Scotland's Churches Trust (www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk) has blogged an article describing its work to record the moveable contents of churches that are now closing due to the Church of Scotland selling off much of its property portfolio, some 400 churches. The following is an excerpt:
Rather than concentrate upon the architectural features and built fabric of these buildings, which we must hope will survive their sale relatively intact, our project aims to record the moveable contents of each church – the hundreds of fragile artefacts gathered within each building by their local communities, often over many generations, which will inevitably be removed and scattered after the church is closed.
Initially launching in early 2020, our volunteers attempted to get the pilot project off the ground just as COVID appeared. Over the months that followed, as regulations allowed, our volunteers began to visit some churches and keep the initiative alive. They recorded and produced short reports on Dysart St Clair, Sullom and Uyeasound in Shetland and Viewforth Parish Church in Kirkcaldy.
Due to staff changes at our Trust and the inevitable vagaries of public engagement with such initiatives during a pandemic, it wasn’t until late summer of 2022 that we were once again able to re-boot the project, effectively starting it all over again.
After embarking upon a volunteer recruitment drive and seeking out churches that were likely to close, in August and September our volunteers visited and recorded the contents of Greenside Parish Church in Edinburgh and Innerwick and Oldhamstocks Parish Churches in East Lothian. In February 2023, they visited Portnahaven and Kilmeny in Islay and Morham in East Lothian.
The full article is available at https://www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/blog/recording-scotlands-closing-churches/ which includes the following Zoom presentation detailing their work:
For further details visit the project's website.
Chris
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