GLASSWATER Primary School, formerly known as Crossgar Primary School, turns 200 this year.
Its P5 and P6 pupils have been learning about the school’s incredible 200-year history in recent months through a history project delivered by Callum Bowsie, president of Crossgar Historical Society.
The history project began with a guided tour of the village, with Mr Bowsie pointing out various sites of educational significance in Crossgar.
This included an old stone outhouse at the back of John Street where ‘Crossgar School’ was established in 1826 by Rev Neilson of Rademon Church.
The pupils were also taken to Crossgar Market House, across the street, where the school then moved to, operating from its upper floor in 1856.
In 1900, Kilmore School, previously located at the old Kilmore Church (and which is now located at Cultra Museum), amalgamated with the Crossgar School in the Market House.
Crossgar Public Elementary School then gained a new building behind the Market House in 1931, where it remains to this day.
In 2007, Drumaghlis Primary School closed and merged with Crossgar Primary School, leading to the establishment of Glasswater Primary School.
A few weeks after leading the guided tour, Mr Bowsie returned to the school to give an educational presentation; not only an oral history of the school but pupils also learnt basic research skills into local history, giving the pupils the opportunity to study old maps, newspapers, photographs and video archives.
In a separate visit, Oriel Nesbitt (nee Patterson), a past pupil in the 1950s, shared her memories and old photographs of the school with the class.
A third visit to the school by Mr Bowsie included special guests from the United States, cousins Eric Nelson and Toni Powell.
The American duo are the five times great-grandchildren of the Rev Moses Neilson, of Rademon Church, whose family founded Crossgar School in the Square in 1826.
The visit to the school was part of their week-long trip to various locations in Northern Ireland connected to their ancestry.
