The Falconer Museum is closed

All staff involved with the Falconer Museum were made redundant from April 2020, some staff were redeployed elsewhere within Moray Council.   Friends have no access to the building or collections.

There is no current plan for re-opening the Museum or restarting any of the services for children and families, schools, visitors to Moray, researchers and the public which were formerly offered by Moray Council Museum Service.

The Museum was acquired by Moray Council in 1979. Moray Council also undertook to ‘continue to manage, administer and finance’ the Falconer Museum. Moray Council decided in 2019 as part of an exercise to reduce its budget deficit to cut all funding for the running of the museum service.  Moray Council intended to find an alternative operating model to take over the Falconer Museum.  The Friends have been informed by Moray Council that no new operating model has been identified.  The Friends of the Falconer Museum deeply regret this ongoing situation.

If you have come to this website seeking a working museum, we offer our apologies and commiserations! Fixing the situation is not in our power. Even during closure, The Friends continue to support the Museum.  For the time being this website is the only public access to the Falconer Museum and its collections.

The Falconer Museum is named after two Forres born brothers, Hugh and Alexander Falconer. Hugh Falconer (February 29, 1808 – January 31, 1865) became prominent within the scientific community. A real Victorian polymath, Hugh was a contemporary of Charles Darwin, spending much of his scientific career in India. His paleontological work led to new ideas about the antiquity of man. He was also instrumental in introducing tea as a cash crop to India. To find out more about Hugh Falconer click here.

Alexander Falconer (1797 – 1856), Hugh’s big brother, became a merchant in Calcutta but later returned to his homeland. After his death he bequeathed £1000 in his will for the establishment of ‘a public museum in Forres for objects of art and science inclusive of a library and lecture room.’ He is buried at St. Laurence Church, Forres.

The bequest was, and still is, supervised by the Falconer Trust.  The trustees at present comprise: the minister of St Laurence parish church, the convener of Moray Council; four Moray councillors for the Forres area and three independent trustees.