Forfar's royal castle (or is it castles, plural?) have not been a physical presence in the town for many centuries, but the association of the burgh with royalty and power is a tangible and enduring part of its identity. What is known about the castle was summarised by the astute Angus historian Andrew Jervise, as follows:
The Castle Hill of Forfar is on the north side of the town, within the old boundary of the loch, and was surrounded by water. Malcolm and his 'good Queen Margaret' lived there occasionally, and a rising ground, about half a mile west of the Castle, still washed by the waters of the lake, in called Margaret's Inch, in honour of the queen, who is said to have had a chapel there.
The 'facts' about the royal stronghold and the association with this particular king and queen is somewhat more vague than many sources would admit. Malcolm III of Scotland ruled from 1058 to 1093 and was a pivotal figure in Scottish history. Known by the Gaelic epithet ceann mòr, 'Canmore = Big Head', he was faced with an aggressive, newly Norman England and adapted his kingdom accordingly. The legend is that he deferred greatly to his saintly queen Margaret, a scion of the displaced Anglo-Saxon royal house, whose displaced family had been exiled in Hungary, among other places. Margaret is lauded/condemned for introducing modern reforms to the form of the Irish Church and religion as it was practised in Scotland. But the truth about the couple and their effect on Scotland is of course more complex.
Although local historians and antiquaries link the royal couple to Forfar the evidence is quite thin. It is the same with the 'proof' that Forfar was a favoured and longstanding seat of royalty. The author of the Old Statistical Account of the parish in the late 18th century was The Rev. John Bruce. To give him his due, he did state that Forfar was only an occasional residence of this royal couple. But he pointed out, less securely, the significant English place-names in the vicinity which he believed were proofs of Forfar being a royal centre of some significance. These included the King's Muir, Queen's Well, Queen's Manor, Battle Dykes, etc. Another memory, particularly of Margaret, was the fair formerly held annually on the 16th of June, 'kept as an anniversary in honour of St Margaret'. Bruce also noted that:
Tradition celebrates [Margaret's] attention to the good instruction of the young women in Forfar, and it is said it was the law of her table, that none should drink after dinner who did not wait the giving of thanks, and hence the phrase through Scotland of the grace drink.
The Rev. J. G. McPherson elaborated about the commemoration of the queen in Forfar, stating that, on 19th June, 'the young females frequently went on the 19th of June in solemn procession to her Inch'. The 19th June supposedly marked the day of the queen's internment at Dunfermline Abbey. Several 19th century sources remark on the procession of barefoot girls going to the Inch to place garlands there in memory of the saintly queen.
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| Illustration from Alan Reid's Royal Burgh of Forfar |
Location of the Castle
Where was Forfar Castle supposed to have been located? The Rev Bruce again states that it was on a hill beside a piece of ground called the Manor, adjacent to Forfar Loch. The site, a mound around 50 feet high, lies in to the east of the loch boundary today and, although no vestige of the building remains, Castle Street remembers the site. The CANMORE website run by Historic Environment Scotland firmly states the castle was surrounded by water. Local historian Alan Reid stated that two prominent islands, the Manor and Castle Hill, were located formerly in Forfar Loch.
Two Castles or One?
The tradition that Forfar boasted two royal castles can be traced back at least to the 16th century Scottish historian Hector Boece. Albeit he was an Angus man who may have been privy to local knowledge, Boece is unfortunately tarnished with a reputation for unreliability. In his work he states that Forfar was strengthened with 'two roiall castles, as the ruins doo yet declare'.
While it is not unusual to find medieval strongholds within fairly short distances of each other it would be highly unusual, if not unique, to have two royal castles constructed within the same burgh. It seems that the two castles story is most likely a legend. Possibly older writers were confused by remains on the other island on the loch. Yet the religious buildings associated with St Margaret certainly persisted into the 16th century, so may not easily have been misunderstood as a castle. Was there another fortification elsewhere? King William the Lion granted Robert de Quinci, a leading Anglo -Norman baron, a plot in the old castle of Forfar in lieu of a toft (according to the Register of the Priory of St Andrews). De Quinci made it over to Roger de Argenten for £1 annually. The location of this 'old castle' must remain an open question. The Rev. McPherson ups the ante by postulating that Forfar had, in fact, three royal castles.
In 1327 King Robert Bruce granted the lands of Fullerton to Jeoffrey his fowler and the record states that the man would also receive entertainment for himself, his servants and horses within the king's house at Forfar when the king himself resided there. This royal residence, wherever it was, does not seem to have been as grand as a castle.
The Castle After Malcolm
Malcolm III's brother Donal Bane, who temporarily gained the kingship and was styled by some sources as a usurper, was thought to have been imprisoned at Forfar after he was deposed. Some say that he was blinded there. Subsequent royal activity is attested in the 12th and 13th centuries in the reigns of William the Lion (1165-1214) and Alexander II (1214-1249). William's widow, Queen Ermengarde, the founder of Balmerino Abbey in Fife, had a special attachment to Forfar Castle and resided for a time there. William held an assembly there in 1202. The English captured the castle in the 1290s and in 1306 is was burned and damaged. Following rebuilding it was destroyed finally in 1313 and never again restored. Remains of the building were visible into the 17th century.
