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The stone front of the Meffan Museum on West High Street, Forfar.
Angus

Meffan Museum & Art Gallery

Forfar's museum and art gallery on West High Street, with a gallery of Pictish stones, an old cobbled street and changing art exhibitions.

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Welcome

On West High Street in Forfar, behind an old stone front with a round-arched door, the Meffan is the town's museum and art gallery, and it is free to wander.

Its treasure is a gallery of Pictish stones, carved cross-slabs and symbol stones from around Angus, set out so that both faces can be seen up close; among them is the Dunnichen Stone. Elsewhere, a narrow cobbled street of old Forfar has been rebuilt inside, with a clockmaker at his bench, a weaver at the loom and a shoemaker mending boots, and a display tells the story of the Forfar witch hunts of the 1660s.

Upstairs, the galleries show changing exhibitions of art. The Meffan opens most days from spring to autumn, and from Friday to Monday in winter.

Close byForfar CastleThe hill where Forfar's royal castle stood, its old market cross now a lookout tower.1 min by roadSee itForfar Castle
Before you go

Free.

Open from April to October every day but Tuesday, and from November to March Friday to Monday, from half past ten until four.

Where
20 West High Street, Forfar DD8 1BB.
Run by
ANGUSalive.
Where it is

On West High Street in the middle of Forfar.

Close byForfar.
  1. Roofless stone walls and wall tombs enclose a grassy ruined church interiorRestenneth PrioryThe ruined priory church of Restenneth near Forfar, its tower begun about 1100, where Robert the Bruce buried his young son.2 miles4 min by road
  2. Two donkeys standing side by side in a fenced field with buttercupsMurton Farm & Nature Reserve3 miles5 min by road
  3. A verdigris statue overlooks a walled garden and sandstone houseJ.M. Barrie's BirthplaceThe cottage where the author of Peter Pan was born.7 miles11 min by road
  4. Glamis CastleGlamis CastleThe castle of the Earls of Strathmore, south of Forfar.7 miles14 min by road
  5. Ruined stone gable with empty windows beside a glass-cased Pictish cross-slabThe Eassie StoneA Pictish cross-slab of the late 600s at Eassie.8 miles11 min by road
Directions
AttractionsForfar Castle0.5 miles
The Aberlemno serpent stone, a leaning slab carved with a serpent and symbols.AttractionsAberlemno Pictish Stones5.4 miles
The red door of Glamis Gallery among the ivy of the old cottages.ShoppingGlamis Gallery5.7 miles
Ink illustration of stone cottages with "The Bothy Experience" painted on a gable endAttractionsGin Bothy Experience5.8 miles
Red box of assorted sweets from Star Rock Shop, including humbugs, tablet and candy canesShoppingThe Star Rock Shop6.4 miles
Uniforms and helmets along a corridor in the Tayside Police Museum.AttractionsTayside Police Museum6.5 miles
Deep summer borders of flowers in the walled garden at Pitmuies.AttractionsPitmuies Gardens7.7 miles
Tealing Dovecot, a small stone building of the late 1500s.AttractionsTealing Earth House8.9 miles
Oystercatcher standing on one leg on a riveted green girderAttractionsCrombie Country Park9.4 miles
Stay nearby

Places to stay near the museum, and when each is next free.

Nàdair, AngusNàdair
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Angus
  • 9 miles from the Meffan
Free 4–6 DecGuests raise wine glasses at a long candlelit table in a stone barnGuardswell Farm
  • Sleeps 10
  • In Inchture
  • 19 miles from the Meffan
Check datesA stone cottage with a green door and three chimneys sits behind a lawn bordered by shrubs and flowerbeds.Fairygreen Cottage
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Angus
  • 19 miles from the Meffan
Check datesThe black timber cabin's exterior, with a chimney above the roofline and a freestanding bath standing on the decking below.Airdit
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Angus
  • 19 miles from the Meffan
Free 25–27 OctPlaces to stayEvery stay in AngusAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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Scotland, in print.

Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.

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Find out more

For further reading, before you go.