Restoring Women's Wisdom in Scotland

The legacy of the Scottish witch trials has not simply disappeared. It lives on culturally, relationally, and, as emerging research in trauma science and epigenetics suggests, potentially even physiologically.

In recent years, a growing national movement has called for justice, recognition, and memorialisation. Campaigns led by organisations such as Witches of Scotland and Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland have built public awareness. The Church of Scotland's 2022 apology marked an important moment of acknowledgement.

But acknowledgement alone does not create change.

At the same time, we are seeing significant and growing demand for new kinds of spaces:

• Trauma-informed environments that recognise the role of the nervous system in wellbeing and behaviour
• Leadership development for women that integrates emotional intelligence, relational capacity, and embodied self-trust
• Alternatives to purely medical or productivity-driven models of wellbeing

These are not fringe ideas. They are increasingly recognised across healthcare, education, and organisational leadership as essential to addressing the complexity of modern life.

And yet, despite this convergence of need, history, and emerging understanding, there are very few dedicated physical spaces designed to meet it.

At the centre of this project is a specific building. A former church in Leith, currently available for acquisition at approximately £870,000.

Leith sits at the heart of a wider regeneration of Edinburgh, making it an ideal location for a project that bridges heritage and future vision.

The building itself carries both presence and potential. High ceilings, traditional stone architecture, and an open internal structure offer the physical conditions for gathering, reflection, teaching, and community use at scale. It is large enough to hold multiple forms of activity, while still retaining the intimacy required for deep, personal work.

In addition to the main church space, the sale includes a separate hall building. This provides capacity for administration and team working, parallel programming, partnership and collaboration with aligned practitioners, and income generation through venue hire and hosted events. This contributes directly to long-term financial sustainability.

This is not just a building. It is a prototype.

A model for how we might:

• Respond to historical injustice with structural action
• Create spaces that support both individual and collective healing
• Integrate wellbeing, leadership, and community into a single, coherent ecosystem

If successful, this model has the potential to be adapted and replicated across the UK and internationally, wherever similar conditions and histories exist.

Many countries hold their own histories of persecution, silencing, and exclusion, particularly in relation to women and marginalised knowledge systems. This project offers a tangible, replicable model. A way of transforming spaces once associated with authority and control into spaces of restoration, agency, and collective wellbeing.

When women are supported to develop self-trust, emotional resilience, and relational capacity, the effects extend far beyond the individual. They shape:

• How children are raised
• How organisations are led
• How communities function

This project recognises that supporting women is not a niche intervention. It is a strategic one. One that strengthens the fabric of society itself.

The total investment required to acquire, restore, and launch the project is estimated at:

Renovation estimates are based on early-stage conversations with sector specialists, including input from Development Trusts Association Scotland, and reflect comparable restoration projects of a similar scale.