St Andrew's College, Drygrange, located near

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnet ...

, Scotland, was a Roman Catholic seminary founded in 1953 and closed in 1986.

History

Foundation

Founded by Gordon Gray shortly after he became Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the college was operated by the archdiocese in a large

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

called Drygrange House. The house, standing north of the

Leaderfoot Viaduct The Leaderfoot Viaduct, also known as the Drygrange Viaduct, is a railway viaduct over the River Tweed near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. History The viaduct was opened on 16 November 1863 to carry the Berwickshire Railway, which connected ...

, included sizeable grounds bordered by the

River Leader The River Leader, or Leader Water, is a small tributary of the River Tweed in Lauderdale in the Scottish Borders. It flows southwards from the Lammermuir Hills through the towns of Lauder and Earlston, joining the River Tweed at Leaderfoot. Cou ...

, a tributary of the River Tweed.

Closure

The archdiocese took the decision to close the college with effect from the autumn of 1986.Staff (7 August 1987).
"Seminary Moves On"
'' Catholic Herald''. Retrieved 6 March 2013. The closure was blamed by then-Archbishop Keith O'Brien, himself a former student of the seminary, on the halving of the number of new Scottish entrants to the priesthood. The remaining students were transferred to

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 or ...

, Edinburgh, the new seminary for the archdiocese,Staff (undated).
"The Gillis Centre's Past"
.

Gillis Centre 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 ...

. Retrieved 6 March 2013. and some 2,300 items from the college's library were deposited in the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. On another analysis, the new Gillis College was the seminary of St Andrew's, transferred to a new site and renamed.Wright, David F.; Badcock, Gary David (1996). ''Disruption to Diversity: Edinburgh Divinity 1846–1996''. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. p. 253. . In 1987, the archdiocese sold the college's former buildings at Drygrange for £250,000 and they became a nursing home called St Andrews Nursing Home, after going into administration it was sold and in March 2001 the new owners changed it to Grange Hall Care Home which has become (Jan 2017) one of the most successful and highest graded care homes in the Scottish Borders. In 1993, Gillis College also closed, and Chesters College,

Bearsden Bearsden () is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow. Approximately from Glasgow city centre, Glasgow City Centre, the town is effectively a suburb, and its housing development coincided with t ...

, later renamed Scotus College, became the national seminary for Scotland.

Notable alumni

* Paul Kamuza Bakyenga, Archbishop of Mbarara * Dennis Canavan, Scottish politician * Bishop Vincent Logan * Cardinal Keith O'Brien * Bishop Stephen RobsonBishop Stephen Robson
at dunkelddiocese.co.uk, retrieved 14 May 2020

Gallery

File:South entrance to Grange Hall - geograph.org.uk - 701267.jpg, The entrance to the former Drygrange House, in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

(2008).

References