Fight to re-open old kirk gathers support
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Old St Peter’s Church has remained closed to the public since 2007 after incidents of vandalism led to the decision by officials to keep the site permanently locked.
Residents are now demanding the 12th century site, owned by Highland Council, is re-opened to the public to help boost tourism.
James Campbell (65) has led the call for the gates to be open, which has attracted huge support from both locals and tourists.
The petition, which has been running since last week, attracted 600 signatures alone on Saturday in Thurso precinct and 125 signatures from tourists who arrived from the cruise ship Adonia on Friday and visited the site.
Mr Campbell was not surprised by the huge amount of support the campaign has received.
“We aimed to collect 500 signatures but we have achieved three times that amount,” he said.
“As well as signing our petition, the comments which people wrote indicated the strength of feeling towards seeing the site re-opened.
“We met some tourists from the cruise ship – which included Americans, Canadians and Japanese – where they read information on board about the church but were also told the gates were locked which they were disappointed to find out.”
Mr Campbell, a retired builder, said and other builders are volunteering their services to carry out repairs which have been estimated to cost thousands of pounds.
He said they aren’t worried about the cost if it meant the public could enjoy the church fully once again.
“It has been lying dormant for nearly a decade but we have now decided to make our feelings heard about our dissatisfaction and now it is in the public eye,” he said.
“It needs to be restored back to its former glory as it is a fantastic place.”
The group has written to Thurso’s Highland councillors, the town’s community council, Highland Council and Scottish Natural Heritage and hopes to have the site open by Saturday.
Thurso Heritage Society chairman Alan McIvor is responsible for the keys at the site and people can request to enter the church by contacting the group.
However, he said Highland Council should not be making access complicated and supported the campaign for the gates to be opened.
He delivered a presentation to Thurso Community Council last Tuesday night about the history of the kirk and to gain more support for the campaign.
“It’s an embarrassment and a shame that a large number of people who are investigating their family tree travel to the far north of Scotland to visit the church, only to find they can’t get in,” he said.
“People from Australia, New Zealand and North America come to Thurso to visit the church to find out about their ancestors.
“It’s a disgrace it has been closed for so long, it’s the town’s main tourist attraction and yet it is kept locked.”
Councillor Donnie Mackay has been campaigning for the gates to be opened at the site since they were first locked. He met council officials to evaluate the state of the site on Tuesday afternoon to gauge what repairs would be required for it to be safe for the public to enter.
Caithness civic head Gail Ross said the campaign had received the support of all 10 councillors in Caithness but said safety had to be the council’s first priority.
“All Caithness councillors are in favour of opening the grounds for tourists and locals alike and this is regularly brought up in various meetings,” she said.
“There has to be a health and safety survey to make sure it is safe to let the public enter and this is currently being planned. Hopefully we can get this done sooner rather than later.”
