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Kirk sells off its empty properties

Kirk sells off its empty properties

The Church of Scotland is in the process of trying to selling off more than 50 properties in an attempt to raise at least £8.2million.

It has placed church buildings, halls and houses – many of them in the north and north-east – on the open market because they are surplus to requirements.

A Kirk spokesman said properties were sold for a variety of reasons and the proceeds would be used to benefit congregations.

He insisted the sales were nothing to do with a shortage of ministers.

Official statistics show that the number of congregations within its 46 presbyteries has fallen from 1,464 in 2008 to 1,389 last year.

A report going to the General Assembly next month shows there were 829 ministers serving charges as of December 31 last year, down from 966 in 2008. It states there are currently 223 vacant charges across Scotland, up from 194 five years ago.

By contrast, only 15 new ministers graduated from institutions including Christ’s College in Aberdeen and Highland Theological College in Dingwall last year.

Aberdeenshire properties on the market include the 19th-century B-listed Banchory Devenick Church, which is on sale for offers of £100,000, and Kincardine O’Neil Church and halls which it hopes to fetch about £210,000.

A three-bedroom detached house on Western Road, Insch is on the market for about £275,000 and a five-bedroom manse in Seafield Place in Cullen, is up for sale for £320,000.

The Kirk hopes to sell Plockton Church for about £90,000 and Corgarff Church, which is in the Cairngorms National Park, for about £85,000. Cumlodden Manse in Furnace, Argyll, is on the market for offers over £195,000.

The Kirk spokesman said: “Church buildings go on sale for a number of reasons. We have had an excess of church buildings since the 1920s and our selling of property is nothing to do with the shortage of ministers.

“The proceeds of sales are retained for the benefit of the local congregation – it does not go into central funds. Along with properties being sold, we also have had new churches open in various parts of the country.”