Celebrating 200-year naming milestone
St Fillans residents celebrated the 200th anniversary of the renaming of their village recently.
In 1817, the village was known as Portmore and was renamed St Fillans by Lord Gwydr.
And every August locals gather for a festival weekend to mark the significant moment in the village’s history.
Despite poor weather, there was a good turnout to see Prof John Forty, the oldest resident in the village, and Evie Allan, one of the youngest, set down the first two stones at the site of a new cairn.
It was christened with a 12-year-old malt whisky given by Glenturrett distillery .
The cairn itself is positioned at the grid reference ending 18-17 and Prof Forty laid the first stone at 6.17pm – or 18:17 hours – at the start of the special weekend.
A time capsule will be set inside the new structure containing several local pieces of memorabilia and photographs.
Over the course of a packed weekend of entertainment, villagers thoroughly enjoyed the music of local folk group Tarneybackle and the Glasgow-based duo Mystery Train.
On the Saturday, they were treated to the amazing magic of Gary James – who took time out of his busy schedule at Edinburgh Festival to come along.
In the evening, a specially-written murder mystery play was brilliantly performed by the players from Spirit of Glasgow.
The performance was set during a royal visit that actually took place in 1935, when Queen Wilhelmina from the Netherlands stayed at the Drummond Arms Hotel in the village.
From Friday to Sunday this week, there will be a special free exhibition in the Sandison Hall which will showcase the past two centuries of life in the picturesque village.
All visitors welcome.