{"id":321821,"date":"2025-08-06T06:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/321821\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T06:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:32:13","slug":"speymouth-parish-church-set-to-be-turned-into-house-under-fresh-plans-after-nearly-300-years-of-worship-at-red-kirk-came-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/321821\/","title":{"rendered":"Speymouth Parish Church set to be turned into house under fresh plans after nearly 300 years of worship at \u2018Red Kirk\u2019 came to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Plans to transform a historic, nearly 300-year-old Moray church into a house have been submitted.<\/p>\n<p>Speymouth Parish Church, known locally as \u2018The Red Kirk\u2019 due to the red sandstone it was originally built with, held its final service in August last year after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northern-scot.co.uk\/news\/historic-red-kirk-closes-its-doors-for-good-after-near-300-359603\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kirk Session approved its disposal earlier in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 5988 3992\" alt=\"Inside the church. Picture: Daniel Forsyth\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"L99MECIKQOP2TTS89D4D.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.50\"\/>Inside the church. Picture: Daniel Forsyth<\/p>\n<p>The church had been an integral part of the local community for centuries, hosting countless weddings, baptisms and funerals since its foundation in 1732.<\/p>\n<p>It was extended to include a hall in 1884 and further extended in 2004 to accommodate more facilities.<\/p>\n<p>However, the decision to close came as the Church of Scotland made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northern-scot.co.uk\/news\/radical-plan-for-buckie-area-churches-given-green-light-by-m-287498\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">major changes across the nation<\/a> to combat declining membership and financial constraints.<\/p>\n<p>Now, <a href=\"https:\/\/publicaccess.moray.gov.uk\/eplanning\/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&amp;keyVal=SZU8Q9BGIM600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planning documents<\/a> have been sent seeking to convert the out-of-use church into a dwelling house with an integral \u2018granny annex\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Design consultants Plans Plus state: \u201cThere are no external changes proposed other than to replace 3 No windows in timber to match the style that exists at present.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 5981 3987\" alt=\"Members of the congregation after the church closed in 2024. Picture: Daniel Forsyth\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"BVY9CKUV5JX0YYINU12O.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.50\"\/>Members of the congregation after the church closed in 2024. Picture: Daniel Forsyth<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInternally it is hoped to keep the main church building basically as it is with just the removal of the pews to create space for an open plan lounge\/dining\/kitchen area at ground floor level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBehind the main hall there are ancillary buildings which will house the main bathroom and an independent granny annex linked to the main house.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first floor level more work is required due to the sloping areas for seating. These have to be levelled off to create bedrooms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be a restricted height in these areas but should all comply with building regulations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDrainage is to the existing septic tank at the rear of the property.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 5842 3895\" alt=\"The final order of service book for the church's last service pictured in August 2024. Picture: Daniel Forsyth\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"1GAAGZ5LVDF3GYRT7ZPH.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.50\"\/>The final order of service book for the church&#8217;s last service pictured in August 2024. Picture: Daniel Forsyth<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs there are no external works proposed the rainwater drainage will remain unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plans are at the consultation stage and are yet to be decided.<\/p>\n<p>    Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grampianonline.co.uk\/response\/?popform=true&amp;Url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.grampianonline.co.uk%2fnews%2fhistoric-300-year-old-red-kirk-to-be-turned-into-house-und-388976%2f&amp;Title=Speymouth+Parish+Church+set+to+be+turned+into+house+under+fresh+plans+after+nearly+300+years+of+worship+at+%e2%80%98Red+Kirk%e2%80%99+came+to+an+end\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>here<\/b><\/a> to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans to transform a historic, nearly 300-year-old Moray church into a house have been submitted. Speymouth Parish Church,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,1501,712,16,15,5900],"class_list":{"0":"post-321821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-scotland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-update-me"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114980424503654500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}