Plans to charge visitors £5 to enter one of Scotland’s oldest places of worship have been branded “totally unreasonable” by its governing body.
Historic Scotland, which owns and maintains Glasgow Cathedral, is considering introducing the charge from April 1 to help to pay for increasing maintenance costs, but the building’s Kirk Session opposes the plans. A petition against the proposal has already been signed by almost 700 people.
The minister of the cathedral, the Rev Dr Laurence Whitley, has condemned the move and insisted that an entrance fee would deter churchgoers and other visitors.
“I don’t know if that’s a terribly good message to be sending out,” he said. “That if people come to the mother church of this great city and find that they