The SRCT’s initial approach was curatorial – acquiring the most significant examples of redundant places of worship to be conserved intact as museum pieces and ‘saved for the nation’. Ambitiously, the Trust aimed to take on and restore one building
Fig. 4: The interior of St Peter’s Kirk. (Leslie Burgher)
a year by securing funding from Historic Scotland and the newly- established Heritage Lottery Fund.With only churches of national significance being taken into the Trust’s care, it was anticipated that the importance of the buildings would automatically qualify them for grant support and that, once conserved and returned to a plateau of good repair, churches could be maintained on the strength of income from donations and occasional use.
It was on this premise that the SRCT undertook its first projects at St Peter’s Kirk in Orkney and the East Church in Cromarty. The initial testing-ground was the A-listed ‘at risk’ St Peter’s in 2002–3: a £250,000 project which saw the derelict kirk of 1836 painstakingly repaired and conserved (Figs 2–4). The building was remarkably intact and the decision was taken not to impose change through the introduction of electric light, running water or heating. In the repair of the building emphasis was placed on traditional skills and materials and the success of this was acknowledged by Orkney Islands Council who described the project as ‘an exemplar of conservation work in Orkney [that] has stimulated interest in a wide variety of traditional building skills and in historic buildings generally’. The kirk was provided with minimal interpretation and opened to visitors. Occasional services are held there and the building is used from time-to-time as a venue for the St Magnus International Festival.
Encouraged by its achievements at St Peter’s, and with awards from Europa Nostra, the RIBA and the Civic Trust, the Trust turned its attentions to Cromarty’s A-listed East Church (www.eastchurchcromarty.co.uk).Already though, the ‘one a year’ ambition of the Trust was recognised as unattainable, not least because funding constraints restricted the organisation to employing a single member of staff (a situation which remains today). The East Church (Figs 5–8) also proved to be a hugely complex project, taking five years to develop and fund, and requiring a raft of specialist reports and a comprehensive conservation plan.
Knowledge of the East Church was central to the project, both in terms of addressing long-standing fabric problems and in understanding its cultural significance. Since medieval times the building had charted the fortunes of the community and its townsfolk and, in its fabric, expressed periods of prosperity, change, and hardship. Dating principally from the eighteenth century, the church is notable for its fine interior with box pews, hatchments, and elegant Georgian ‘laird’s loft’. It also has close associations with the writer and stonemason, Hugh Miller, one of the leaders of the movement that created the Free Church in 1843.
Fig. 5: (above) East Church Cromarty, the town’s historic place of worship since medieval times. Declared redundant after decades of intermittent use and limited maintenance. Acquired by the SRCT in 1998, photographed 2008.
Fig. 6: (left) East Church, Cromarty, repaired and conserved 2008–11, the SRCT’s second project and a very complex one. Alterations in the late eighteenth century ‘Georgianised’ the building, masking its medieval origins. Photographed 2011.
As with St Peter’s, the Trust’s approach was ‘conserve as found’, with only minor adaptations to meet statutory requirements. But whilst the conservation approach remained the same, there was a shift in the Trust’s view of the project. It was recognised that there was value in the actual process of undertaking the repair of the church, and that the building had the potential to be an educational tool both during and after work on site. In part this was driven by funders’ priorities, particularly those of the Heritage Lottery Fund, but experience drawn from the St Peter’s project was also relevant in shaping attitudes.
With a rich social history, a complex architectural development, technically challenging fabric problems, and major archaeological investigations, the East Church offered learning opportunities for a wide range of people. Between 2008 and 2011 the Trust delivered an ambitious education and audience development programme. Importantly, local people were given the opportunity to be a part of the project: visiting the site, meeting contractors, and sharing discoveries. Developing a sense of ownership of the building amongst local people – most of whom had never worshipped in the church – helped the East Church to be seen as part of the town’s heritage, not simply as a religious building.Three years after reopening to visitors, the East Church is cared for by a committed group of local Friends, many of whom volunteer as a result of interest kindled during project visits.
Uses for the East Church, like those of St Peter’s, are low-key. Interpretation allows an estimated 10,000 visitors per year to learn about the building and the people who worshipped there through the centuries. An integrated approach to interpretation connects the story of the church with that of Cromarty as a whole, encouraging visitors to explore the town further. Occasional services are held, and secular events include annual fixtures such as the Black Isle Fiddle Festival as well as one-off concerts and performances. Lack of heating is a constraint, and although heating options were originally considered these were discounted on conservation grounds.The relative fragility of the building and its contents is also a constraint – the East Church will never lend itself to intensive use and this, in turn, affects its ability to generate income. When grants were awarded in 2007–8 it was accepted that financial viability was marginal but that the project and the building warranted support. In the current climate it is unlikely that the same investment would be made by funders.