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Lowson Memorial Parish Church Jamieson StreetLowson Memorial Parish Church Jamieson Street · Photo: Russ Hamer · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History of Forfar · Historic Environment Scotland

139 listed buildings, 2 of them in the top category

Historic Environment Scotland counts them inside Forfar’s locality, 101 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 2 scheduled monuments. We have photos of 13 of its listed buildings.

2Category A40Category B2scheduled monuments14on West High Street
Listed buildings
139
101 per 10,000 residents
Category A
2
national importance
Category B
40
regional importance
Scheduled monuments
2
nationally important sites
In pictures

Forfar in 13 photos

Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

Municipal Buildings Castle StreetMunicipal Buildings Castle StreetCategory A listedForfar Sheriff Court House including steps, boundary walls and piers, Market Street and Brechin Road, ForfarForfar Sheriff Court House including steps, boundary walls and piers, Market Street and Brechin Road, ForfarCategory B listedSouth Street, Former Linen Works, Office Building with Italianate TowerSouth Street, Former Linen Works, Office Building with Italianate TowerCategory C listedChapel Park Primary School (Former Academy) Academy Street and High Street, Main BuildingChapel Park Primary School (Former Academy) Academy Street and High Street, Main BuildingCategory B listedCounty Offices, Market Street (Original Section Only)County Offices, Market Street (Original Section Only)Category C listed+8See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.

The map

Where Forfar’s history is

Every Category A and B building, monument and historic park.

Queen Margaret's Inch, chapel and crannog, scheduled monumentWestfield,enclosures NW of, scheduled monumentBankhead Farm and Cottage., Category BBankhead House, Category BBriar, Glamis Road, Category BBritish Linen Bank, Cross, Category BBurgh Cross, Castlehill, Category BCastle Street, 2 K6 Telephone Kiosks, Category BChapel Park Primary School (Former Academy) Academy Street and High Street, Main Building, Category BChapelpark Primary School (Former Academy) Academy Street, Western Block., Category BForfar Parish Church East High Street, Category BForfar Sheriff Court House including steps, boundary walls and piers, Market Street and Brechin Road, Forfar, Category BForfar Town and County Hall, Cross, Category BGarden Walls, Annfield House, Off Manor Street, Category BGeorge Milne's 50 East High Street and 1 Albion Place, Category BIngleside (Old Secession Manse) East High Street, Category BLowson Memorial Parish Church Hall Jamieson Street, Category BManor Street, Manor Works, East Block, Category BMonument to Sir Robert Peel, Newmont Hill., Category BOrchardbank House Including Boundary Walls and Pedestrian Gate, Category BReid Park Bar 39 West High Street and 19 Little Causeway, Category BSt. James's Church of Scotland. St. James's Road, Category BSt. James's Road School (Old South School), Category BSt. John's Episcopal Church 71 East High Street, Category B1-5 Castle Street and 2 West High Street ('Pool's Corner'), Category B100, 102 East High Street, Category B11, 13 West High Street and 27 Little Causeway, Category B13 Couttie's Wynd Including Garden Walls, Category B17, 19 East High Street, Category B2 East High Street, Category B23 Manor Street Manor Place, Including Fountain Garden Walls and Steps, Category B23 Osnaburg Street, Osnaburg Bar with J.B. Dawes and Unionist Committee Rooms Building on Chapel Street, Category B28-36 Castle Street, Category B3 Little Causeway, Category B4 Little Causeway, Category B50 High Street (County Assessor's), Category B50 High Street, Southern Building on East Side of Albion Place, Category B7 (8) Little Causeway, Category B7, 9 Castle Street the County Hotel, Category B74-82 East High Street, Category B76 Castle Street Western House Including Garden Walls, Category B95 Glamis Road, Langlands, Including Offices, Boundary Walls, Gatepiers and Gates, Category BLowson Memorial Parish Church Jamieson Street, Category AMunicipal Buildings Castle Street, Category A
Category ACategory BScheduled monument

Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.

139 listed buildings by grade
2 Category A40 Category B97 Category C

Historic Environment Scotland lists buildings in three categories: Category A for buildings of national or international importance (about 7.5% of listed buildings), Category B for buildings of regional importance (about 50%), and Category C for buildings of local importance (about 43%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.

Every entry on Historic Environment Scotland’s designations whose point lies inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.

