Tynecastle High School

Tynecastle High School
Address
2 McLeod Street Edinburgh , EH11 2ND Scotland
Coordinates	55°56′20.93″N 3°13′47.91″W
Information
Type	State school
Established	1912; 113 years ago (1912)
Head teacher	Hazel Kinnear
Gender	Co-educational
Enrolment	548 (2017[1])
Campus type	Urban
Colour(s)	Silver and blue
Website	www.tynecastlehighschool.org.uk

Tynecastle High School is a secondary school in the Gorgie area of south west Edinburgh, Scotland.

History

Tynecastle High School was opened in 1912 and was for its first 98 years located at 15 McLeod Street, a B listed building.

Move to new school building

On 1 April 2007, The City of Edinburgh Council gave the go ahead to rebuild Tynecastle High School in a different area of McLeod Street. The council approved the sale of the old school building and a nearby nursery to the neighbouring Heart of Midlothian football team. The deal was for the sum of £5.9 million.[2]

The Liberal Democrats / Scottish National Party coalition that took over The City of Edinburgh Council in May 2007 signalled their plan to fight any move to demolish the old school building.[3][4] Council Leader Jenny Dawe said "I can't see any way that they would get permission to knock it down. It's important for the city that we don't have a repeat of the 1960s when a lot of fine buildings were knocked down and replaced by horrible multi-storey blocks."[5] This school is also a B-listed building and any permission for it to be altered can only be done with the permission of both the council and Historic Scotland.[6]

Previous Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov intended to build a luxury hotel, sports bars and shops alongside a new main stand for Tynecastle Stadium with a 12,000 capacity.[7] In August 2007 it was reported that the old school would "remain untouched" in the redevelopment.[8]

Although at present the development of Tynecastle Stadium is on hold a new purpose built school was built across the road at no 2 McLeod Street. It opened in January 2010.[9]

Notable alumni

See also: Category:People educated at Tynecastle High School

• Keith Brown, politician[10][11]
• Jason Cummings, professional footballer[12]
• Paul Hanlon, professional footballer[13]
• Tom Hunter, recipient of the Victoria Cross[14]
• Steven McNicoll, actor
• Ian Richardson an actor who played Francis Urquhart in the BBC adaption of House of Cards. His time at the school was not a happy one though. "It would be very different now but then I don't think they had a clue what to do with me, they certainly didn't understand me. I cannot remember having any friends there either. I hated it."[15]
• Richard Thomson (politician), Member of Parliament for Gordon[16]

Notable former teachers

• Wilfred Owen, the First World War poet taught at Tynecastle when he was a patient at Craiglockhart Hospital. His spell at the school lasted three weeks in 1917. Owen praised the school in his published letters (1967).[17][18]

Arms

Coat of arms of Tynecastle High School

Notes granted 31 May 1966 Escutcheon Per pale Argent and Azure, a castle of two towers flagged each with postern and window, and portcullis raised, all counterchanged, and in chief a rose also counterchanged, and in base a crescent likewise counterchanged.[19]

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
2. "Tynecastle High move given the go-ahead". Edinburgh: The Scotsman. 4 February 2007.
3. Grahame, Ewing (20 August 2007). "Celtic's Gordon Strachan May Face Lengthy Ban". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 26 May 2010.^[dead link‍]
4. "Romanov's £50m dream". Edinburgh: The Scotsman. 20 August 2007.
5. Ferguson, Brian (18 July 2004). "Stand off over Hearts stadium plans". Edinburgh: The Scotsman.
6. "Hurdles in way of a makeover for Tynecastle". Edinburgh: The Scotsman. 18 July 2004.
7. "Council to voice fears over Tynecastle renovation". The Scotsman. 18 July 2004.
8. "Hearts unveil stadium plans which may take debt to £80m". The Scotsman. 20 August 2007. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2007.
9. "About Our School - Tynecastle High School". Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
10. "Keith Brown from The Gazetteer for Scotland". www.scottish-places.info. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
11. "Brown favourite to take over as SNP deputy leader". The Herald. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
12. Alexander, Douglas (8 October 2023). "'I didn't want to go back to Hearts. They had their chance...'". The Times. News UK. ISSN 0140-0460. OCLC 181820531. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
13. "Paul Hanlon wants to kick off his second century of games with Hibs just as he began career four years ago". The Scotsman. National World. 28 December 2011. ISSN 0307-5850. OCLC 614655655. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
14. "School's Victoria Cross hero honoured at memorial move". The Scotsman. 30 March 2010. ISSN 0307-5850. OCLC 877456368. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
15. "Acting Star Ian Richardson Dies". The Scotsman. 2 September 2007. ISSN 0307-5850. OCLC 877456368. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007.
16. Nixon, Jack (13 January 2020). "Former Ellon Times reporter makes it to Westminster". Inverurie Herald. JPIMedia. ISSN 1362-8429. Retrieved 18 May 2020. It was tough being the only Dons fan at Tynecastle High School which is right next to the Hearts ground, but perhaps the experience will help me cope in the hurly burly of Westminster.
17. "Ironmike & Favedave & and other WWI book collectors". The History Channel. 5 November 2007.^[permanent dead link‍]
18. "The War Poets - Wilfred Owen 2". The War Poets at Craiglockhart. 5 November 2007.
19. "Tynecastle High School". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Tynecaste School's page on Scottish Schools Online