Friday 13 September 2013

Forres (an interlude before Giants Chapter 7)

It wasn't that hard to find out something about Forres. My lack of ambition in previous locations is now set in sharp contrast against the ease of looking stuff up on Wikipedia. 

Forres has a rich history. It turns up in Macbeth (Duncan had a castle there, before he kipped on the couch of the wrong laird). In 1200 it was made a Royal Burgh, and King James IV gave it a special charter in 1496. It also has Sueno's Stone, which was possibly carved by Picts to celebrate a victory against the Vikings. Bringing things bang up to date, it also had the first crystal meth lab in Scotland. That might be the first lab that got busted.
I bet the local council are delighted that the last fact is on the Wikipedia page.
Sueno's Stone is more interesting, anyway. It is still outside- it's been put in a big case, so it probably counts as the world's most concise museum. It's quite hard to pick out the detail on it, but there's plenty of old school fighting on it. It begs comparisons with the Giants: while the exact purpose of Sueno's Stone is contested, it's all about the ruckus. It's unlikely that it became the focus of community art, or spontaneous aesthetic responses by disturbed cyclists.

The relics of the railway are what caught my attention. Knowing that it was once a busy location - possibly due to the old distillery - opens up questions about how Scotland was impacted by the cuts of the 1960s. I have always been unhappy about the way that the state treats its railway services (getting a train is a pleasure, not just a journey), and start to wonder whether the cutting of services on this line has had an impact on the way that the countryside and city connect. 
I have always seen the concentration of population in the central belt as natural. But was it enforced by the destruction of the railways? Was there a time when being outside of the big cities wasn't necessarily a disconnection from urban life?

Forres has a fine history - and certainly deserves more study than I have given it.







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