THE Church of Scotland is selling off more than £10 million of property in one of its biggest ever “end-of-year sales” of old manses and kirks.
But its most valuable property on offer, which had attracted a number of bids, has been put on ice because of a local community buyout attempt.
The Kirk currently has nearly 50 properties on the market – all available at a time of rising values. Fourteen are under offer showing the rising demand for church properties, which can represent a bargain for those with an eye for a more secular conversion.
The vast array of churches, chapels, halls, manses and plots will especially appeal to developers sensing a potential profit.
In the past the former places of worship have turned into clubs, pubs, community centres, bookshops, cinemas, cafes as well as flats and homes – often with stunning views.
The Kirk launched a series of measures in 2010 to cut its then £5.7million budget deficit, including axing 100 posts, merging parishes and selling-off spare property.
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: ”We have a number of properties which are surplus to requirements.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel