Skip to main contentAccess keys help

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
News imageNews image
Last Updated: Monday, 10 July 2006, 10:02 GMT 11:02 UK
Scots Restoration entrants chosen
Greenlaw Town Hall
Greenlaw Town Hall is a Grade A Greek Revival building
A Black Isle church, an 18th Century lighthouse and a derelict town hall are the Scottish contenders for this year's Restoration series.

The BBC Two programme will return to television screens later this month.

Restoration Village has announced 21 buildings in the UK which will be up for the public vote to secure funding.

The Scottish buildings which have been selected are Cromarty East Church, Dennis Head Old Beacon in Orkney and Greenlaw Town Hall in Berwickshire.

The new incarnation of the series presented by Griff Rhys Jones will focus on rural life and on buildings which have been historically important to a local rural community.

The Dennis Head lighthouse on North Ronaldsay was built in the 1780s and is the oldest surviving purpose-built lighthouse in Scotland.

Dennis Head Old Beacon
The lighthouse needs restoration as well as its keepers' cottages

The Grade A listed building was abandoned in 1809 and is currently unsafe.

William Muir, chair of the North Ronaldsay Trust, said: "Dennis Head is an important landmark for North Ronaldsay and for Scotland.

"If it could be developed and maintained for future generations, it would literally be a lifeline for this community."

The Greenlaw Town Hall was constructed in 1829 and has been a courthouse, county offices, WWII military billet and, briefly, a swimming pool.

Local people are keen for its restoration to combine commercial and community usage.

Matthew Gibb, chair of the Friends of Greenlaw, said: We believe Greenlaw is the most architecturally important at-risk building in the country and through Restoration Village we hope to show this to the rest of the nation."

Cromarty East Church
The post-Reformation church is on the tip of the Black Isle

The Cromarty East Church on the Black Isle dates from the late 16th or early 17th Century and has a Category A listing.

During the restoration process, young people will be given training in traditional building techniques and the building will be used for concerts and educational activities, as well as worship.

Victoria Collison-Owen, director of the Scottish Redundant Churches Fund, said: "The Cromarty East Church is of exceptional importance in architectural terms.

"Even more than that, it reflects the fortunes of the society it has served over the centuries and is rich in the history of Cromarty and its people."




BBC NEWS: VIDEO AND AUDIO
See footage of this year's Scottish entries



SEE ALSO
Prince hears plans to save castle
01 Jun 06 |  South of Scotland
Baths win �3.4m Restoration final
14 Sep 03 |  Entertainment



FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

AmericasAfricaEuropeMiddle EastSouth AsiaAsia Pacific