AN Australian who has never set foot in Scotland is gaining growing international support for a campaign to save his family's ancestral place of worship near Dumfries.
Kevin Robb is bidding to save Balmaghie Parish Church for the community in the hope he can one day visit the only place in Scotland he can make a physical connection with his ancestors.
The church was closed in 2015 and put up for sale, with the possibility of the former Church of Scotland building being turned into homes.
Mr Robb, from Queensland, said his ancestor Bryce Johnston Robb came from nearby Bridge of Dee and Crocketford and ran a carting business along what is now the A75.
He said: “His son John left the district in 1855 to look for gold in Australia.
"This is the only place that can be definitely shown to have links with my family.
"How could I visit one day if it becomes a private home?”
Around 1,000 have backed his online campaign with support from as far afield as Jamaica and Hong Kong, as well as across the south of Scotland.
It is thought there has been a church on the site since the 11th century.
The graveyard is also the final resting place of author Samuel Rutherford Crockett, who was born in Balmaghie in 1859, and in the late 19th and early 20th century was the hugely successful novelist, who wrote as SR Crocket.
A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: “The congregation and the Presbytery of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright reluctantly decided that the church and adjacent hall are no longer needed.
“The General Trustees as owners are obliged by charity law to seek proper value for the disposal of redundant assets.
“This includes getting professional advice as to what future uses may be feasible in terms of planning policy."
He added: "Once the General Trustees have completed this exercise, they anticipate putting the buildings on the market for purchase either separately or together when anyone can submit a bid.
“Over the years, the General Trustees have often sold redundant buildings to local groups.
“No formal offer has been made by anyone to date.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel