On Thursday 28th August 1817, just over 200 years ago, a bizarre story appeared in the Perthshire Courier newspaper.

The story told that a brown trout had died at Milheugh, Blantyre in the well of James Miller. However, the strange thing was that the trout had been in the well for an astonishing 24 years and had become so tame, would take food out of James’s hand.

The long living trout had nearly come to an end when about 6 years earlier in 1811, the fish had tried to eat a toad which became stuck in the fish’s mouth. Mr Miller removed the toad and saved the life of the fish. From that time the fish had become well known.

Incredibly, I was surprised to find out that some brown trout CAN live 2 decades. For a location for this story, there appears to be an open shallow well on the opposite side of the riverbank, not far from the falls, and certainly very close to the former Milheugh house.

Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,

Chris Calderglen Heritage I wondered about this story at the time when i read it, as it drew parallels with the wise old fish/salmon Celtic legends I had bee studying – which was part of early Scottish and Irish folklore – It seems Stoneymeadow through to Milheugh is full of surreal goings on!