Category A

The 2 Category A listed buildings in Forfar

Buildings of national or international importance, about 7.5% of all listed buildings. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.

Category B

The 40 Category B listed buildings in Forfar

Buildings of regional importance. 9 are photographed.

Show the other 28
Historic streets

West High Street has the most listed buildings

Streets by the listed entries with an address on them. One entry can be a whole terrace, so long rows count once.

West High Street14 listed
Dundee Loan13 listed
Little Causeway11 listed · 2 II*
East High Street8 listed · 4 II*
Sparrowcroft7 listed
Castle Street6 listed · 1 II*
Eastern Sunnyside6 listed
Osnaburg Street5 listed

Of the 139 entries, 97 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

What’s protected

Most of Forfar’s listed buildings are homes

Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.

Houses, terraces & villas114
Public & civic buildings10
Churches, chapels & priories6
Memorials, crosses & tombs5
Walls, gates & bridges4

114 entries (82%) are houses, terraces and villas. 6 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 2 Category A buildings.

Buildings are sorted by words in each entry’s name (church, gate, inn, memorial…): the list’s open data has no building type. An entry named only by its address counts as a house.

Category C

97 Category C listed buildings

This category covers buildings of local importance. Open any building to read its official list entry.

All 97 Category C listed buildings, A to Z
Boyle Park Bowling Pavilion, ForfarClydesdale Bank Buildings Castle StreetCongregational Chapel 6 Osnaburg StreetCounty Offices, Market Street (Original Section Only)Doig's Showroom Little CausewayFarr Lodge, St. James's RoadForfar Parish Churchyard East High StreetForfar Swimming Pool and Boundary Wall, The Vennel, ForfarLowson Memorial Parish Church, Manse, Jamieson Street and Lilybank Crescent.Meffan Institute, 20 West High StreetQueen's Hotel 12, 14 CrossRavenswood (Original House Only) New RoadRoyal Bank of Scotland, 6, 7 CrossSouth Street, Former Linen Works, Office Building with Italianate TowerWash House, Western Sunnyside1 Eastern Sunnyside and 41 Dundee Loan1 Sparrowcroft1-3 East High Street and 2 Castle Street1-5 West High Street10 Dundee Loan10 East High Street with Close to 1210 Manor Street Old Parish Kirk Manse, Now Manor Guest House10-14 Castle Street 'the Strangers' Inn'11 Little Causeway11 Osnaburg Street11, 13 Eastern Sunnyside12-16 West High Street13, 15 Castle Street13-17 Osnaburg Street13-25 Dundee Loan14 (Formerly 17, 18) Little Causeway14 Dundee Loan14 East High Street15 Little Causeway and 2 New Road15, 17 Eastern Sunnyside15, 17 West High Street and 25, 26 Little Causeway16, 18 East High Street16-22 Castle Street17-21 Castle Street18 Dundee Loan19 Academy Street19-21 Osnaburg Street19-21 West High Street2 Sparrowcroft2, 4 Osnaburg Street2, 4 St. James's Road2, 4, 6 Manor Street2-10 Western Sunnyside20 Little Causeway20-26 East High Street21 Little Causeway21, 23 Academy Street22 Little Causeway22-26 Dundee Loan22-26 West High Street23 Little Causeway23-27 West High Street23-33 Castle Street Royal Hotel24 Little Causeway24, 26 Castle Street27-35 Dundee Loan28-34 Dundee Loan29 West High Street3 Eastern Sunnyside3 New Road with Boundary Walls3 Sparrowcroft3-9 Osnaburg Street31, 33 West High Street35 West High Street35-39 Castle Street36 Dundee Loan37, 39 West High Street38 Dundee Loan4 Sparrowcroft4-10 West High Street4-8 East High Street40 Dundee Loan42-44 Dundee Loan44-48 West High Street45, 47 West High Street and Little Causeway49, 51 West High Street5 Eastern Sunnyside5 Little Causeway5 Sparrowcroft50 High Street 3, 5, 7, 9 Albion Place53 West High Street6 and Former 7 Sparrowcroft60 Dundee Loan7 Eastern Sunnyside7, 9 West High Street7-11 Dundee Loan75 Castle Street Eastern House Including Garden Walls8 Sparrowcroft8-11 Cross9 Eastern Sunnyside9 Sparrowcroft9, 10 Little Causeway
Conservation areas

1 conservation area covers 3% of Forfar

Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.

