About Wick, caithness, Scottish Highlands
Wick Geography
I live in a tiny village about a mile outside of Wick, so I thought i'd give you a little bit of information about my home town.
Wick is a royal burgh, one of only two burghs in Caithness, and the traditional county town of Caithness. Wick straddles Wick River now, after originally being built on the north side, with Pulteneytown being added during the Herring boom of the 19th Century. It has a population of approximately 9000. It is on the A99 road that links John O' Groats to the South, has rail links to Thurso and to the South, and has it's own small airport on the Northern side of the town.
History of Wick
Wick history stretches back at least as far as the era of Norse rule in Caithness. The word Wick is thought to be from a Norse word 'Vik', which means 'bay'.
In the early 19th Century Pulteneytown was created as a major new Herring fishing town. It was commissioned by Sir William Johnstone Pulteney, a governor of the British Fisheries Society, who it was named after when he died in 1805. During the boom period of the Herring Industry up to the Great War, the harbour was expanded again by local ship-builder James Bremner. This era of Wick's history is documented extensively in the very good Wick Heritage Centre. The area of Pulteneytown was home to the original Caithness Glass factory, which is now in Perth.
Pulteneytown is also home to the Old Pulteney Distillery, which still produces Old Pulteney Single Malt whisky. It was established in 1826 when Pulteneytown was still quite new as a Herring fishing port. It is the most northerly distillery in Scotland and was quite inaccessable when first established. The Barley was shipped in by sea, and the whisky sent out the same way. The whisky it produces has characteristics which is attributed to exposure to sea air.