What can one say about Forfar? It lies in the centre of Angus in a rather non-descript way and (Forfar folk forgive me) is a rather non-descript town.

It's a royal burgh and is the county town of Angus. Thomas Morer in 1689 judged it "a place of no great noise", and Murray's Guide of 1898 a "by no means attractive town". The chimney stacks of the textile mills which upset the contributor to that publication are now long gone and Forfar now keeps a low profile....indeed in the 1981 edition of "Bartholomew's Guide to North East Scotland" which I have sitting on a bookshelf, the town is omitted completely!!

The site of the town is said to be that which saw one of the last battles between Picts and Scots in 895 AD and in the seventeenth century further bloodshed was in evidence when numerous witches were convicted and burnt. The town's museum contains the notorious "witches bridle", an iron gag which was clamped around the victim's head with two spikes that fitted inside the mouth. 

Witches were not necessarily female. One of the last Forfar convictions for sorcery was a man. "After various methods of torture had been tried to make him confess without effect, he was at last suspended by the genitals, which produced a confession" (D Webster). 

I am not surprised!       

It's probably the case that Forfar is moderately famous for two things in Scotland:
  • The well-known (to football fans) tongue-twisting football score of Forfar Five, East Five Four (or is it the other way round?)
  • The Forfar Bridie.

The Forfar Bridie is a pastry shell containing meat and vegetables and is often a staple during half-time at Scottish football matches (along with pies and Bovril). Its nearest English equivalent is probably the Cornish Pasty, although it has to be said that the quality and quantity of meat in a Pasty is inferior to that of the Bridie.   

     
A few miles to the west of Forfar lies the village of Glamis and the castle of that name. It is the seat of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, otherwise known as the Bowes-Lyons and was childhood home of Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, birthplace of her daughter The Princess Margaret and legendary setting for Shakespeare's famous play 'Macbeth'.

The castle is a fairytale confection of turrets and the present building dates from the early 15th century. It sits in spacious grounds and gardens and is certainly a "must" for visitors to the area. 

The nearby village of Glamis is home to the Angus Folk Museum which consists of a row of one-storey 17th century cottages, housing a collection of farming and domestic implements, attractively displayed. There are such exotic objects as flauchter spades for cutting turf, leisters for spearing salmon, a student's mealie scoop, crusie lamps and fir-candles. The prize exhibit is a reconstructed kitchen of the 19th century, complete in every detail.

 
   

Angus Folk Museum

 

Glamis Castle

  
 
A couple of miles to the east of Forfar, just of the B9133 road to Montrose lies the ruined Restenneth Priory (right), a very old monastic building which contains Pictish masonry and was an Augustinian settlement rising from a low promontory in what was one of a chain of shallow lakes round Forfar, now mostly drained. It is thought to date from around 710 AD with the lower section of the tower built for the Pictish king Brude Macbile possibly by masons from Wearmouth in Northumberland.

Soon after 1150, Augustinian canons from Jedburgh Abbey in the borders were encourages to set up a priory here and they incorporated the already ancient tower in their church as a bell-tower and landmark.

The church and cloister were burned by Edward I of England in 1305 but restored under Robert the Bruce.

 

 
 
  
For more on Forfar and the surrounding area click here. This will take you to the website of a Forfar man who is obviously far more enthusiastic about the town than I am!

 

For a map of the area, click here.