Monday, May 28, 2007

Propping up the kirk?


Propping up the kirk?
Originally uploaded by goforchris.
St John's Church in the centre of Dunoon has recently grown a cage of scaffolding, closing the road beside the church and causing much speculation among the populace. Apparently the church was built in such a hurry - as a result, perhaps, of The Disruption - that no proper foundations were laid. Now, apparently, the building is starting to slide down the hill, and the large stained glass windows just visible behind the scaffolding have begun to buckle out of alignment.

It looks like a huge job - how on earth do you stabilise a large buidling with scaffolding? It will also be horrendously expensive - the figure of £3million has been mentioned - but Historic Scotland have stepped in and apparently the money is in place.

Makes you think.

7 comments:

  1. Jesus must be very proud.

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  2. Anonymous8:52 AM

    They have all the luck. For £3 million from Historic Scotland, I'd be willing to have HT slide down the hill a bit.

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  3. I doubt the money is from Historic Scotland. The Church of Scotland in Cowal got a huge bequest from the estate of Augusta Lamont which makes more in interest than they can spend. Being the Church of Scotland some of it is ringfenced for property... so visionary!

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  4. Hello Chris,
    Not so long ago I blogged about self assessment of critical essays and you suggested an alternative take on the method I was using. I'm writing up a case study for a Highland ASG booklet and would like to include your comment (fully attributed, of course!)
    Any objections?
    Wendy

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  5. Stewart - if you look at this photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/goforchris/518732061/
    you'll see the notice erected in front of the church - it is HS right enough.
    Wendy - that's fine; I'd like to see the finished article, if that's possible.

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  6. yeah, HS will grant aid, but not pay for the whole thing. I would have thought this would have been a great way to solve the 'too many churches in Dunoon' problem and let it fall over!

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  7. No probs.
    Will let you know when it comes out.

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