The actual sequence of occupation and destruction during the Wars of Independence are not absolutely clear. Gilbert d'Umphraville was an English nobleman, styled Earl of Angus through the right of his wife, and he delivered Forfar to the English. King Edward I of England himself visited the castle for three days in July 1296, receiving the submission of the Abbot of Arbroath and assorted local nobles from Angus there. A governor named Brian Fitzalan was installed. He had wider responsibilities and was also in charge of the castles of Dundee, Roxburgh and Jedburgh. One tradition maintains that William Wallace burned the royal castle. Alexander de Abernethy told King Edward I that he found the stronghold burned and destroyed, and the wall about it much dispersed, though he gave the opinion that he thought he could hold it until relief came. Some repairs may have been undertaken. John of Weston, Constable of the Castle of Forfar, is mentioned in the records towards the latter part of English occupation. The fall of the castle to Robert Bruce is attributed to Robert the Forester of the forest of Platane who scaled the walls and opened the entrance, allowing the Scots to enter and slaughter the garrison.
There were evidently remains of some ancient building visible into early modern times at Forfar, though whether they were indeed the last remnants of the royal castle is debatable. Alan Reid quotes an anonymous 16th century source:
I saw tua durs cheiks (door cheeks) with ane mid trie betuene the durris maid verray clenely and verray substantiolls, quharin the constabill of Forfair Castell duelt in the tyme of King Malcolme Kanmore; thay ar of blak aik, and appeirandlie as thai war not maid V. Zeir of eild. [The Royal Burgh of Forfar, p. 22.]The 17th century notices of remains include the local historian Ochterlonie and Monipenie. The latter briefly states of Forfar in 1612: ' The towne of Forfare, with an old castle, with a loch and an isle therein, with a tower.'
The octagonal cross of the Market Tower now sits on Castle Hill.
The Market Cross Carving
There is a tradition that the top of the old demolished Market Cross of the burgh of Forfar showed a carving which represented the old castle of Forfar. The Rev. Bruce wrote that, 'A figure of the castle, cut in stone, remains upon the manse and the market cross, and forms the device of the common seal of the burgh...' The ancient Market Cross of Forfar was demolished in 1683 and a new one commissioned by the town the following year. The latter was also demolished at some stage and the likeness of the old castle was said to have been carved on the top section of the latter cross. Andrew Jervise for one doubted the tradition. He stated that the carved finial of the stone was found in a property at Forfar in the early 19th century by Dr Smith of Damside, Aberlemno. A few years after the discovery Dr Smith presented it to the town and it was placed at the base of the tower built on Castle Hill. However, it was damaged by vandalism and removed for safety to the Burgh buildings.
The Chapel on St Margaret's Inch
The Rev Bruce noted, before Forfar Loch was partially drained, near the north side there was:
an artificial island composed of large piles of oak and loose stones, with a stratum of earth above, on which are planted some aspen and sloe trees, supposed to have been a place of religious retirement for St Margaret. This now forms a very curious peninsula. The vestiges of a building, probably a place of worship, are still to be seen. And it is likely that there might be some accommodation too for the occasional residence of the priest of this place, as the remains of an oven were discernible not many years ago, and also something of the furniture of a pleasure garden.
Some writers state that the Inch was latterly a peninsula, though it was originally an island. The tradition of the chapel here is based on fact. In a charter of king Alexander II dated 1234 the monastery of Coupar Angus was bestowed with £10 yearly from the lands of Glenisla. Out of this annual revenue, 10 merks was devoted to the sustenance of two Cistercian monks who were perpetually charged with celebrating mass in the chapel of the Holy Trinity in the island in Forfar Loch. in 1508 the abbot of Coupar Angus granted the chaplainry to Sir Alexander Turnbull for life on condition that he maintained the fabric of the chapel and planted trees on the island.
Whatever the sequence of religious activities on the Inch, and irrespective of whether indeed it was an island or a small promontory, we can question whether if was originally a crannog rather than a natural geographical. If it was man made it would be a rarity in Angus as the nearest such structures are found in Highland Perthshire. It would also throw back the settlement date on the site at least into the Early Medieval period. Many crannogs, in Scotland and in Ireland, have their origins every earlier, in the Iron Age. Forfar Loch has associations (albeit late associations) with a St Triduana who allegedly settled there in the Pictish period. We should also recall that the probably similar and very significant religious site of Restenneth was also on a promontory or island only a few miles from St Margaret's Inch.
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| The Cross on Castle Hill |
Some Sources
Andrew Jervise, 'Notes regarding Historical and Antiquarian peculiarities of the Districts in Forfarshire, where the various relics now presented to the Museum of the Society were found,' Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, volume 2 (1855-56), pp 64-70.
James Murray Mackinlay, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland, Scriptural Dedications (Edinburgh, 1900).
Rev. J. G. McPherson, Strathmore, Past and Present (Perth, 1885).
Alan Reid, The Royal Burgh of Forfar (Paisley, 1902).
