Notable Events
- This was once the wild northern frontier of the Roman Empire leading to the Gask ridge.
- In the middle ages the town had a royal castle whose ruins still exists, King Malcolm lll built the castle as a hunting lodge in the 11th century.
- Edward 1 stayed in the castle in 1296 during the Wars of Independence
- The Peace of Auchterarder 1559 was the first treaty between Scottish Protestants and Catholics when Marie de Guise, as Regent for the absent Mary Queen of Scots, met the Protestant Lords in the castle.
- The Old Church Tower was built in 1660 from stone taken from Kincardine Castle, nearby home of the Marquis of Montrose
- In 1716 the Jacobite Earl of Mar burned the town after his defeat at Sheriffmuir and so in 1746 townsfolk congratulated the Duke of Cumberland after his victory at Culloden
- The famous Minister of War, Viscount R B Haldane of nearby Cloan, remodelled the British Army and created the Territorial Army in 1907..
- A local weaving industry developed in the Victorian era. By 1892 Hally’s mill had 540 power-looms. White’s Glenruthven Mill had the last steam powered looms in Scotland closing in 1983..
- In 1913 the Caledonian Railway Company started work on Gleneagles. The world-famous resort hotel was completed in 1924.
- Gleneagles golf course held the first international golf competition between the USA and Britain in 1921 (The forerunner of the Ryder Cup held again here in 2014).
- In 2005 at the G8 Summit of World Leaders at Gleneagles, the first agreement was reached on global poverty and climate change.