A community group has set its sights on making a historic Moray landmark one of the region’s top tourist attractions.
The Tolbooth in Forres – which dates back to 1838 – was declared surplus to requirements by the local authority in 2010.
A year earlier, a group of local got together under the banner Forres Heritage Trust and took over the running of the High Street building, along with Nelson’s Tower.
The trust’s ambition to rejuvenate the Tolbooth and transform it into a museum were boosted in November after it successfully completed a community asset transfer and secured ownership of the A-listed building.
Featuring a clock tower and a courtroom, it housed the town’s police station and prison cells until the mid-1960s, and the courtyard to its rear served as a prisoners’ exercise yard.
Yesterday, Forres councillor George Alexander, a director of the trust, was one of several volunteers at the building carrying out cleaning and restoration work.
The core group of about 10 people have worked at the Tolbooth nearly every Friday morning for the past three years – with the aim of revitalising Forres town centre and draw visitors to the area.
Mr Alexander said the building was in a dire state when the trust took it over, but it was now well on the road to recovery.
“This was one of the first community asset transfers in the area,” he said.
“The idea behind the whole thing is to make the building, which is bang in the middle of the town, a leading tourist attraction.
“There’s no stopping us. It’s the camaraderie and the fact we are interested in this heritage that motivates us.
“Anybody under the age of 80 in Forres had never seen inside this place before we took it over because the council never had it open.”
The emerging museum’s next major photography exhibition of previously unseen images from the local area runs from September 2-5.
Mr Alexander added: “Photographs are worth more than their weight in gold.
“It is just incredible some of the images we have of the town.”
The venue is currently used once a month for Forres community council meetings and is now open to the public every Friday and Saturday from 2pm-4pm.