Tuesday 6 March 2018

Unst Kirk Changes


The Church of Scotland at Uyeasound, Unst, Shetland, at which only occasional services have been held in recent years, will be closing following a vote at its annual meeting. Shetland News has a report about a kirk that is a distinctive landmark.


The former Hillside Free Church of Scotland, a few miles to the north, closed in 1959 and is now derelict. It was built soon after the Disruption in 1843 on the same architectural lines as the one at Uyeasound.


The kirk at Baltasound was built for the Church of Scotland and it was claimed could seat 2000, albeit fairly thin, people. That was an optimistic outlook for the population of Unst peaked at 2269 in 1871. At the last Census, in 2011, it was 632.

Scottish Islands Explorer - has no capacity-figure for circulation
Digital Edition: available for the world's population. That's optimism!

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