This post card shows the view along Drymen Road from today’s bus stop by Schaw House:
This was the original row of houses called Courthill, but this post is about the building just visible in the distance beyond Number 1 (an oddity of Courthill is that it numbered from the Court Hill end back towards the Cross).
It’s also present in the first aerial photos of Bearsden in 1928:
This is St Peter’s College, on the site now occupied by Bearsden Academy, which stood from 1892 to 1946:
I cannot improve on the brief history offered by the University of Aberdeen Library, which holds the archives (link, although I have tidied up the spelling):
“The origins of St. Peters College date from 1874, when the seminary officially opened at the original site on Patrickhill in Glasgow, although there had been attempts to create a seminary once the new western district of Scotland was established in 1829. The idea to institute a western college to instruct the youth of the western district was proposed by Bishop Murdoch in 1850 but the influx of Irish Catholics into the region of Glasgow forced the plan to be abandoned, to construct four new churches to serve the faithful. It was Bishop Murdoch’s successor, Archbishop Eyre, that made the vision of a western seminary a reality, by purchasing a tract of land at Patrickhill, where two large adjoined houses stood. It was here that St. Peters College attained its beginning.
…
The College moved from Patrickhill to New Kilpatrick Bearsden on the 29th of March, 1892, because the building there was larger and more capable of suiting the needs of the growing college. The plan to move the college was, again, the idea of Archbishop Eyre, whose recently acquired inheritance proved vital in the purchasing of the land and the erecting of the seminary building. The building was designed by P.P. Pugin specifically for the western district college, at the behest of the Archbishop, to meet the needs of the seventeen students and four teachers that were members of the St. Peters family at the time. Originally only the main building stood, with the others being added over time, largely through the funds bequeathed to the college after the passing of Archbishop Eyre. Bearsden proved to be the ideal home for the college; however, due to damages sustained during a fire in 1946, the institution was forced to relocate once more, to a smaller less suitable location at Darleith.”
The original site is now Well Park House, formerly St Kentigern’s, on Partickhill Road:
To orientate you, Cottiers Restaurant at the top of Hyndland Street is just out of shot to the right.
The Glasgow Evening Citizen of 12th October 1889 reported that work had recently begun on the site:
The cornerstone was laid on 22nd April 1890 and reported later that day in the Glasgow Evening Times:
When built it sat amid fields (1896 map):
The opening was not marked by a formal ceremony but was commented on in the Scottish newspapers (Dundee Evening Telegraph 12th March 1892):
While it is a striking building, I had not realised it was important (The Tablet 30th April 1904):
Here is an early view before the chapel was built to the east (the right in this view):
The above is from Sheena Peter’s book “Bearsden in Old Picture Postcards”. The opening of the chapel was marked by a ceremony, reported on in some detail in the Glasgow Observer and Catholic Herald of the 12th May 1906:
I have just clipped the first few paragraphs to give an idea of the ceremony.
Here is a view after the chapel was added:
The semi-rural setting could also bring its own problems (Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 24th February 1911):
The 1921 Census gives a snapshot of life there, with two ‘teachers’, 29 students and seven servants:
In 1946 the building was found to have dry rot and was being repaired with the students transferred elsewhere. On 23rd May a fire broke out, possibly as a result of the work (Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 25th May 1946):
The main building was totally destroyed (photo credit: Britain from Above website):
This is an attempt to match the view using Google Earth:
It was a sad end for a building that was only 54 years old. As the newspaper account and photos show, not everything was destroyed, however. The 1906 building (originally the chapel) was saved. There was also a lodge building:
Here’s a modern view of the main gateway:
Two matters still puzzle me and I wonder if anyone can help:
First, the chapel and lodge were evidently still there when these aerial photos were taken in 1952, what happened next and when were they demolished?
Second, in the 1946 newspaper report there is a mention of nuns for the Sisters of St Jospeh living there. I cannot find any other mention of this order in Bearsden, does anyone know more about them?
