Luss Parish Church facts for kids
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Luss Parish Church is a special church located in Luss, a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It's part of the Church of Scotland and is dedicated to a saint named Saint Kessog. This church is famous for its long history and beautiful spot right by Loch Lomond.
The church building you see today was built in 1875. It had some big updates in 2001 to keep it looking good. The church became quite well-known in the 1980s because it was used as the church for the made-up village of Glendarroch in a popular TV show called Take the High Road. People have been worshipping here for a very long time, over 1,500 years, ever since Saint Kessog first started a Christian community here. The churchyard also has fifteen very old monuments.
Modern Church Life
In recent years, Luss Parish Church has used the internet to share its services online. It also welcomes people from outside the local area to get married there, which is a bit unusual for churches. Many couples choose this church because of its amazing location by Loch Lomond. For example, 153 weddings were held there in 2009! Some famous people have even gotten married at the church, including model Kirsty Hume to actor Donovan Leitch, TV presenter Noel Edmonds to Helen Soby, and TV presenter Sarah Heaney to Ed Adams.
A Popular Place to Visit
The church is a very important spot for people who enjoy visiting religious places. On busy summer days, more than 2,000 people might visit the church. This brings a lot of money to the local area, about £5 million each year. It's thought that around 750,000 visitors come to the church every year, even though the village of Luss only has about 400 people living there!
In 2010, the church celebrated 1,500 years of worship. To mark this special occasion, a new visitor centre was opened for Luss. This happened after the National Parks Authority sold its building, and a local group's attempt to keep the old visitor centre failed.
Church Leaders
From 1998 to 2013, the minister (the leader of the church) was Reverend Dane Sherrard. He had been a minister in other places before coming to Luss.
