History

St Fillans :- was built in 1886 and is a rare surviving example of a largely unaltered Roman Catholic Chapel built of corrugated iron and timber . The survival of the pyramidal capped ventilator, the triangular headed timber windows and interior details are rare for this ”temporary” building type , commonly known as a ”Tin Tabernacle”. The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Scotland, around 1873, included the Parish of Newport-on-Tay in the Diocese of Dunkeld. Around this time, a mission station was opened in nearby Tayport with a congregation of 25 people. By 1886, the station was now known as St Fillans and the Church was built on a gap site at 18, King Street, Newport-on-Tay. The design of the window frames suggests this was a ”Spears” building. The company operated from 1820-1930.

The Church of our Lady Star of the Sea:- is a Grade B listed building. It was built between the two World Wars and dedicated in 1939. The Church had purchased quite a large piece of land, as the original plan was to build a priest’s house and a hall . (However, Herr Hitler put paid to that). The Church was designed by a renowned Scottish architect, Reginald Fairlie, a lifelong Roman Catholic who was born in Kincaple, Fife. He was responsible for many well known buildings in Scotland, including the chapel of St Josephs Convent in Lawside, and the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, on which he worked with the equally well-known scupltor, Huw Lorimer. Lorimer also sculpted the statue of the virgin above the main entrance of Our Lady’s. In 1978 a local artist, John Thomson, painted the picture of Our Lady Star of The Sea with the lighthouse in the background.This painting is now on the back wall of the church.