Historic Badenoch church could go on the market
A Badenoch Church of Scotland congregation was disappointed on Sunday to hear of a proposal that would see their kirk building being sold.
Insh Church at Kincraig has stood for centuries in one of the most picturesque locations, high among the pines over Loch Insh.
The building is dedicated to St Columba’s biographer, St Adamnan (c625-704), and stands proudly on the site of an earlier chapel on its wooded knoll, Tom Eunan or Adamnan’s Mound.
Before Christianity came, the glacial hillock was believed to be sacred to the Druids. It has been a place of Christian worship since the seventh century.
The Rev Charles Finnie gave worshippers the news that in the ongoing era of rationalisation within the Church of Scotland as a whole, the building had been identified as being one that could be closed.
Insh Church’s proposed closure as a place of worship – set to be completed by 2025 – follows that of other strath churches, including the latest in Dulnain Bridge and, earlier this year, Alvie.
The Insh Church building has its origin in the 1700s. The present building dates from 1792 with some renovations from 1912 and 1963. Its bell tower contains an ancient cast-bronze bell dating from the time of Adamnan.
The building has not been used regularly as a place of worship since the covid pandemic but is opened throughout the week to allow people to visit and to sit in its peace and tranquillity. The congregation will meet with the Presbytery of Abernethy and then be in a position to work out what to do next.
Already various suggestions for new use and life have been made by members of the congregation. The General Trustees of the Church of Scotland’s requirement now is for buildings to be “the right spaces in the right places” following years of shrinkage throughout the Church of Scotland: in the 1960s, the Kirk numbered some 1.6 million members, but by 2021 that number had fallen to just 283,000 and the trend had continued.
The congregation will use the Insh church hall in Kincraig as their continuing place of worship, as it has done since Covid restrictions were lifted.
