The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Inchture Church transformed by ‘stunning’ £500,000 work
Much-loved Carse kirk has been beautifully refurbished and relaunched as a community facility
Work on a £500,000 church project in the Carse of Gowrie was delayed following the discovery of an arched burial vault.
Now complete, the refurbishment of Inchture Church has transformed the imposing building into a seven-day-aweek community hub.
The Right Rev Dr Russell Barr, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, described the finished building as “quite stunning”.
He was the guest preacher at a special service of thanksgiving held to mark the end of 10 months of interior and exterior renovation work.
Seven years in the planning, the project, which began in May last year, was expected to take around six months to complete but was delayed for three months following the discovery of the vault.
It belonged to the Kinnaird family and the remains have been kept within the Victorian sandstone church.
With the help of grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland and local fundraising, the interior has been converted to accommodate a café, kitchen, disabled-accessible toilets, a vestry, a lift, a meeting room and a gallery with a seating capacity for 60 people.
Dr Barr, who was joined by 130 people from the village for the service, said: “A tired and crumbling Victorian sandstone building has been transformed into something bright, flexible and fit for purpose for the 21st Century.
“It was an excellent evening and good to see the whole community coming together to celebrate such an important event in the life of the church and village.”
The Rev Liz Kay, convener of the church development group, read a prayer of dedication during the service.
Local folk musician and piper Neil Paterson performed the specially composed tune Return To Inchture Kirk and church organist Andrew Morrison wrote a new hymn for the occasion.
Parish minister the Rev Dr Marjory MacLean said she was delighted with the outcome of the works and “looking forward to busy times ahead”.
“The congregation was touched by the kindness of the moderator to come in person to preach at such a special event,” she added.
“Everyone is excited by the beautiful refurbishment of the building, and most of all by the new possibilities for mission and community engagement it offers.
Dr MacLean said a series of different health and wellbeing meetings were planned for the near future and folk music concerts would be held throughout the summer.