FORFAR, royal, municipal and police burgh, parish and county town of Forfarshire, Scotland. Pop. (1931) 9,66o. It lies at the east end of the Loch of Forfar in the valley of Strath more, and is 13 m. N. by E. of Dundee by road and 214 m. by the L.M.S.R. It is on the same company's main line to Aberdeen, which has a branch to Brechin. The court house is one of the principal buildings. The hall contains portraits by Raeburn, Rom ney, Opie and others. Peter Reid, a merchant, gave the Reid hall and the public park. The burgh, with Montrose, Arbroath, Brechin and Inverbervie (the Montrose group of burghs), returns one member to parliament. On a gravel bank in the north-west of the Loch of Forfar stood a castle sometimes used as a residence by Margaret, queen of Malcolm Canmore. The staple industries are linen and jute manufactures and bleaching.
Forfar is at least as old as the time of Malcolm Canmore, for the first parliament after the defeat of Macbeth met in the castle, which stood on a mound north of the town. The parliaments of William the Lion, Alexander II. and Robert II. also assembled within its walls. The town was created a royal burgh by David I., and was burnt about the middle of the 13th century. Edward I. captured the castle, but in 1307 Robert Bruce seized and destroyed it, its site being now marked by the town cross. The town sided with Charles I. during the Civil War, and Charles II. presented the cross to it out of regard for the loyalty shown to his father. The witches' bridle, a gag to prevent witches from speaking whilst being led to execution, is still preserved in the county hall. One mile to the E. lie the ruins of Restennet priory.