The West Kirk

Although I have been deeply involved in helping  to save various buildings over the years, realistically not every old building can be kept and restored.   Sometimes there are structural problems that are just too great, sometimes the alternative for the site is a better choice and sometimes the law and prolonged neglect produce a sequence of events that leads to  the inevitability of demolition.

The West Kirk in Rothesay   designed by Charles Wilson and dating from 1846 is in the  last category.  After it ceased to be a working church it was sold but eventually ownership was was vested in a company that went bust, and  no one came forward to claim it probably because the money required to make it wind and water tight was rising all the time.  After more than a decade of being empty it became an annoyance and then a danger to all those around it and particularly to the kids who were playing in it.   The steeple - a very distinctive part of the Rothesay townscape - was ultimately deemed to be unsafe and  now the whole structure is being demolished, as I saw today when I was on the island.

The building had been deemed to be "at risk" for a long time but it is sad to read the entry on the at risk register and realise what has now gone:  It says, in part:

A fine building and a prominent landmark despite a recessed position. With its intricate soffit-mouldings beneath architraved round arches, columnar mullions, pinnacled spire and overall symmetry, here Wilson makes clear his mastery of Romanesque detailing. Not only is this an example of Wilson at his best, it is, more significantly perhaps, an important example of early Victorian church building in Scotland. The BUILDER notes the architect's "...highly cultivated taste and good advancement in aesthetic feeling and constructive skill." (Historic Scotland)

There was a late community attempt to save it but I think the balance of opinion was and is  regret but a recognition that , by that stage, it would have been impossible to find the resources to make any difference to the outcome.

I felt sad when I saw it today but it was a real mess by the end and something good will,  I hope , rise in its place.