Wick, Highland

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Wick
Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Uige

Wick shown within Scotland
Population	7,794
OS grid reference	ND365505
- Edinburgh	256 miles (412 km)
- London	631 miles (1016 km)
Council area	Highland
Lieutenancy area	Caithness
Constituent country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WICK
Postcode district	KW1
Dialling code	01955
Police	Northern
Fire	Highlands and Islands
Ambulance	Scottish
Scottish Parliament	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
UK Parliament	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
European Parliament	Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland

Coordinates: 58°27′14″N 3°05′20″W / 58.454, -3.089

Wick (Inbhir Uige in Gaelic) is an estuary town and a former burgh in the north of the Highland council area of Scotland. Historically, it is one of two burghs within the county of Caithness. Wick was the county town.

The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. It has a population of about 9,000.

Pulteneytown, which was developed on the south side of the river by the British Fisheries Society during the 19th century, was officially merged into the burgh in 1902. Wick Harbour^[1] is on the Pulteneytown side of the river.

Wick is within the former civil parish of Wick. The parish has that of Latheron to the south, those of Watten and Bower to the west, and that of Canisbay to the north. The eastern boundary of the parish is Moray Firth coastline.

The town is on the main highway (the A99-A9 road) linking John o' Groats with southern Britain. The Far North railway line links Wick with southern Britain and with Thurso, the other burgh of Caithness. Wick Airport is on Wick's northern outskirts. The airport has two usable runways. A third is derelict.

The main offices of The John O'Groat Journal and The Caithness Courier are located in Wick, as are Caithness General Hospital (run by NHS Highland), the Wick Carnegie Library and local offices of the Highland Council. Wick Sheriff Court is one of 16 sheriff courts serving the sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands.

Wick's history stretches back, at least, to the era of Scandinavian rule in Caithness, which ended, conclusively, in 1266's Treaty of Perth. The name Wick appears to be from a Norse word, vik, meaning bay. The Castle of Old Wick is on the coast about one kilometre south of the town.

Wick Academy play in the Highland Football League.

1 Pulteneytown
2 Old Pulteney Distillery
3 External links
4 Castle of Old Wick
5 Heritage Museum
6 Carnegie Library
7 Tourist Information Centre
8 World's shortest street
9 Local Government
10 Parliamentary burgh
11 Twin Towns
12 Map references
13 Footnotes
- 13.1 See also
  - 13.1.1 External pages

Looking down-river towards the Bridge of Wick, 2005

Pulteneytown is now an area of Wick in on the south side of the River Wick. Until 1902 Pulteneytown was administered separately from the Royal Burgh of Wick.

Pulteneytown takes its name from Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, a governor of the British Fisheries Society. In the early years of the 19th century Sir William commissioned Britain's leading civil engineer, Thomas Telford, to design and supervise the creation of a major new herring fishing town and harbour at the estuary of the River Wick. Pulteneytown was so named after the death of Sir William in 1805 and became a major player in the 19th century herring boom. During this boom period the harbour was expanded still further by local ship-builder James Bremner. History of this era is preserved in the collections of Wick Heritage Museum.

As created by the British Fisheries Society, Pulteneytown consisted of Lower Pulteney and Upper Pulteney. Lower Pulteney was primarily a working area, built on a sandbank behind the harbour. Upper Pulteney was primarily a residential area, on higher ground. Street names in Upper Pulteney tend to be those of somewhat "upper class" individuals associated with the Fisheries Society, while Lower Pulteney street names tend to be more "lower class". Telford Street is in Lower Pulteney.

Pulteneytown Parish Church (of the Church of Scotland) is located in Argyle Square and was opened in 1842. Services are held twice every Sunday.

The Old Pulteney whisky distillery is in the Pulteneytown area. The first Caithness Glass factory was also in this area, but Caithness Glass has now left both the town and Caithness.

The Old Pulteney Distillery is an aging malt whisky production and facility in Pulteneytown. The distillery produces the Old Pulteney Single Malt whisky at a number of ages and has a visitor centre in Huddart Street^[2].

