A historic Shetland church that has been a place of worship since the 18th Century has been put up for sale.
Tingwall Parish Church is one of 20 or more properties on the Shetland Isles that will be sold as part of an overhaul of Church of Scotland’s property portfolio.
The B-listed 1790s church building is being sold for offers over £55,000.
The church is around three-miles north from the village of Scalloway and only four-miles west of Lerwick.
However, councillor and broadcaster Tom Morton has called for the church to be kept within the use of the community rather than sold off on the open market.
Mr Morton, who represents the Labour Party in the Shetland North ward, says church properties should be handed over to communities.
Mr Morton, who was until seven years ago the presenter of The Tom Morton Show on BBC Radio Scotland, said: “There are a whole lot of churches that are up for sale, or will soon be for sale, including the church at Lunna which is the oldest.
“What the Church of Scotland will always say is that under charity regulations it needs to get the best value for any asset it is selling.
“The issue is that local communities who want to keep the building will then need to work very hard to raise the money to buy the building.”
‘Churches should be given to communities’
Mr Morton explained that a sale of a church in Voe for a building shared between the kirk and the Roman Catholic church, the Roman Catholic church had to pay market value for the building.
He said: “There are other churches up for sale on the Isle of Fetlar and the one at Bigton.
“The Church of Scotland should give the churches to the communities, if it was easy to do, that would be the right thing to do.
“They should be handed over lock, stock and barrel without charge.”
He added: “In the case of the Tingwall Church, it is situated close to the place where the Viking parliaments were held and a place of worship has been here for generations.
“This is an important historic place, not least because there is a big working graveyard that surrounds the church. While there is land that is to be sold to the back of the church it is pedestrian access only.
“The graveyard will still surround the church and is still in use.”
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: “The former Presbytery of Shetland has had a surplus of church buildings for many years. Additionally, despite the welcome support of the local community, the majority of parishes in Shetland have been heavily subsidised by the central church.
“In the face of these unsustainable challenges, the Presbytery of Shetland made the difficult decision to close 20 of its 31 buildings, including Tingwall, in October 2018.
“Tingwall belongs to the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland who must act for the benefit of the congregation so any money raised from the sale will return to the congregation.
“As the owners of the church, they are unable to give away assets under their control as this would be a breach of their obligations as trustees of a charity.
“However, the Church of Scotland is always glad to work with any community group which might be interested in purchasing one of our buildings. Four of our former Shetland churches are now in community ownership.
“Since October 2018, the church has invited community groups interested in buying a church building to make their interest known. We have not heard from any community group interested in purchasing the Tingwall building.”
The Presbytery of Shetland united with the Presbytery of Aberdeen to form the new Presbytery of Aberdeen and Shetland in June 2020.
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