Recording a Reformation: preserving the stories of closed church buildings
- Event type
- Seminar
- Series
- People, Place and Community
- Address
- Online- via Zoom
- Speakers
- Philippa Woodcock (St Andrews/UHI), Revd. Giles Dove (St Andrews), Brendan Wolfe (St Andrews), Alison Butler (Independent Scholar), Jacinta Fisher (Church of England)
- Event dates
- Contact
- ihr.events@sas.ac.uk Email only
The Sacred Landscape project at the University of Saint Andrews was established to record the impact of changing religious landscapes, most notably the closure of church buildings, in the peninsular county of Fife and to work with stakeholders to provide guidelines for the best stewardship of formerly religious sites.
Fife, an important coastal region, gave birth to the Scottish Reformation and the accompanying mass destruction of religious fabric of medieval belief. Centuries later, further physical change marked the landscape as the national Church suffered ‘the Great Disruption’. In 1843, 450 Church of Scotland ministers broke away to form the Free Church of Scotland, prompting the creation of new congregations and requiring new buildings. However, potentially the greatest change was announced in 2021 when the Church of Scotland launched a process to sell under-used or surplus property: this included churches, halls and accommodation amounting to 40% of its portfolio.
Using Fife as a starting point, in this seminar a panel of speakers from across Scotland and England will collaboratively share and discuss approaches to recording the religious fabric, beliefs, and histories of changing congregations in the twenty-first century.
Discussion points will include:
This event is part of the IHR’s People, Place and Community seminar series and is hosted by the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community.
Everyone participating in and attending the seminar is kindly asked to make themselves familiar with the IHR’s code of conduct available here.
Fife, an important coastal region, gave birth to the Scottish Reformation and the accompanying mass destruction of religious fabric of medieval belief. Centuries later, further physical change marked the landscape as the national Church suffered ‘the Great Disruption’. In 1843, 450 Church of Scotland ministers broke away to form the Free Church of Scotland, prompting the creation of new congregations and requiring new buildings. However, potentially the greatest change was announced in 2021 when the Church of Scotland launched a process to sell under-used or surplus property: this included churches, halls and accommodation amounting to 40% of its portfolio.
Using Fife as a starting point, in this seminar a panel of speakers from across Scotland and England will collaboratively share and discuss approaches to recording the religious fabric, beliefs, and histories of changing congregations in the twenty-first century.
Discussion points will include:
- How do you record a church’s history? In whose interest should this be undertaken?
- How can historians best work with stakeholders among community history groups, Churches, congregations, heritage organisations, and local councils?
- How can decisions over church futures be influenced by historians?
- Is church preservation always the option to be desired?
This event is part of the IHR’s People, Place and Community seminar series and is hosted by the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community.
All welcome- this seminar is free to attend, but advance registration is required.
