For sale: Church with its own clock tower

FANCY a property with a functioning clock tower? This Monifieth church could be a heaven-sent opportunity.

St Rule’s Church, appropriately situated on Church Street, is coming to market soon for offers over £140,000.

It includes a clock tower, stained glass windows and a wood-carved pulpit and christening fonts.

What it does not come with, however, is its own garden. But it is surrounded by a graveyard maintained by the council.

The church’s current owner says being the graveyard’s next door neighbour is like having your own gardeners at hand.

“The trees are also fantastic, the ones in front blossom beautifully in the spring,” said the owner, who bought the property a year ago.

The category B-listed building was built in 1813 on the site of a previous church.

St Rule’s Church has since been a feature of the Monifieth townscape.

The building is accessed through double timber doors under the clock tower.

It comprises of the main building with a tower, two staircases, a gallery and a full-height roof area.

There is also a twostorey extension which was added to the church in the early 1900s.

The owner had bought the property with the intention of using it as a creative space. However, a change in circumstances has led to the sale.

The church has a total usable space of around 525 sq m over the ground floor and first-floor seating area.

St Rule’s Church falls within Class 10 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997.

This means it can be used as a church, creche, day nursery, day centre, educational establishment, museum or public library without obtaining planning permission for change of use.

Viewings can be arranged with the Thorntons New Homes team on 01382 200099.

A DUNDEE sex offender was caught red-handed when a graphic image of a youngster appeared on his phone while police were installing monitoring equipment on it.

Francis Burns, who sent explicit photographs on social media, claimed he had deleted pictures because he was “embarrassed that the police would see his penis.”

The 49-year-old was jailed for 10 months after he admitted breaching the terms of his sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).

Burns – who was previously jailed for two years for pretending to be a teenage boy on chat sites to obtain naked pictures of children – admitted two charges.

He admitted deleting text messages and explicit images from WhatsApp after being placed on a SOPO lasting five years from October 2020.

Fiscal depute Marie Lyons told Dundee Sheriff Court specialist police were about to place monitoring equipment on Burns’ phone when a message arrived.