The Highland kirk where actress Dame Helen Mirren tied the knot is being sold, with church bosses looking for offers over £80,000.
The Prime Suspect star, 81, married Hollywood director Taylor Hackford at Ardersier Parish Church on December 31, 1997, after being together for 11 years.
For the tight-knit 1500-strong community in the former fishing village on the Moray Firth it was known as the day ‘Hollywood came to town’.
Far from a lavish Tinseltown ceremony, the nuptials had a distinctly Scottish flavour, with locals attending and the Oscar-winning actress dazzling in a gold and cream brocade jacket and silk skirt while Mr Hackford dressed in a traditional kilt.
The Church of Scotland is now selling the Victorian property as part of a major restructuring exercise designed to ensure it is ‘lean and fit for mission in the 21st century’.
The sales brochure describes the 1880-built kirk as ‘occupying an attractive position with views towards the shoreline and surrounding coastal landscape’.
The small church is for sale at offers over £80,000
The couple invited locals in to the service when they married in 1997
Set within a conservation area, it includes a main worship area, hall, kitchen, WC and store, with garden grounds and is connected to mains supplies of water and electricity.
It could be used in a variety of ways from a museum to public library without obtaining change of use consent, while the listing states that residential development ‘might also be possible subject to the usual consents’.
In 1997, when the church hosted its most famous wedding, Dame Helen was already a major star, while Mr Hackford was a highly successful director of movies such as An Officer and a Gentleman.
Despite their status, there was no Hollywood glitz or fanfare on their wedding day – just the small village kirk in Ardersier High Street and local residents among those in attendance.
The Rev Alex Whiteford, who conducted the ceremony, had told parishioners: ‘Well, it’s not every day we get a film star in the village.’
The service was attended by family, friends – including the comedian and film director Mel Smith – and around 100 villagers.
It was supposed to have been secret, but Ms Mirren drew attention when she ordered flowers from a local shop.
As such, she was greeted by a crowd when she arrived at the church in a dark-coloured Jaguar, telling those who had gathered: ‘You’re all welcome to come inside.’
The congregation sang Amazing Grace and the Hymn 443, Who Would True Valour See, during the service, along with a chorus of Happy Birthday for Mr Hackford, who was celebrating his 53rd birthday the same day.
Ms Mirren was given away by her nephew Simon Mirren, and Mr Hackford’s son Rio was best man.
The couple had been staying locally at the time, having attended the Highland wedding of Scottish actor Robert Carlyle just days before.
Commenting after the ceremony, Mr Whiteford had said: ‘This was a joyous occasion. I don’t really know why they decided to marry here. It may have been the fact that Taylor has ancestors from this part of the world.’
The happy couple later celebrated at the nearby 17th century Castle Stuart, where the newlyweds famously stayed in a turret room – the caretaker jokingly warning them it was the most haunted room in the property.
Now, almost 30 years later, the church is being sold off, offering prospective buyers the chance to snap up a slice of Hollywood history.
Beneath the property’s relatively unassuming exterior lies a history stretching back almost 800 years. A church at Ardersier was recorded as early as 1227.
The kirk is among a number of properties that have been sold over the last five years, together with former manses and church halls, to release equity tied up in the Church of Scotland’s once-vast portfolio.
While Sunday attendances may have plummeted to an all-time low, property hunters seem to worship ecclesiastical buildings with stronger than ever demand for former kirks, manses and halls.
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: ‘Reducing the number of buildings we own has been one part of a raft of radical reforms being undertaken by the Church in recent years aimed at ensuring we are lean and fit for mission in the 21st century and have well equipped spaces in the right places.
‘In the majority of cases, the money that is received from the sale of church buildings is returned to local congregations or held centrally for their benefit and therefore does not reduce the national Church’s budget deficit.’
