Catholic church transfers estate

THE Catholic church has transferred ownership of a former seminary estate after four decades of trying.

A new charity, the Kilmahew Education Trust, will be the new legal owners of the former St Peter’s Seminary and its surrounding estate at Cardross in Argyll and Bute.

Its changing of hands was announced on Friday by the Archdiocese of Glasgow.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, the Archbishop of Glasgow, said: “This is a good day for the Archdiocese, for the local area, and, I hope, for the wider Scottish community.

“Times were very different when St Peter’s Seminary was opened in the late 1960s to wide architectural acclaim.

“Changing requirements in priestly education, a drop in the number of seminarians and difficulties in maintaining the fabric of the building mean that the seminary had a relatively short lifespan.

Stuart Cotton, of the new charitable trust, added: “The trust is delighted to take up the many challenges that exist on the Kilmahew Estate and is grateful to the Archdiocese of

Glasgow for its outstanding support over the last year in facilitating the transfer of ownership .”