A SCOTTISH church with links to Culloden and the historic drama Outlander is for sale again after a buyer failed to produce funds.
The historic building is credited at Inverness' oldest and an offer of more than £150,000 for the A-listed church was accepted in November 2023.
However, the Church of Scotland has said the buyer failed to produce the amount offered and the sale has fallen through.
The Old High St Stephen’s dates from 1769/1772 and has a tower structure dating from the 14th century.
The church also held government supporters in the tower when Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite supporters took over Inverness in 1746.
When the Jacobites were defeated at Culloden, the Duke of Cumberland, the leader of the government troops, released the government and replaced them with captured soldiers.
After the defeat at Culloden, the government prisoners were released and Jacobite soldiers were instead imprisoned.
They were later executed in the churchyard.
A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: “Unfortunately, after 12 months of negotiations, the prospective buyer has been unable to produce the funds in order to complete the purchase of the Old High Church.
“Missives were concluded with a contractual date of entry of 1st November 2024.
“The purchaser failed to complete on schedule and is now in breach of the missives.”
READ MORE: Balloch: Popular Scottish nightclub The Backroom to close its doors for good
The prospective buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted: “I am afraid I was unable to get the church insured so we have fallen into breach.
“It is a grade A-listing and we could not operate without valid insurance.
“It is not something I had considered to be a problem when I offered to purchase it last year.”
Thomas Prag, a member of the Friends group, shared his disappointment, said: “The church has sat there unloved and unused while the local session had to go on paying out for insurance on the building.
“I would like the community to review what it would like to happen to this building. It is an important building in Inverness. It is the early part of Inverness’s story.
“It needs looking after and it needs a new lease of life.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here