A VILLAGE has celebrated the 100th anniversary of a bizarre chapter of history that thrust it into the global spotlight.

In 1917, two girls in Cottingley fooled the world when they created photographs of themselves with a number of “fairies.”

To mark a century since the photos were taken, the village held a fairy themed fun day at Cottingley Recreation Ground this afternoon.

The images of cut-out fairies stuck on to trees with hat-pins, taken by cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright at Cottingley Beck even fooled scientist and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sir Arthur brought the photographs to public attention and was so convinced they were genuine that he gave the girls an expensive camera to capture more fairies and gnomes on film.

The hoax was kept secret for more than 60 years until Geoffrey Crawley, photographic expert and editor of the British Journal of Photography, tried to establish how the images were created.

He tested the original cameras used by the girls and in 1983 published articles saying why the pictures were fake, which led to a confession from the cousins.

The day saw the sun shine and scores of people come to enjoy the village get together.

As well as a historic exhibition looking at the background to the photos, there was a fairy/scarecrow competition, won by Margaret Brady, fun fair, dog show and welly wanging competition.

Peter Earp, from the Cottingley Village History Society, said: “We’ve had quite a lot of people coming and asking us about the story. A lot of people in the village have of course known about the story all their lives but there were still people asking more about it.

"It is the village's claim to fame. It was decided to incorporate the 100th anniversary into the village fun day. Cottingley is a very friendly place where everybody knows each other."

The event had been organised by the Cottingley Community Association, and member Mandy Clarke said: "It has been really well attended today, just a great day. There has been wonderful support from the community, and we had a lot of help from Cottingley Cornerstone."

The centenary will be further remembered at Cottingley Fairy Fest on Saturday, July 29, between 12.30pm and 4.30pm, also at Cottingley Recreation Ground. The annual event aims to also keep the legend of the fairies alive and will feature a day of fairytale fun and a number of performers.