Forres

Forres (ˈfɒrᵻs; Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There are many geographical and historical attractions nearby such as the River Findhorn, and there are also classical, historical artifacts and monuments within the town itself, such as Forres Tolbooth and Nelson's Tower. Brodie Castle, the home of the Brodie Clan, lies to the west of the town, close to the A96. A list of suburbs in the town of Forres contains: Brodie, Dalvey, Mundole, Laichmurchie and Springdale. Between 2002 and 2013 some 70 hectares of land was investigated by archaeologists in advance of a proposed residential development on the southern fringes of the town. They found an extensive Iron Age settlement and evidence that people lived in the area from the Neolithic (radiocarbon dates from the 4th to the mid-3rd millennium BC were found) to the Early Historic period (they found radiocarbon dates from the 9th–12th centuries AD, around the time that historical records began). The Iron Age settlement had a souterrain and metalworking furnaces, and they found Neolithic and Bronze Age ceramics and cup-marked rock art. The excavation of a souterrain in Moray is quite rare; only one other souterrain had been excavated in Moray before this one. The earliest written reference to Forres may be the Οὐάραρ εἴσχυσις (, 'Varar Estuary') mentioned in the second century Geography of Claudius Ptolemy. The town is the location of Sueno's Stone, an enormous carved stone probably created by Picts to commemorate a battle against Norse invaders. The stele is tall and encased in glass structure to protect it from the elements and graffiti. Sueno's Stone translates to Sven's Stone. It dates from AD 850 to AD 950. A royal castle was present in the area from at least 900 AD, and around 1140 AD Forres became a royal burgh. Royal burghs were founded by the Kings of Scots of the 12th century to encourage trade and economic improvement.