The historic town of Forfar is famed for its witches, who in the 17th century, apparently danced on graves and frolicked with the devil, only to be imprisoned in the town’s jail and burnt to death in a barrel of tar.
Once the seat of Scotland’s King Malcolm Canmore, you can still visit the site of Forfar Castle which was destroyed by Robert the Bruce in 1306.
Forfar is often associated with the Bridie, a tasty meat and pastry delicacy. However, 200 years ago, brogues provided Forfar with its claim to fame. The town’s shoemakers were well known for their sturdy, yet stylish footwear. Records held by the Angus Archives, which also holds the records for various local guilds of shoemakers and the county’s shoemaking companies, reveal that Kirriemuir shoemakers were banned from selling their wares in Forfar!
Yet no matter how well Forfar’s shoemakers made their brogues, when weaving became big business in the area, almost all of the local shoemakers swapped trades and joined the weavers. As the Industrial Revolution took effect a few innovative Angus weavers, such as Mr Don and Mr Low from Forfar, took advantage of the opportunities provided by steam-powered looms and built large weaving mills. These mills employed thousands of people and brought their owners great wealth. Although the majority of these mills have been demolished or converted into housing, Forfar’s Don & Low continues to operate.
Starting at the Meffan Museum & Art Gallery in the town centre, this heritage trail will take around two hours, with shorter trails available to add on around Forfar Loch and up Balmashanner Hill which will take around one hour each.
ANGUSalive’s Meffan Museum & Art Gallery was originally funded by a legacy of £5,000, left by Miss Jane Meffan, in memory of her father, the former Provost William Meffan, and was to contain a Reading Room, Free Library, Reference Room, a Museum and a Hall. In 1988 the library moved further along West High Street.
Today the Museum tells the story of Forfar from Stone Age right through to the last days of the Royal burgh. On display are Pictish Stones, Forfar Witch Trials and the reconstructed Vennel with its trades and crafts.
This is one of the last cobbled streets left in the town.
A marble fountain stands in the middle of the street, donated in memory of the late James Webster, an erstwhile clerk at the Court of Session.
The Osnaburg Bar is one of the town’s oldest licensed premises.
The name was derived from a rough linen imported from Osnabrück in Germany when this building was a weaver’s shop.
Osnaburg Street or the Pend was opened in 1783 by Gilbert Don as a street between the Vennel and the Cross and is one of the oldest streets in Forfar where there was an array of little shops as can be seen in The Meffan Museum. Gilbert Don’s son became one of the founders of Don & Low in 1792.
The little house above the Pend was where the inspector lived who could officially stamp osnaburgs to enable people to sell their cloth.
Through the close you will come to the Cross which is the original location of the Market (Mercat) Cross where proclamations were made, deaths announced, armies mustered.
However, in the late 18th century the Mercat Cross was moved to Castle Hill because the Town House had been built and it was causing congestion problems!
This was the first major commission for architect James Playfair whose son, William Henry Playfair, was responsible for designing most of Edinburgh’s New Town. Built in 1788, this is where Angus Council now meets to carry out its business for the county.
On the north side, looking down Castle Street, is the beautiful Canmore Room where civic events take place and even weddings are occasionally held.
On the west side of the building there is a small plaque from Polish soldiers, who were billeted in Forfar during World War II, thanking the people of Forfar for their kindness.
Travel along Castle Street until you come to Myre Road on the left.
Pass the Royal Hotel you will find a garden, commemorating the lives of Forfar botanists, from the Don and the Drummond families.
Cross Myre Road and walk along the tiny lane called Annfield Lane. Turn right onto Manor Street named as such because it is thought that a manor with beautiful gardens was built here for the royals and their court to relax.
On the left you will find the house of John Nevay (1792-1870) who was a handloom weaver but wrote lyrical poetry as recreation from his harsh working life. Although not well known in Scotland some of his work was translated into French and German.
At the end of Manor Street turn left. Walk a little further along Castle Street until you come to the old Post Office on the left. Further on to the newsagent on the left. There you can get the key for Castle Hill. Cross the road into Canmore Street.
Take the time to go up the cobbled lane to this quiet space where you can get a view of the surrounding town and countryside. An information board will tell you about the Castle and the Mercat Cross and a viewfinder will let you know what you’re looking at from the top of the tower.
From the Castle Hill you will see to the north what is now the Greens Car Park. Up to 1781 this was all part of the loch. Two log boats were found in this area, one in 1860’s and the other in 1952 when the flats were being built.
Once you have returned the key, travel left over the roundabout where you will see the Reid Hall which was donated to the town by “Forfar’s Grand Old Man” Peter Reid in 1869. The hall was rebuilt in the 1950’s following a fire in 1941.
Peter was a confectioner and known to be responsible for the advent of Forfar Rock, which became world famous, earning him a fortune. He spent a great deal of it by donating not only the Reid Hall but also the Reid Park, a beautiful park at the foot of Balmashanner monument.
