bay, rectangular former female school building situated in the heart of Kincardine O'Neil. It is an unusually finely-detailed building for the village, constructed of bull-faced granite with roughly squared rubble to the sides and rear, featuring a deep base course and long and short quoins. The principal elevation faces west, towards the former playground, with a symmetrical centre door gablet incorporating a roll-moulded commemorative stone and a segmental arched doorpiece with some lattice glazing. A boarded timber door is set within the doorpiece, topped by a two-part fanlight that gives way to an incised memorial plaque dated ‘1856 AD’. Two small modern rooflights are located above. Lattice casement glazing is present to the right, and top lights to the left of the west elevation, with a narrow arrowslit-type window to the east. Timber sash and case windows with 4- and 9-pane glazing patterns are found elsewhere, some of which have been replaced. The roof is covered in grey slates, and the chimneys are constructed with coped ashlar stacks, some of which retain cans. Stepped ashlar-coped skewes and moulded skewputts are also present. A low, coped rubble boundary wall runs along the west side. Originally built as a rural school before the 1872 Education Act, the Morrice School retains much of its character and the quality of its masonry, and the commemorative panel distinguish it from other rural schools, many of which consisted of a single room in a house. The school was endowed for female students, and the commemorative plaque inscription notes that it was built "... as a tribute to the memory of the Rev William Morrice ...". The survival of the nearby schoolhouse and reading room, which catered for boys, further enhances the historical interest of the site.