2023 will be the 900th aniversary of St Fillan’s church, it is one of the oldest churches in Scotland.
Rev David Rutherford was the minister of St Fillan’s from 1949 to 1975 and so he was the minister during the 850th anniversary. He did the research to show that St Fillan’s church was in existence in 1123. He also wrote the guidebook. As we can see he was very keen on the history of the church. Some of you will have memories of him.
Some of his children’s addresses have been preserved, the one dated 8th January 1967 starts:
8th Jan 67 OUR CHURCH The other Sunday evening when the Caledonia Choir were visiting us, in response to a request, I gave what was a rather impromptu account of the history of this Church. So many members commented on it that I realised that there was a great interest in this old building and that it might be valuable to tell the boys and the girls, and their parents something of its history, and point out some of its less known features…..
He then continued throughout 1967 to tell the history of the church to the children. I plan to reproduce his stories in a condensed format throughout 2023. Please feel free to give feedback.