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Wick, Highland
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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, of which 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 7,794.
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.
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Encyclopedia
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, of which 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 7,794.
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 is on the Pulteneytown side of the river.
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.
History
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.
Geography
Pulteneytown
Pulteneytown is now an area of Wick 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 shipbuilder 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 which itself was designed by Thomas Telford 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.
Governance
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 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.
Parliamentary representation
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.
Economy
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.
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.
Landmarks
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. 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.
Heritage Museum
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.
Carnegie Library
The Wick Carnegie Library is now run by the 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 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.
Tourist Information Centre
The Tourist Information Centre is now located upstairs in the Mcallan's store on High Street.
World's shortest 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. It had not previously qualified for the record because it did not have a full postal address.
Education
There are four primary schools in Wick, all run by the Highland Council. They are Hillhead Primary School, North Primary School, South Primary School, and Pultneytown Academy. There is one secondary school in Wick, Wick High School.
Hillhead's head teacher is Ally Budge. As of January, 2008, it had an enrolment of 205 pupils. Hillhead has been awarded an Eco-Schools First Green Flag award for Environmental friendliness. In April, 2008, Hillhead Primary was highly praised in a report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education. The Inspectorate reported that the quality of teaching and the imaginative learning experiences are key strengths at the school and it provides a caring, supportive and stimulating environment for learning. Head teacher Ally Budge was also highly praised as provided very effective leadership to the school, having the respect and loyalty of parents, pupils and staff, and having developed effective links with the community. The school received a rare "excellent" rating for its partnerships with the local community and parents. The inspector also reported that pupils are well-behaved and developing positive attitudes to learning and to each other. Other key strengths reported were approaches to promoting a healthy lifestyle, quality of teaching and the imaginative learning experiences, and attainment in mathematics.
In September, 2008, Wick High School underwent an inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education. The subsequent report was reasonable given the very short period of the inspection; mentioned as particular strengths were "Polite, well-behaved and considerate young people and the commitment by staff and the community to develop a wider range of activities for young people". Other aspects noted were "More young people now take part in activities related to sports and the arts. Many are committed to improving the quality of the environment and a group recently participated in a debate on the environment at the Scottish Parliament", and "The majority of tasks set by teachers meet young people’s learning needs. Those with additional and complex needs are well supported in their learning".
The way pupils view the school was stated as " Pupils now have a strong sense of belonging and pride in their school through the introduction of uniform and positive approaches to encouraging good behaviour. Staff and young people have been very successful at improving the overall atmosphere in the school."
The school's expectations of pupils was described thus -"The school has high expectations of young people’s behaviour. Staff are applying the behaviour policy well in class and around the school. Staff with pastoral responsibilities give strong support. The climate for learning within the school has notably improved in recent years. Most young people enjoy being at school, feel safe and know those they can speak to if they are upset about something. The school celebrates success through the use of awards at assemblies, display boards in the corridors and articles in the local press. The school has recently made use of outside speakers to help raise attainment and young people’s expectations overall." This was published in a report given to all members of staff and all pupils. It was also made available on line. At the time of the report, there was a enrolment of 838, and the rector was Alistair Traill.
Recently The Glasgow Herald conducted a survey of all of Scotland's secondary schools. The survey gave a percentage of how many senior pupils had achieved five Highers or more in their tenure at the school, and a percentage of how many pupils received free school meals. In a list of Highland Schools, Wick came 21st out of 30 with 5% of senior pupils having achieved five highers or more. This is 5% behind both the Highland average and the Scottish average of 10%. However, Wick came 3rd out of 30 when it came to free school meals, scoring 15.6%, both ahead of the Highland average of 9.6%, and the Scottish average of 12.7%.
Wick is also home to 1285 (Caithness) Squadron, Air Training Corps.
Sports
Wick Academy F.C. play in the Highland Football League.
Twin Towns
Klaksvík (Faroe Islands)
Notable people
- William Barclay, theologian, born 5 December 1907, Wick, died 24 January 1978
- John Barneson, businessman, born 1 January 1862, Wick, died 26 February 1941
- Doc Stone, The shortest man north of Stirling,created by a failed experiment 1 April 1943, Wick.
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