From just £15k to £700k, it’s the great Kirk property sale
THE CHURCH of Scotland is aiming to raise millions of pounds by selling dozens of properties around the country as part of an ongoing downsizing plan.
A total of 36 properties are up for sale or under offer, ranging from traditional stone churches and manses valued at nearly £700,000 to a tiny, corrugated metal former church hall that could go for £15,000.
The top-priced property is the ‘majestic C-Listed manse set within its own wellestablished grounds’ at Aberdalgie, south of Perth. It is under offer with an asking price of over £695,000.
At the other end of the scale is the old church hall in the village of Lochailort in the West Highlands which is described as ‘set within sweeping hills and greenery’. It is on sale at offers over £14,995.
In between are a church and manse in Eastfield, Lanarkshire, valued at around £300,000, and a three-bedroom flat in Edinburgh’s leafy Ravelston area, advertised for £375,000 on the Church of Scotland’s website.
Their disposal could raise well over £6 million, with many expected to exceed their asking price given the booming property market. Some 25 properties already ‘under offer’ have a combined guide price of over £4 million.
Even a small parcel of land that once held the Dun church hall and car park near Montrose, in Angus, could generate more than £90,000 at a time when the Kirk is confronted with dwindling income and falling congregations.
Recent figures show the Kirk suffered a 34 per cent drop in membership between 2011 and 2021, with only around 280,000 churchgoers left.
The latest sales are part of a restructuring process to ensure the Church is ‘lean and fit for mission in the 21st Century’.
At one time, the Church of Scotland had a portfolio of more than 5,000 properties. As of March, the General Trust – the property holding arm of the Kirk – was responsible for 1,276 churches, 770 manses, 1,096 church halls and 12,500 acres of land.
Now presbyteries are drawing up lists of buildings that could be surplus to requirements. They will be replaced by ‘networks, hubs and other structures’ to be developed as alternative places of worship.
In Fife alone, the presbytery plans to dispose of more than a third of buildings, including one of Scotland’s oldest kirks, St Fillan’s in Aberdour, which was founded in 1123 and is due to celebrate its 900th anniversary next year.
It could be joined by Culross Abbey, which dates back to 1217 and sits in the ‘Outlander village’ at the beginning of the Fife Pilgrim Way. The future is also in doubt for ten churches in Aberdeen and more than a dozen in Perth.
A Kirk spokesman said: ‘The Church has not put any estimate on the likely scale of the revenue it hopes to realise through the sale of buildings over the next five years.
‘In some cases, any funds from property sales will be required for maintenance and repair of existing properties, to ensure all Church property is fit for purpose.’