Brechin Cathedral’s doors are to stay open after local volunteers struck a deal with the Kirk to take over the day-to-day running of the 800-year-old landmark.
It comes ten months after the Church of Scotland closed the A-listed building as a place of worship.
But now the Society of Friends of Brechin Cathedral have been given a year to take over its management.
And the new arrangement means wedding and funerals will still take place there.
The volunteers want to make more people aware of the Angus heritage gem.
They hope fresh community interest will begin this weekend when visitors have the rare opportunity to climb the cathedral’s Square Tower.
It is one of the venues in the Angus Doors Open festival.
Society secretary Pam Thomson said: “The next year is set in stone for the cathedral but we want to make it viable for long into the future.”
Spiralling debts and falling attendances cast a cloud of uncertainty over the cathedral.
The Church of Scotland previously agreed the sale of its manse.
And in February 2020, Angus Presbytery agreed the dissolution of the cathedral.
It followed years of wrangling over a planned merger between the church and Brechin’s Gardner Memorial.
The Society of Friends has been working hard to convince Kirk bosses to offer them the opportunity of running the building.
Pam said: “A lot of conditions have been set down, but it does mean that we will still be able to have weddings, funerals and other events such as concerts at the cathedral.
“We want the cathedral to be seen as an important historical building and not just a church.
“There were so many rumours going around about what was happening so we are glad we have this arrangement in place for the next 12 months.”
International support
But she says it’s vital locals come on board.
“The Society of Friends has a good membership, but the majority are from outside Brechin,” added Pam.
“We’ve members in Canada and the United States, people who have a connection to the cathedral because they were maybe married or have loved ones buried here.
“At the moment we can open it by arrangement for tours and things like that, but we really want to see it used for more events.”
The cathedral group is also working with the Friends of Brechin Town House Museum in promoting the landmark.
That has included a Covid-delayed exhibition at the town centre attraction celebrating the building’s 800th anniversary in 2020.
Brechin was the mother church of the provinces of Angus and Mearns, a centre from which the Culdee monks went out to minister to local communities.
The present cathedral had its origin in the founding of the Diocese of Brechin by the appointment of Bishop Samson by King David I in the 12th century.
King Robert the Bruce helped pay for the church’s round tower – one of just two in Scotland – in 1310.
The building survived an attack from the forces of King Edward I who stripped the lead from its roof.
And it withstood invasion by Montrose’s royalist forces where half of the town was set on fire, as well as Oliver Cromwell’s onslaught in 1650.
Conversation