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Museums and history
in Angus.

It’s 20:54 in Angus.
Angus

Mill wheels, police cells and carved stones.

Angus keeps its past in small places run with care. In Kirriemuir you can see the cottage where J.M. Barrie was born and the cells of the old police station. Near Carnoustie, a water mill of 1814 still grinds oats when the sluice opens, and from Brechin steam trains run out to the Bridge of Dun. Pictish stones stand at St Vigeans, in Forfar's museum and in the old church at Eassie, and Iron Age ramparts ring the Caterthuns. A wet day can easily take in two or three.

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Place of the day18 hours ago

Tayside Police Museum.

A free museum of policing in Tayside in the old police station on Reform Street, Kirriemuir, with its original cells, uniforms and equipment.

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Newly discovered16 hours agoAngusLilybank BakehouseCafeAngusThe Wandering Bear CafeCafeAngusCopper OvenRestaurantAngusTomorrow Is Another DayCafeAngusRoo's LeapRestaurantAngusAndreou's BistroRestaurant

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

The newest places on our pages in Angus.

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From our guide14 hours ago

J.M. Barrie's Birthplace.

On Brechin Road in Kirriemuir, a little whitewashed cottage with a green door is where James Matthew Barrie was born. He grew up to write Peter Pan, and the boy who never grew up has his roots right here. The house and its neighbour hold an exhibition of his life and work, including the writing desk from his London flat on which Peter Pan was written. Out the back is the tiny wash house where, aged seven, he put on his first play. The garden has a jungle theme, so watch out for the crocodile. The National Trust for Scotland looks after it.

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Lunch12 hours agoAngusVin-Tealicious500 yardsAngusThe Port Kitchen500 yardsAngusAndreou's Bistro500 yards

Lunch near Signal Tower Museum.

The three closest tables: Vin-Tealicious, The Port Kitchen and Andreou's Bistro.

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From our guide9 hours ago

Barry Mill.

In a wooded dell on the Barry Burn, a couple of miles west of Carnoustie, a tall mill of pink stone stands beside its lade. When the sluice opens, the great wheel turns and the whole building begins to rumble. There have been mills on this spot since at least 1539. The one you see was built in 1814, and it ground oatmeal for local farms until 1982. The National Trust for Scotland has restored it to working order, and on milling days the air inside turns white with dust. Woodland paths follow the burn for a gentle walk afterwards.

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From our guide7 hours ago

St Vigeans Museum.

A mile north of Arbroath, the village of St Vigeans gathers beneath a red sandstone church on a steep little mound. In two cottages at the foot of the hill, Historic Environment Scotland keeps thirty-eight Pictish carved stones, every one of them found here in the village. The star is the Drosten Stone of the ninth century, with a cross on one face, Pictish beasts and symbols on the other, and a rare inscription along its edge. Around it are cross-slabs and fragments carved with hunters, animals and knotwork. The church on its mound above is worth the short climb.

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From our guide5 hours ago

Caledonian Railway.

Brechin's old railway terminus still stands, a long, low station of stone and ironwork painted green and cream, with a glass canopy over the platform. Since 1993 volunteers have run trains from here along four miles of the old line to the Bridge of Dun. A steam or diesel engine pulls restored 1950s carriages out through the fields of the South Esk valley. At the far end you can stroll down to the river and the graceful three-arched bridge of the 1780s before the train heads back. Special days bring Thomas the Tank Engine and, at Christmas, the Polar Express.

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From our guide3 hours ago

Montrose Air Station Museum.

On flat ground by the sea at the northern edge of Montrose, the Royal Flying Corps set up Britain's first operational military airfield in 1913. The museum on the old airfield tells its story, from flimsy biplanes to jets. On the way in stand three of Major Burke's Sheds, hangars put up at the end of 1913 and perhaps the oldest military aircraft hangars left anywhere. On the grass outside are a replica of the Spitfire the people of Arbroath paid for in the war, and a Gloster Meteor jet. Volunteers run it all, with a warm welcome.

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From our guide1 hour ago

The Eassie Stone.

In a quiet churchyard at Eassie, between Glamis and Meigle, the roofless walls of an old church shelter a Pictish cross-slab of the late 600s. It is one of the earliest of its kind, and it stands in a glass case so you can walk all the way round it. One face carries a great cross. The other shows Pictish carving, with a stag whose muscles still stand out in the stone after thirteen centuries. The stone was found in the burn beneath the churchyard wall in 1850. It is free to see and only a few miles from Glamis.

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