Scotus College was a seminary in

Bearsden Bearsden ( ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the Glasgow city centre, city centre. The Roman Empire, Roman Antonine Wall runs through the town, and the remains of ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. It was founded in 1985 under the name of Chesters College and in 1993 was reconstituted as Scotus College. It was then the only remaining

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Its closure was announced in April 2009.

History

St Peter's College, Newlands

In February 1980, the

Archdiocese of Glasgow The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) dioceses of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland, including Clydesdale, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale, Liddesdale, Annan ...

transferred its seminary from

St Peter's Seminary, Cardross St Peter's Seminary is a former Roman Catholic seminary near Cardross, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Designed by the firm of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, it has been described by the international architecture conservation organisation Docomomo Inter ...

, because of maintenance difficulties, to the site of a former convent of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in

Newlands, Glasgow Newlands is a suburb in the south side of Glasgow, Scotland. The area is mainly residential in character. Shawlands and Langside lie to the north of the district (the White Cart Water forming the boundary), Pollokshaws and Auldhouse to the west ...

. It was also the site of the St Mungo centre, an ecumenical organisation. St Peter's College, Newlands remained there for four years, until November 1984 when it was closed and the students transferred to Bearsden. The old convent was renamed Merrylee House and later demolished to make space for a housing development. In 1997, further construction work was carried out on the site when additions and alterations were made to the chapel.

Chesters College

The building dates from 1955. The college site was purchased by the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow The Archdiocese of Glasgow () is the Latin Catholic metropolitan see of the Province of Glasgow in central Scotland. The episcopal seat of the developing diocese was established by Saint Kentigern in the 6th century AD. It is one of two cat ...

in 1984 and opened in 1985 under the name of Chesters College. With the closure of

Blairs College St Mary's College, Blairs (commonly known as Blairs College), situated near Aberdeen in Scotland, was from 1829 to 1986 a junior seminary for boys and young men studying for the Priesthood (Catholic Church), Roman Catholic priesthood. Part o ...

in 1986, it was to train men for the priesthood from all of the Scottish dioceses, except the

Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh The Archdiocese of Saint Andrews & Edinburgh () is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. It is the metropolitan see of the province of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, consisting of the additional suffragan sees of A ...

National Seminary

On 4 October 1993 it reopened as a seminary, or training college for the priesthood for all the dioceses,Scottish Seminaries
retrieved 28 February 2015 under the patronage of the Blessed

John Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot"; – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...

, a philosopher-theologian of the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

. In that role it replaced

Gillis College Gillis Centre, formerly Gillis College and founded as St Margaret's Convent and School, is a complex of buildings situated close to the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. The history of the site can be traced back to the 15th century. The orig ...

, the seminary of the

, which closed as Scotus College was opening, making the college at Bearsden the National Seminary for Scotland. Thanks to its dedication, the college took the new name of "Scotus College". Scotus College was affiliated to Maynooth Pontifical University who accredited Diplomas and Degrees for Scotus College.

Closure

In November 2002, a provisional decision was made to close the seminary by the

Bishops' Conference of Scotland The Bishops' Conference of Scotland (BCOS), under the trust of the Catholic National Endowment Trust, and based in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, is an episcopal conference for archbishops and bishops of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The confer ...

, but this was reversed shortly afterwards. In April 2009, it was announced that the college, the last

, would close because of a lack of students studying for the priesthood. The remaining nine students were transferred to The Pontifical Scots College in Rome.

Present

The college site was put up for sale in 2009. In 2012, applications to demolish the buildings and build 28 homes on the site failed because it is in a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

. In August 2013, Westpoint Homes, a Glasgow building company, finished converting the site into housing. The chapel was demolished and replaced with apartments.Hot sport: Bearsden
from ''

Herald Scotland ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 29 January 2013, retrieved 14 October 2015

References

{{Authority control Catholic seminaries in Scotland Education in Glasgow Christianity in Glasgow