Inverness public meeting to explore possible community buyout of A-listed Old High Church with links to Battle of Culloden and Outlander drama series
The potential future of the Old High Church in Inverness will be discussed at a public meeting next month.
The A-listed building - which has links to the Battle of Culloden, Highland regiments and the historic drama series Outlander- has been placed back on the market by the Church of Scotland after a previously-agreed sale with an anonymous bidder fell through in November.
An informal group of people keen on reviving a community-led bid to retain the building for public use is now seeking views in a bid gauge whether there is sufficient interest and support for such a project.
A public meeting will be held at Inverness Town House on February 11 at 7.30pm.
It will chaired by Inverness West councillor Alex Graham, a former Provost of Inverness.
• Future of A-listed Old High Church in Inverness back on the drawing board
• Sale of Old High Church falls through after prospective buyer is unable to produce funds
• Historic Old High Church under offer after it went on market at over £150k
Offers over £150,000 are being sought for the landmark building which dates from 1769/1772 with a late 16th century tower with lower structure dating from 14th century. The tower houses the old burgh clock and curfew bell.
The Church of Scotland first put the building up for sale in November 2023 after concluding it was no longer financially viable to maintain both the Old High and the B-listed St Stephen’s in Crown.
Although a sale was agreed, it fell through after 12 months of negotiations when the prospective buyer was unable to produce the funds in order to complete it.
A previous offer by the Friends of the Old High Church - which felt the building had potential as a multi-use space for community events, multi-cultural entertainment, educational, social and tourism activity - was outbid.
But now the building is back on the market, informal talks have been taking place between interested people to test the possibility of reviving a community buyout.
Work which has already been done will be shared at the meeting and there will be discussion on what the next steps might be.
But members of the group say it all depends on whether the people of Inverness feel it is important enough to the city while there would be additional significant costs on top of the sale price.
They are inviting people to go along and share their own thoughts, ideas and memories.
