IRVINE'S GHOSTLY NUNNERY

Sometime back in the late 70s, when I was just a kid, I remember discovering a large walled estate on the Eglinton Road between the old Irvine Royal Academy building and the new Ravenspark Academy. This wasn't that far from where my family was living at the time. The wall around the estate was about 6 feet high.

Like any inquisitive kid, I wanted to see what was on the other side, so, one night (sometimes night comes as early as 3:30 pm in Irvine), I climbed over the wall and crept up to a large house. Through the windows of what appeared to be a kitchen basement, I saw some figures dressed in black and white. Yes, nuns! Actual nuns were living right here in the heart of Irvine! At the time I secretly observed them, they seemed to be having their evening meal so it must have been around 5 or 6 pm.

Maybe there was something scary or creepy about the nuns, or maybe I felt God wouldn't take kindly to my trespassing, so I only crept in there once or twice. Anyway, a few years later, the site was redeveloped -- Irvine's massive police barracks is now there along with some modern housing -- so I started to think, maybe I had somehow imagined the whole thing.

But then several years later, this wonderful thing we all know called "the internet" came along, so I started to think, "Now, at last, I can dig up something on what I think I maybe saw." And, yes, finally I was able to confirm that what my childish eyes had seen all those years ago, was in fact true: Irvine did in fact once have a working nunnery!

There is not much of a trace of it, even on the internet, but there is some -- just enough to warrant writing about it.

Here is an account from a rather sparse site called Places of Worship:

The Roman Catholic Sisters of the Cross and Passion purchased Williamfield House in about1921 and converted it to a convent. The house was originally built in 1821 and remodelled in French Gothic style in 1872/76. The Sisters acted as teachers in the Roman Catholic schools. In 1923 an additional building was erected to be used as St Michael’s Secondary School. In 1981 the sisters left Williamfield and moved to 23 Stevenston Road, Kilwinning. The building was demolished in 1982.

Description: Construction materials: Stone (sandstone) - Used for walls; Slate - Used for roof.

This Roman Catholic convent had sandstone walls and a slate roof, but has since been demolished. No other information is available.

There is some more information about the Passionist Sisters at the website of St Mary's Church Irvine:

The secondary school, St. Michael's, opened in the convent on 7 November, 1921. Its first Principal was Sister Mechtilde Joseph. She remained Head until 1950 and continued to live in Irvine until her death in 1960. Her assistants were Sister Peter Mary, here until 1952, and Sister Frances, who taught in school until 1957 and continued to work in the parish from then until her death in 1971. At the same time several other Sisters joined the community to work in the parish. Father Keane's dreams of a school on Kilwinning Road had been realised in a way that far surpassed his expectations. In August, 1923, the new St. Michael's building was ready on the Williamfield estate and five years later, 1928, a new primary school was also built there. Sister Malachy continued to be its Head but when she retired in 1933 St. Mary's primary school became the junior department of St. Michael's. Sister Alphonsus however had special responsibility for the primary department until her death in 1940. In the meantime Sister Eugenius had come to Irvine in 1933 and from 1940 she had special care for the primary department until 1951, when she moved into the secondary. She remained there until her death in 1971. The Cross and Passion community, for fifty years comprising 15 to 20 sisters, made a substantial contribution to upgrading Catholic education and entrance to the professions.

The Irvine Burns Club website has a some good information on this:

St Michael’s owes its beginnings to two events in 1918 – the Scottish Education Act allowing Catholic schools to be maintained by the state, and the arrival in St Mary’s Parish, Irvine, of Canon Joseph Hogan, who realised the vision of a building for the primary school (which met in the church) and of a Catholic secondary school in Ayrshire. In 1920, Canon Hogan persuaded the Sisters of the Cross and Passion to buy the Williamfield estate and to staff new schools. On 7 November 1921 seven pupils formed the first intake, being taught in the former billiard room and dining room until their new secondary was opened in August 1923. The primary shared the accommodation until the new primary opened in August 1928.

The Williamfield House building only served as a school for seven years (1921-28), which is just as well, as the new school building built on the estate burnt down in 1939, just after WWII started:

Sarah Clegg (nee McQuade) recalls arriving in 1934 – "the place was modern, one storeyed, tidy, clean, surrounded by two schools, a field and a moor" [...]  Sarah recalls, "We were co-ed till 3rd year, then the boys went to Glasgow to St Aloysius’ or St Mungo’s, so we were used to a lovely quiet senior school”; but in 1939, after war broke out, the senior boys stayed in Irvine, and “our poor school was crowded with big noisy boys.”

On 25 October 1939, at about 8.15 am, fire broke out and spread quickly, destroying the whole building. Sarah says, “We were told it was an electrical fault, but we did wonder if maybe Sr Joseph had forgotten to put her cigarette out!” Huts were erected in the cleared space."

From what I gather, the pre-fab huts remained on the site until 1965 when the College moved into a new £453,000 building in Kilwinning.

The picture at the top shows the lodge house of the estate, with some of the wall, really all that remains of the original set up. The only picture of the main house available on the internet appears to be the low-resolution image below: