Bellfield is a community centre located in what was previously Portobello Old Parish Church, a Georgian church of classical design located in Bellfield (formerly Melville) Street, Portobello,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. The church was the subject of a successful community buy-out in 2017, and reopened as a community centre on 23 June 2018. Dated 1809, it was built between 1808 and 1810 to a design by

William Sibbald William Sibbald (c.1760–1809) was a Scottish architect. He was superintendent of public works in Edinburgh and assisted Robert Reid (architect), Robert Reid in setting out and designing the New Town, Edinburgh, Second New Town. Their jo ...

, at a cost of £2650. It was enlarged in 1815 and 1878.

Community buyout

Residents in Portobello were asked to back the first urban community buy-out under new Scottish Government legislation. The ''Save Bellfield'' campaign was set up to take over the church and halls of the former Portobello Old Parish Church in Bellfield Street. Supporters included artists and performers resident in the area, including

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

actor Cal MacAninch. The Friends of Bellfield aimed to provide a continuing home for a wide range of groups which have been based in the building as well as developing it for other community activities. The campaigners had asked the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

to delay putting the building on the market to allow them more time to raise the funds for the buy-out, but the church’s General Trustees turned down the request. Portobello Old Parish Church and St James Church in Rosefield Place have both been merged with St Philip’s, Joppa, to become Portobello and Joppa Parish Church in the St Philip’s building.{{Cite web, url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/portobello-residents-rally-in-bid-to-buy-bellfield-church-1-4167074, title=Portobello residents rally in bid to buy Bellfield Church., website=Edinburgh Evening News Since the community buyout, many local businesses have used the facilities, including Action Porty and the Edinburgh Youth Theatre company.

2017 funding award

In 2017 the project was awarded £600,000 from the

Scottish Land Fund The Scottish Land Fund (SLF) was founded in 2000, as a part of land reform in Scotland. Its goal is to help communities buy their land from their landlords. The SLF was capitalized by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), UK Lottery-founded New O ...

, which allowed ''Save Bellfield'' to purchase the building

References

Former churches in Scotland Portobello, Edinburgh