A west coast community trust has been celebrating after successfully saving a historic local church from “ruin.”
The Clachan Lochbroom Heritage Trust (CLHT) bought the property from the Church of Scotland for a price of £30,000.
Efforts to save Clachan Church began in earnest after the final service back in November 2016 when 800 years of worship at the site ended.
Locals were determined to preserve both the property’s functions as a church and its rich history dating back hundreds of years.
So they set about establishing a community trust with a view to buying the property and keeping it as a church for local use.
Word that the church may have to shut came at a public meeting as far back as 2014 when the seeds of the current Trust were sown.
Sarah MacKenzie, the treasurer of the CLHT, said: “A lot of people came to that meeting and did not want to see it become a ruin.
“The church said if there was no buyer they might have to take the roof plus it is still used as a burial ground.”
The group that later became the Trustees really swung into action according to Ms MacKenzie after “the last church service was in November 2016 and that is when we buckled down.”
“The older families and people who attended the church did not want to see it stop being a church.
“Everyone who had family members in the burial ground around the church did not want to see it become a residence.”
Now the plan is to use it both as a “great setting for a wedding” and also as a place to stage “appropriate” musical recitals.
She said: “It is a big space that can be used as a gallery, plus there are lots of traditional musicians in the area and the acoustics are wonderful.”
Fundraising only started in October 2017 but had considerable support both locally and internationally, mostly from Canada.
The Church of Scotland also allowed the Trust time to fundraise before putting the property on the market.
Peter Newling, convenor of the Trust, said: “This site has been used for 800 years, I believe, and we aim for another 800 years of even wider use.
Ms MacKenzie said it will be also function as a church which “will be open to all denominations.”
Robert the Bruce was in the area in August 1309 and is believed he may have attended services there.
