Forres Castle

The name applies to a small eminence situated at the east end of Forres overlooking the Forres Burn and adjoining Bridge Street. On it is situated the ancient castle of Forres from which it takes its name, the remains of which are now visible. It contains a neat cottage, Dr Thompson’s monument and part of a building commenced by [David ?] Dawson of Forres in 1713 which was intended as a town residence [a bit unclear on the microfilm], but was never completed owing to the proprietor [illegible] up in the troubles of 1715. It was subsequently never built higher than the vaulted cellars in which state it remains to the present day with much the appearance of an ancient ruined castle and is I believe looked on as the remains of the ancient castle of Forres. It is the property of Sir Charles Macgregor of London.

Information from Ordnance Survey Object Name Book.

One of the first concrete references to the castle occurs in 1264, when William Wiseman, Sheriff of Forres, disbursed £10 for building a new tower beyond the king's chamber, and moreover 16s 10d in wages were paid to two hawk-catchers for fourteen weeks (Douglas, 1934, 523). In 1297, it was said to have been in English hands, and in that year it was attacked and taken by the patriotic party under the command of Sir Andrew Murray. After Bruce's victory at Bannockburn in 1314 it was transferred to the custody of the Earls of Moray. Before the end of the century possession of the castle passed to the Dunbars of Westfield who remained hereditary sheriffs of Moray for centuries. The castle itself probably fell into decay at the end of the seventeenth century, and the stones were removed and incorporated into dwelling houses round about.

[In the early years of the eighteenth century, the town's provost, Sir William Dawson, planned to construct a mansion on the site of Castle Hill, and much of the remains were cleared away. Dawson's Town house was never completed and for nearly two centuries the ruins of the house were often taken for the original castle ruins. Another attempt to build on the site occurred in 1845 when General Sir Lewis Grant uncovered the foundations of the early castle. The foundations, discovered eighteen feet below the surface, extended in a line from east to west for twenty-six yards and the walls were six feet in thickness. The western approach appeared to have been defended by an angular turret (Barron, 1913. iii, 71). Nothing now remains above ground level and the area has now been landscaped as a public park.

Information from ‘Historic Forres: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1982).