Rogart community considers staking an interest in historic St Callan's Church before it gets 'flogged off'
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A SMALL Sutherland community looks set to launch a bid to retain its historic church which is earmarked to be put up for sale in a radical shake-up planned by the Church of Scotland.
The congregation at St Callan’s in Rogart is keen to keep the category B listed building, some parts of which are thought to date back to the 16th century, and is now asking for support from the district’s community council.
The Church of Scotland has undertaken a national root and branch review of its property portfolio as it battles financial and other constraints caused by dwindling congregations.
St Callan’s is one of 12 churches across Sutherland set to be “disposed of” in the next few years with only six parish churches to remain - Assynt, Edrachillis, Dornoch Cathedral, Clyne (Brora); Lairg; and Kinlochbervie.
Among other historic church buildings deemed surplus to requirements are St Andrew’s in Golspie and Croick Church, famous for the messages etched in its window by families cleared from the surrounding land in 1845 - discussions regarding Croick are under way with Historic Scotland.
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The number of full-time ministers' posts in the county is to drop from seven to 4 and the number of presbytery parishes from nine to five.
Rogart Community Council chairman Frank Roach, who is also treasurer of St Callan’s, brought up the issue of the sale at the council’s recent meeting.
He said: “The congregation feel that they would like the building to remain for funerals and the like, although not necessarily as a church. It could be used for all sorts of things. There have been preliminary discussions about another potential use for part of the building - for the storage of information.
“I have said to the congregation I would take it to this meeting.”
Mr Roach felt that a letter should be sent to the general trustees of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh expressing an interest in having “first refusal before they try and flog it off”.
He pointed out that St Callan's was surrounded by a graveyard and queried how easy it would be to sell.
And he revealed that the congregation held £300,000 cash assets raised by the sale of Pitfure Church, which it previously owned, and three manses, and including a legacy of £60,000 from Alison Ramsay.
“What I think the congregation would hope is that all of these monies do not disappear into the general church coffers,” he said. “If these funds were held locally, we could keep St Callan's for another 500 years.
“If the building has no religious purpose, it could access wind farm money so there is the possibility of funds from that quarter.”
As the meeting was not quorate, those present agreed to consult absent community councillors to gauge their feelings on the matter before proceeding.
“Once we hear word back, we will hold a meeting and try to get more people involved,” said Mr Roach. “It needs a steering group and we need to draw in more people with experience and ideas.
“We do not want to become a community that has yet another building to try and deal with with diminishing resources."
A Church of Scotland spokesperson said earlier this year: “Sutherland Presbytery voted to approve a draft five-year Mission Plan in December 2022, but at that point, the categorisation of the buildings was still outstanding.
“Following a detailed inspection by the General Trustees, the property holding arm of the Church of Scotland, in May this year, Sutherland Presbytery met on June 21 and voted to approve a revised plan which details future proposals for church buildings within the presbytery area.
“It is important to note that approved Mission Plans will be reviewed robustly each year and alterations could be made depending on circumstances.
“We appreciate that some of the decisions taken are difficult but change is necessary in order to deliver sustainable and realistic new expressions of ministry and church.
"The Mission Plan seeks to provide a way forward to ensure the best use of limited resources, providing well equipped space in the right places and encourage new ways of working to enable us to better continue our work of supporting our communities and delivering the Christian message.”