Carry on past the Reid Hall to the mini roundabout and turn right along Market Street. On the left you will find the Sheriff Court. Halfway up the steps you will notice a plaque which was placed there to commemorate the march past King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Gen. Sikorski, by Polish soldiers who were billeted in Angus during the Second World War in 1941.
This ‘handsome and commodious’ building was completed in 1871 and the escutcheons on the abutments carrying the roof arches exhibit carvings of a Thistle, a Rose, a Shamrock and a Daffodil, the emblems of Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. The building beside the Court is now the County Buildings used for council work but was once the prison cells.
Turn right onto John Street then Carseburn Road. At the bottom of Carseburn Road, turn left into Victoria Street, which was created when the Arbroath and Forfar Railway Company built Forfar’s first railway station here in 1838. Forfar had two railway stations (the second beside the Mart) and from there goods and people could be transported north, south, east and west. Unfortunately that came to an end thanks to Dr Richard Beeching, Transport Minister in Harold Macmillan’s government.
At the small car park on the left is where the last witch, Helen Guthrie, was burned in 1665. At that time, this area was outwith the town limits and was a playfield beside a windmill.
At the top of Victoria Street turn right onto North Street. (You will notice the long-established dairy on the left where milk has always been sold in bottles).
Cross East High Street to the mini roundabout and turn right into Academy Street. Past the Legion you will see the Pitstop Youth Project whose building was the Secessionist Chapel of Rev Dr John Jamieson for 16 years. He was responsible for the first Scots dictionary in 1808.
Travel along Academy Street and on the right you will see Academy Court – social housing – which was Chapelpark Primary School and before that Forfar Academy.
Turn right onto Couttie’s Wynd noticing the Masonic Hall on the right. At the top is East High Street, a wide open street where cattle markets, feeing markets (when workers were recruited) and funfairs were held regularly. Turn left and you will notice Prima, which is a fine example of a gable end house.
The Chapel or Church of Forfar was founded in 1241 and dedicated to St James the Great, sitting above the town. A new church was built here in 1568 and in 1591 it became the Parish Church of Forfar to take the place of Restenneth Priory (a mile and a half to the east of Forfar) which had fallen into disrepair. This building was also demolished and replaced by the present church in 1791 with the tower being added in 1813-1814 by Patrick Brown.
The graveyard was where the witch Helen Guthrie and her friends danced and made a paste of dead child’s flesh which enabled her broom to fly, as the story goes. It is also where George Don the Botanist was buried in 1814 and his memorial stone was erected in 1910 by public subscription.
At the Myre car park is The Forfar Botanists’ Garden which is a living memorial to Forfar’s world famous Botanist families, Don and Drummond, completed in 2013 by the Friends of the Forfar Botanists, who continue to maintain it.
Cross over towards the Country Park. After the Caravan Park you will see ANGUSalive’s Ranger Centre which can give you lots of information about the flora and fauna of the Country Park. From there head round the loch where you will pass the cricket and rugby grounds before entering the deeply wooded area. All around the loch you will find hides for bird watching, seats with views and little shelters.
At the far end of the woods you will cross the Dean Water which was man made to enable the draining of the loch in 1767. The Earl of Strathmore, who owned the loch at the time, decided to drain the loch and sell the marl for fertilizer. Before that the loch extended right into the town as far as the Greens Car Park and Goosecroft where two dug-out boats were discovered in the 1860’s and 1952. The latter can be found in ANGUSalive’s Meffan Museum.
Returning along the path at the end of the loch gives excellent views of the loch and the steeple in the town. Just past the farm house on the hill is a memorial stone to the Forfar Witches erected here in 2010.
There is quite a steep part to this walk, so be warned! Binoculars are recommended.
Leaving the Cross, go through the Pend, past the old Swimming Pool. At the top of the Vennel, turn right and go past Strathmore Primary School. First left after that is Reid Park Road. Go along there and up the steps into Reid Park. A path on the left will take you past the statue of Peter Reid, confectioner and ex-Provost, who gifted the park (along with the Reid Hall), to the people of Forfar.
The bandstand was erected in 1900 and the park was a regular meeting place for the workers from the six mills which existed in Forfar at that time.
At the top of the park there is a doorway which you can go through and follow the path right up to the top of the hill. Turn right and you will find the War Memorial, designed by architect Thomas Robert Soutar and built in 1921 by Alexander Adamson Jr with joinery work by David Stewart. to commemorate the town’s servicemen who died in the First World War. From there you gain a panoramic view of the Strathmore Valley.
If you carry on past the monument, you will go through the quarries where the slates of many of Forfar’s houses came from and return to Dundee Road. Turn right and you will head back into town.
Alternatively, turn back and you will find a viewpoint and octagonal shelter also gifted by James Anderson (1929). To get back into town, head down the path onto Lour Road. You will pass many fine mansions, but note at 72A The Hollies a cairn built into the wall which is believed to be the final resting place of King Feredith of the Picts who died in the Battle of Restenneth. When you get to the end of Lour Road, cross into the Vennel and it will bring you back to the Cross.
