The Forres Tolbooth is a municipal building on the High Street in

Forres Forres (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the County of Moray, Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin, Moray, Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several ...

in Scotland. The building, which is used as a visitor attraction, is a Category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The first tolbooth in Forres was completed in the mid-16th century. It was primarily used as a prison, but was in a ruinous condition by 1655. Extensive repairs were carried out in the 1670s and the late 1690s. A bell was installed in 1708 and a clock was installed in 1711. The foundation stone for the current structure was laid in 1838. It was designed by William Robertson in the

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone, and was completed in 1839. The design involved a five-stage tower facing southwest down the High Street. There was a round headed doorway with an

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

in the first stage, a round headed window with an archivolt in the second stage, a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

led

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

with corner

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...

s at the top of the third stage, clock faces with more corner bartizans in the fourth stage, and a tall

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

in the fifth stage, all surmounted by an

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

-shaped roof, a small

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

and a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

in the shape of a cockerel. There was a three-storey courthouse block behind. Internally, the principal rooms were some vaulted rooms in the tower, six prison cells, and a courtroom, which featured a

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, al ...

ed ceiling and stained glass windows depicting

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, persecution of the Christians that the Roman Empire, Rom ...

, on the first floor of the block behind. A

mercat cross A mercat cross is the Scots language, Scots name for the market cross found frequently in Scotland, Scottish cities, towns and villages where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or ...

, designed by Thomas Mackenzie closely resembling the Scott Monument, was erected just to the west of the tolbooth in 1844. The building was closed to the public in 1991 and was subsequently left largely vacant except for two offices used by

Moray Council Moray Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Mhoireibh'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Moray, Moray council area. History Moray District Council Local government across Scotland was reorganised in 1975 u ...

. By 2011, the condition of the fabric of the building was deteriorating and it was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. The building was transferred from Moray Council to the newly-formed Forres Heritage Trust in 2014. After extensive restoration works, which included refurbishment of the courtroom, a new staircase in the tower and masonry repairs, the building re-opened as a visitor attraction in 2022. Tours of the building reached the prison cells, the courtroom and then the tower. The complex also began hosting concerts and other events: a marriage ceremony took place in the courtroom in April 2022, and concert performers there have included the folk singer, Ivan Drever, in April 2024. The building was lit up with energy efficient floodlights to help promote tourism from January 2024.

References

{{reflist Category A listed buildings in Moray Listed government buildings in Scotland Forres Clock towers in the United Kingdom 1839 establishments in Scotland Towers completed in 1839 Government buildings completed in 1839

History

See also

References