A macabre survivor of a dark chapter in Scotland’s history is to be restored.
The mort house at Collace Church in Perthshire was where the bodies of the dead were securely stored to thwart the activities of the “resurrectionists” grave robbers who supplied medical schools with corpses.
In a report to the development control committee, development quality manager Nick Brian said, “The mort house is finished in natural stone with a stone vaulted roof covered over with rafters and natural slates.
“The building has been hidden behind hoardings for 15 years and the proposed repairs will allow it to be made safe so that it can be seen again.
“The mort house is currently in a relatively poor condition, with the roof in particular sagging significantly. The proposed repair works to the mort house entail removing the slates carefully and reusing as much as possible.
“Roof timbers will be replaced where necessary, the missing roof pinnacle is to be replicated and the external walls are to be repaired with some stone indenting or new stone of similar geological origin, colour, texture and porosity.”
Councillors welcomed the application and also agreed to formation of an access ramp to the B-listed church.
Councillor Willie Wilson welcomed the proposal saying, “It is a sad situation that the mort house has been surrounded by a fence. This gives the go-ahead for a small, but important, building to be restored.”