St Michael's Hall, Church Street, Crieff

Large 5-bay, rectangular-plan, piend-roofed former church with crenellated, 4-stage, centre tower. Harled. Band courses to tower. Round-headed windows.

Ecclesiastical building no longer in use as such. St Michaels Churchyard and boundary walls are listed separately. Formerly Crieff Parish Church, and built on the site of an earlier church of St Michael in the walls of which were found forty Robert I gold coins. Groome describes the current building as "the plain East church, with an ill-designed bell-tower". In 1882 the building became St Michael's church hall, when the new church was built in Strathearn Terrace, and subsequently a community hall in the late 20th century. Protracted building time partly due to a successful lawsuit against the heritors, when the church was abandoned unfinished by the contractor after the congregation occupied it during shower of rain. Finally completed by order of the Court of Session in 1827, at the joint expense of the heritors and feuars. Korner refers to a marble tablet sited over the door and inscribed "In memory of the late gallant Sir David Baird". He also mentions the graveyard being in a "bad state"?. Interior alterations include removal of the gallery, installation of stage, raising of floor and altering vestibule to small room now accessed by stair. A king post roof is however concealed by modern ceiling tiles. (Historic Scotland)

23 January 1992: The Blairgowrie Advertiser reports that the Church of Scotland is soon to market the church, following increasing disrepair. Due to a lack of community facilities in the area, Tayside Regional Council and Perth and Kinross District Councils are coming under pressure to purchase the hall. 7 February 1992: The Strathearn Herald reports that Tayside Regional Council has considered demolishing the hall in the past to make way for a car park, but costs proved prohibitive. Crieff Community Council is calling for the retention of the hall and its continued community use under Council ownership. November 1992: The hall is marketed by the Church of Scotland. 10 September 1993: The Strathearn Herald reports that the hall has been bought by Crieff Community Arts Festival and fundraising for repairs has now commenced. It is likely to assume ownership next March. November 1994: SCT understands that repair works are underway. December 1996: SCT understands that the hall is now reasonably well-established as a community arts centre. February 1997: External inspection reveals the hall to appear in poor condition. December 2000: External inspection reveals the hall to appear vacant. Its condition is poor, with broken windows and blocked gutters. 13-07-07: Strathearn Herald reports that campaigners had hit out at an alleged lack of action by Perth and Kinross Council to halt the terminal decline of one of Crieff's landmark buildings. Three foot long piece of stone masonry was reported as having fallen from the rafters onto the floor in the middle of the night taking ceiling tiles and insulation down with it.

June 2009: Strathearn Herald reports that the hall‘s principal users; Kyokushin Karate Group, plan to close the hall due to lack of funds to repair it and provide adequate facilities.

September 2009: External inspection finds that the hall appears to be in partial use. The gutters are clear but the second floor windows in the tower are broken and there is a sprinkling of graffiti round the walls. The window frames are in need of maintenance.

7 November 2013: External inspection finds the building remains in much the same condition as seen previously.

5 May 2016: Crieff and Upper Strathearn Partnership (CUSP) advise the former church has been of local concern for some time. In March 2016, with financial assistance from Perth and Kinross Council, CUSP commissioned a report from an independent quantity surveyor outlining various options for the building including temporary repairs, full restoration into community use and demolition.The Partnership has ascertained that following the dissolution of the building's last owner, Crieff Community Hall Ltd, the property had been offered to the Crown. However, QLTR elected to disclaim ownership of the building in Autumn 2015. A Friends of St Michael's Church group has been formed and basic works to try and prevent further trespass/ damage at the site has been carried out by people engaged on community service orders.

15 October 2021: Friends of St Michael's Group Facebook confirms they have developed a memorial garden with plan, paths, information panels and benches for community use and have also commissioned a structural survey of the building.