Like Pulteneytown the distillery is named for Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet. The distillery was established in 1826 when Pulteneytown was quite newly established as a herring fishing port. The distillery is the most northerly on the Scottish mainland and was quite inaccessible, when established, except by sea. Barley was brought in by sea, and the whisky was shipped out the same way. At that time many of the distillery workers were also fishermen. Old Pulteney is promoted as a Highland single-malt Scotch. It has characteristics which are attributed to exposure to sea air during maturation.

The distillery is now owned by Inver House Distillers Limited. Other Inver House distilleries include the Speyburn-Glenlivet Distillery, Knockdhu Distillery, Balblair Distillery and Balmenach Distillery.

The Old Pulteney site absorbs water from an old mill stream called the Mill Lade. This stream flows out of Loch Hempriggs, 2 miles to the south/southwest, and is reputed to have powered a barley mill at or near the site of the distillery.

Since 2006 there has been implementation of plans to fuel the distillery with wood chips, in a combined heat and power scheme which will also produce heating for nearby housing and electricity for the power grid.

Old Pulteney Website

The Castle of Old Wick

The Castle of Old Wick, known also as the Old Man of Wick was built in the 12th century when the Norwegian earldom of Orkney included Caithness, and was united under Harald Maddadsson^[3]. The castle is thought to have been his stronghold on the mainland of Britain. There is evidence that the site was occupied before the present castle was built.

All that remains today is a tall tower sitting on the very edge of the cliffs, about half a mile south of Wick Bay and of the modern town of Wick, but originally the castle had at least 4 stories as well as extra buildings containing workshops and other quarters.

During the 14th century it was owned by Sir Reginald de Cheyne who was a supporter of Edward I during his attempt to establish John Balliol as King of Scotland, although there is no evidence of a battle having taken place there.

It was abandoned in the 18th century.

The castle was built to the same plan as Brough Castle, which is about 29 kilometres to the north/northwest, on the Pentland Firth coast of Caithness.

Wick Heritage Museum is in Bank Row, Pulteneytown. The museum is run by the Wick Society, with a strong focus on the herring-boom era of Wick's history.

The Wick Carnegie Library is now run by Highland Council. As well as providing a general library service the library preserves valuable books and other documents about Wick and Caithness and their histories. Also it preserves a crocodile (Gavialis gangeticus) presented by Sir Arthur Bignold in 1909.

The library building also houses the North Highland Archive^[4] and the St. Fergus Gallery exhibitions. The North Highland Archive is part of the Highland Council Archive Service, and holds collections of official and private papers, the earliest dating from 1589, relating to Wick and the county of Caithness.

Construction of the library building, 1897, was part funded by Andrew Carnegie. It is at the junction of Sinclair Terrace and Cliff Road.

The Tourist Information Centre is now located upstairs in the Mcallan's store on High Street.

In 2006 it was reported by the BBC that the Guinness Book of Records had confirmed the world's shortest street, Ebenezer Place measuring 2 yards and 9 inches, was located in Wick, containing just one front door. ^[5] ^[6]

Wick has history as a royal burgh dating from 1589.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the local government burgh was merged into the Caithness district of the two-tier Highland region.

In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the district was abolished and the region became a unitary council area.

From 1996 until this year, 2007, the town of Wick was covered by two or three wards, each electing one councillor by the first past the post system of election. This year, a single Wick ward was created to elect three councillors by the single transferable vote system. The new ward is one of three within the Highland Council's Caithness ward management area and one of seven within the council's Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross corporate management area.

There is also the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council, which was created in 1975 when the burgh was abolished. The community council is not a tier of local government but it is recognised as a level of statutory representation. The community council represents an area which is much smaller than that represented by ward councillors, and the ward area also includes parts of other community council areas.

The town contains one diplomatic mission, a Danish consulate.

Wick was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall and Tain in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. Cromarty was added to the list in 1832.

The constituency was a district of burghs known also as Tain Burghs until 1832, and then as Wick Burghs. It was represented by one Member of Parliament. In 1918 the constituency was abolished and the Wick component was merged into the then new county constituency of Caithness and Sutherland.