Woodhall House, Edinburgh

Church in Edinburgh, United Kingdom

55°54′05″N 3°17′07″W / 55.901391°N 3.285239°W / 55.901391; -3.285239OS grid reference319729, 668348LocationJuniper Green, EdinburghCountryUnited KingdomDenominationRoman CatholicHistoryStatusClosedFounded1959 (1959)Founder(s)Society of JesusArchitectureFunctional statusPrivate HouseHeritage designationCategory BDesignated19 December 1979^[1]Closed1976

Woodhall House is a Scottish mansion house, first recorded in 1707. It was also an institution run by the Society of Jesus in the late 20th century. It is situated off Woodhall Road in the Juniper Green area of Edinburgh, Scotland and is a category B listed building.^[1]

History

Foulis baronets

Juniper Green is first recorded in 1707, when only Baberton House and Woodhall House were the only buildings in the area.^[2] The owner at that time was a William Foulis of the Foulis baronets who inherited Woodhall House from Sir John Foulis.^[3]

Eventually, it passed to Sir James Foulis who owned Woodhall from 1796 to his death in 1842. The house continued to pass down the Liston-Foulis baronets of Colinton until it was sold to Professor Stanley Patrick Davidson.^[4]

In 1921, Professor Davidson became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh from 1953 to 1957. In 1959, he retired and Woodhall House was sold again.^[4]

Society of Jesus

In 1959, Woodhall House was bought for £8000 by the Society of Jesus. It originally served as a retreat house for weekend retreats in Ignatian spirituality for working men's sodalities and parish groups as well as being the novitiate for the proposed Scottish Province of Jesuits. They intended to create a Scottish Province of Jesuits that would extend their pre-existing works in Scotland and would also build a link between Scottish Jesuits and Jesuits working abroad such as in, what was then known as, British Guyana.^[5]^[6]

The Jesuits built Woodhall Court as a novitiate for Scotland in early September 1963.^{[citation needed]} Fr James Christie SJ from Sacred Heart Church, Edinburgh was the first rector at the novitiate and the prefect of studies was the notable theologian and hymnwriter Fr James J. Quinn SJ. The first Mass in the novitiate chapel was celebrated by the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal Gordon Gray.^[7]

By 1964, all the Jesuit novices in Britain were sent to the house for their training.^[7]

In 1970, the Jesuit novitiate left Woodhall House and the novices were transferred to Loyola Hall outside Liverpool. The Society of Jesus went on to sell Woodhall House in 1976 to a private owner.^[5]

Present

Soon after the Jesuits sold the property, Woodhall Court was let out to students of Edinburgh Napier University and Moray House School of Education. In 1982, it was converted into 17 private residential flats.^[5] Woodhall House is privately owned.

References

^ ^a ^b British Listed Buildings retrieved 24 March 2013
^ Edinburgh past and present retrieved 24 March 2013
^ Woodhall House 1707-1859 from JuniperGreencc.org.uk accessed 24 March 2013
^ ^a ^b Woodhall House 1858-1959 from JuniperGreencc.org.uk accessed 24 March 2013
^ ^a ^b ^c Woodhall House 1957 – present from JuniperGreencc.org.uk accessed 24 March 2013
^ 15 January 1960 from Catholic Herald Archive accessed 24 March 2013 Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b 6 September 1963 from Catholic Herald Archive accessed 24 March 2013 Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine