Wick

 

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FIRST THINGS FIRST! The best way of finding your way around the Royal Burgh of Wick is to purchase a copy of Ronald P A Smith's coloured Thurso/Wick Street Plan, available from the tourist information centre in Thurso and from local booksellers, petrol filling stations and newsagents. If our map is not available in any particular outlet (despite it being the best available!), please express your disappointment to the management or order by post (see below).  This map was first published in 1998 and is now in its third edition. At the large scale of 8 inches to 1 mile (1:7500), it is the most detailed map of its kind available; the only one with comprehensive indexes and locations of visitor attractions, antiquities and places of interest; leisure facilities; schools; places of worship; health and welfare facilities; and other information including the local footpath network and locations of industrial estates, emergency services, etc.

As well as Thurso and Wick, the street map covers the villages of Castletown, Halkirk and Lybster. To order by post direct from the publisher, please click on the 'Map Ordering' button on the left.


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THE ROYAL BURGH OF WICK

Wick is perhaps Scotland's best known small town as it is so frequently marked on small scale maps, perhaps because of its relative isolation and short name! However, there is much more to the town than that!

Until the reorganisation of local government, it was the County Town of Caithness, Scotland's most northerly mainland county. The ancient town of Wick, situated on the north bank of the Wick River as it flows into Wick Bay, became a Royal Burgh in 1589, but large-scale expansion did not start until the early 19th century when the harbour and new town of Pulteneytown were established on the south bank by the British Fisheries Society. The area was laid out in a variation of the grid iron form by the well-known engineer, Thomas Telford. During the 19th century, the town expanded to become Europe's largest herring fishing port and a railway connection from the south was completed as early as 1874.

Intense rivalry between Wick and Pulteneytown on opposite banks of the river ended towards the end of the 19th century when the burghs were amalgamated. Although, today, fishing remains an important source of employment and prosperity for the town, the scale is much less than formerly. Replacement industry has been hard to attract, and the recent closure of the parent plant of the well-known producer of ornamental glass ornaments, Caithness Glass, has dealt a severe blow to the town. The town remains an important centre of public administration (under the Highland Council, based over a hundred miles away in Inverness) and is the location of the expanded Caithness General Hospital. Like Thurso, it is a fairly good shopping centre, serving a wide area, but is sadly now noted more for its selection of supermarkets rather than its range of locally-owned outlets. The town's 2001 population was 7,333.
 
Click on the button below to find what shops are to be found in Wick High Street.


Antiquities and Places of Interest

High Street and Market Place - In contrast to the regularity of Pulteneytown, the ancient heart of Wick retains its informal charm. The winding High Street, partly paved and pedestrianised to a high standard (photograph on right), is still the focus for most commercial activity in the burgh. At its west end is the old parish church which dates from 1820, with earlier remains - the Sinclair aisle - in the churchyard.

Wick Heritage Centre - Down towards the harbour is the very interesting Wick Heritage Centre, a local museum specialising in the outstanding fishery industry of Caithness, and open during the summer months. It also houses an extensive photographic collection - 100,000 images by three generations of Wick photographers, Alexander and James Johnston, William Johnston and Alexander Johnston.


Wick Harbour - Wick's extensive harbour is a source of constant interest to visitors, although not as packed with fishing vessels as it was in its heyday! The original two-piered harbour was designed in 1805 by Thomas Telford, with many additions since then. It is overlooked by an array of interesting buildings such as the Round House (1807), the old Lifeboat House (1915) and the Old Fish Market, dating from 1890 and probably Scotland's first purpose-built fish market, luckily retaining its original furnishings. A walk round the harbour at any time of year allows one to appreciate the clear northern air!
 
Pulteney Distillery - Wick's latest tourist attraction is the new visitor centre at the Pulteney Distillery in Huddart Street, Pulteneytown - the home of the famous 'Old Pulteney' malt whisky.

Tourist Information Centre - Now unfortunately closed - the nearest (selling our maps - hopefully) is at Thurso..



Leisure and Recreation

Riverside Public Park - Close to the town centre is the Riverside Public Park, with attractive floral displays and footpath connections by, and across, the river.

Golf Course - Wick's golf course lies about three miles north of the town on Ackergill Links, behind the sandy shore of Sinclair's Bay.


R P A Smith's local map also covers Thurso. For further information on that burgh, and on other available Highland towns, please click the relevant buttons on the upper left.


R P A Smith's range of Street Plans covers the following Highland towns and villages:


ALNESS
Ardersier
Auldearn
AVIEMORE
Avoch
Balintore
Balloch
Beauly
Boat of Garten
Brora
Caol
Castletown
Conon Bridge
Corpach
Cromarty
Culloden
DINGWALL
DORNOCH
Embo
Evanton
Fearn
FORT WILLIAM
Fortrose
Golspie
GRANTOWN
Halkirk
Helmsdale
Hilton of Cadboll
INVERGORDON
INVERNESS
INVERNESS EAST
KINGUSSIE
Lybster
Maryburgh
Muir of Ord
Munlochy
NAIRN
Nethy Bridge
Newtonmore
OBAN
Portmahomack
Rosemarkie
Shandwick
Strathpeffer
TAIN
THURSO
WICK
© 2008 - Ronald P A Smith


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