Inverness Old High Church sale price drops - worth saving or ‘not even a tourist attraction’?
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Offers for Inverness Old High Church drops to £99,500
The asking price of a historic Inverness building has been reduced by more than a third after being placed back on the market about six months ago. Offers of more than £99,500 were being invited for the A-listed Old High Church this week.
“This building, inside and out, and the graveyard are historically so important to Scotland, Inverness and The Battle of Culloden, including our Jacobite past. It should be preserved as such. Hopefully this time it can be successfully saved by the people of the Old High. My dad, Rev Andrew Lyon, who was a member of this church, volunteered here and did pulpit supply and at St Stephens, was so proud of this church. I know he'd want the best for it.” - Holly Ross
“Interesting that go back in time the council owned the building. It was passed to the Church of Scotland. The council are still responsible for the graveyard. It should be given to community.” - Isabelle Mackenzie
“This historical building should never go into private hands. Surely a public body like Historic Scotland or maybe some of these toffs in Inverness could buy it for the town.” - Helen Bruce
“Helen Bruce, An empty church? Why would people pay to save that? It's not even a tourist attraction…It cannot possibly be a big enough tourist attraction to pay for its upkeep. There is already a museum in the town and Culloden visitor centre and the castle tourist attaction thingy is coming. History is actually in books and museums and visitor centres, not a redundant and unmodified church.” - Henry Care
“Would make an amazing music venue with the sound in there, all sorts of music. Why do other music venues, even Eden Court, sound acoustically dull? The Ironworks was awful for sound.” - Karin Thain
“Would make nice apartments.” - Martin Stewart
“The Old High needs to be saved. There is so much history around the Church and graveyard (council owned). It would be a shame to see another iconic building in Inverness reduced to rubble. SOHI (Save the Old High Inerness) have some very good and interesting ideas for the future. Here's hoping that something comes to fruition for the benefit of the town and visitors alike.” - Judi Dorrall
“If it were offered even at a nominal £1, the financial burden of taking it on/ repurposing/ preserving would still be astronomical and probably make it prohibitive for most, if not all. (unless as a labour of love with exceedingly deep pockets).” - Paul Wilson
“Paul Wilson is right that it will be a challenge to give the Old High the kiss of life! Which is why SOHI (Save the Old High Inverness) is delighted at the terrific response from experts and consultants to our tender for a proper feasibility study. We have a big job to pick just one to help us take the next step! Its a tricky building - surrounded by a cemetery owned by the council, with a recently refurbished world class organ, and as A listed as they come!” - Thomas Prag
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