History of Marr College
Marr College is a secondary school in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. with around 1,100 pupils enrolled at the school. The building itself is owned by the Marr Trust and the running, maintenance and operations of the school is managed by South Ayrshire Council. The school was gifted to the town of Troon by Charles Kerr Marr.
If you are interested in reading more of Marr's history then the publication Purple and Gold: The Story of Marr College and the C.K. Marr Educational Trust by Douglas Cotter (with Alan Stewart) is the definitive history book about Marr College, published in 1997. It details the school's history from the 1930s through until the time of it's publication mid-90s.
There were a limited number of copies published so not easy to find a copy but it does come up for sale online from time-to-time! Here is an interesting article from 1996 about the planned
Here's an interesting calendar from over thirty years ago designed by former pupil © Ronnie Russell.
- Founder: Charles Kerr Marr (1855–1919) left his fortune for education in his hometown, with £331,000 (~£29.6M in 2023) earmarked for the project.
- Opening: Although completed in 1930, disputes with the Scottish Education Department delayed the opening until 1935.
- Architecture: The main building is a notable example of early 20th-century Edwardian Baroque design by architect John Arthur.
- Evolution: Originally a semi-independent school with a Board of Governors, it transitioned to the Strathclyde Region control in 1978 and later to South Ayrshire Council in 1996.
- Expansion: The school roll grew significantly from its original 400-pupil design to over 1,500 in the 1970s. Modern, state-of-the-art, and sustainable extensions were added around 2015 to update the facility.
If you are interested in reading more of Marr's history then the publication Purple and Gold: The Story of Marr College and the C.K. Marr Educational Trust by Douglas Cotter (with Alan Stewart) is the definitive history book about Marr College, published in 1997. It details the school's history from the 1930s through until the time of it's publication mid-90s.
There were a limited number of copies published so not easy to find a copy but it does come up for sale online from time-to-time! Here is an interesting article from 1996 about the planned
Here's an interesting calendar from over thirty years ago designed by former pupil © Ronnie Russell.
If you have any information, stories or photographs you would like to share with us on the school over the years please send to the [email protected] for the attention of Mr N McLean, Depute Head Teacher.
Many thanks.
Many thanks.