Forfar18 ha
18 hain conservation areas, of 591 ha inside the locality.

95 of the 139 listed buildings stand in one.

Historic Environment Scotland’s conservation areas layer, supplied by councils (incomplete in places, so a page fact, never graded). Hectares are the part of each area inside the locality.

How the list grew

More than half of Forfar’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1971

The year each building now on the list was first listed.

1971 · 911980 · 42
19501960197019801990200020102020

The first 91 entries were listed in 1971, 2 of the 2 Category A buildings among them. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.

Monuments & landscapes

Monuments, parks and gardens

Designations that overlap the town by a tenth of their area or half a hectare.

2 scheduled monuments

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from Historic Environment Scotland.

Queen Margaret's Inch, chapel and crannogEcclesiastical: chapel; Prehistoric domestic and defensive: crannog
Westfield,enclosures NW ofPrehistoric ritual and funerary: enclosure (ritual or funerary)
Born here

23 notable people born in Forfar before 1900

The 20 best known on one timeline, earliest first.

Patrick Abercromby
George Don
Eilley Bowers
David Ireland
James Howe
David Robbie
William Balfour
Bob Hill
Davy Christie
Marion Stevenson
Len Mudie
Adam Bowman
Joseph Wedderburn
A. S. Neill
Archie Low
David McLean
Charles S. T. Calder
Alex Troup
George McLean
Geordie Henderson
1650170017501800185019001950
A. S. Neill
A. S. Neill1883–1973 · Scottish educator and theorist (1883-1973)
GD
George Don1798–1856 · Scottish botanist (1798-1856)
Joseph Wedderburn
Joseph Wedderburn1882–1948 · British mathematician (1882–1948)
DM
David McLean1887–1967 · Scottish footballer, born 1890
PA
Patrick Abercromby1656–1716 · Scottish antiquarian, physician
James Howe
James Howe1839–1920 · Australian politician
MS
Marion Stevenson1871–1930 · Scottish missionary with the Church of Scotland Mission
Eilley Bowers
Eilley Bowers1826–1903 · 19th century Nevada pioneer and mining millionaire (1826–1903)

Everyone born in Forfar → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

Neighbours

Listed buildings in the places around Forfar

TownPeopleListedCategory AHistory
Forfar13,7741392—
Kirriemuir6,0001041—
Brechin7,1801726—
Monifieth9,356300—
Carnoustie11,37370—
Dundee147,36585369—
In brief

Forfar in brief

The official list counts 139 listed buildings in Forfar, 2 of them in the top category, including Lowson Memorial Parish Church Jamieson Street. West High Street alone has 14 listed buildings. A conservation area protects part of it. Of the whole list, 82% are houses, terraces and villas.

A. S. Neill (1883), George Don (1798) and Joseph Wedderburn (1882) are among the 23 people born here before 1900. More than half went on the list in a single year, 1971: 91 of 139. The rest is about typical: it has 2 Category A buildings, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 1); and it also has 2 scheduled monuments.

Questions about Forfar’s history

How many listed buildings are there in Forfar?

Historic Environment Scotland lists 139 buildings inside Forfar’s locality: 2 Category A, 40 Category B and 97 Category C.

What are the Category A listed buildings in Forfar?

2, including Lowson Memorial Parish Church Jamieson Street and Municipal Buildings Castle Street.

Which street in Forfar has the most listed buildings?

West High Street (14), Dundee Loan (13) and Little Causeway (11) have the most listed entries named by an address. One entry can be a whole terrace.

Are there scheduled monuments in Forfar?

Yes, 2 scheduled monuments, including Queen Margaret's Inch, chapel and crannog and Westfield,enclosures NW of.

How many conservation areas are there in Forfar?

1, covering about 18 hectares of the town. The largest is Forfar.

When were Forfar’s buildings listed?

The first in 1971; the most, 91, in 1971.

Who was born in Forfar?

Among people born before 1900: A. S. Neill (1883), George Don (1798), Joseph Wedderburn (1882), David McLean (1887) and Patrick Abercromby (1656).

Forfar has no History Grade.

Listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites: Historic Environment Scotland, Open Government Licence v3.0. Check an entry on Historic Environment Scotland’s portal before relying on it.

Sources: Historic Environment Scotland designations (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary · Historic Environment Scotland conservation areas (compiled from councils; October 2026). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.