Heritage centre buys former church building after 30 years
More than 30 years after the decision was made to turn the former Lorne Street Church into a heritage centre, the trust that runs the attraction has bought the building.
The Lorne Street Church was declared redundant in 1990 when it was united with the Lowland Church on Longrow to form the Lorne and Lowland Church – which has now been united with the Highland Parish and renamed Campbeltown Parish Church.
The then congregation looked around for a use for the huge Lorne Street building, built to hold about 1,400 worshippers.
Having settled on establishing a heritage centre, members of the congregation then emptied their lofts into the church building.
Five years later, Campbeltown Heritage Centre opened and soon established a reputation as probably the best social history collection outside the Central Belt.
With perhaps more than 7,000 artefacts, the task of looking after the collection has been taken on by a string of trustees.
And, just last week, the trust completed the purchase of Lorne Street Church, identified by Argyll Presbytery as a property to dispose of. Trustee Alan Milstead signed on the dotted line to complete the purchase of the building.
Old deeds, which will eventually be displayed in the centre, show how the grounds for the new church were bought from the Duke of Argyll in two parcels about 160 years ago.
Plans for the future of the heritage centre are already in place – an architect has been retained to look at adding extra galleries, perhaps a new entrance and some heat retention measures.
In the meantime, the trustees have revised some of the displays; the Loch Fyne skiff has improved interpretation; visitors to the centre can now read the Campbeltown tug boat story and there is a new display featuring shipbuilding in Campbeltown.
“The trust is looking for volunteers to assist or get involved with the plans for the future,” said a spokesperson.
“Opening for Easter weekend and then from the start of May, just call in and have a look around. Opening times are 11am to 4pm.”