Caithness Through The Ages
From Then Till Now
The Caithness landscape is a mix of the past and present, where you can see wind turbines alongside stone-age cairns. Some see the turbines as a commitment to the future, while others think they colonise the past and industrialise our wild and open landscape. However, the wind farms do provide community benefit funding for the areas where they are built.
Lake Orcadia 390 million BCE – 370 million BCE
During this time Caithness was part of lake Orcadia, a vast shallow freshwater lake. This is where the Caithness flagstones originate from and fossils can still be found in the county.
Mesolithic stone age – c.8000 – 4000BCE
The first people we know of in Caithness were Mesolithic hunter gatherers, passing through after the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, but leaving only a few chipped flints behind.
Neolithic stone age – c.4000 – 2500BCE
Farmers built chambered tombs like the Grey Cairns of Camster and the Cairn o’Get, but though they left tombs, they left little trace of settlements behind.
Bronze age – c.2500 – 1200BCE
The Bronze Age metalworkers left cists, cairns, beakers and stone circles for us to find. They reused the chambered cairns, and may have built the unique and mysterious Hill o’Many Stanes.
Iron age – c.1200BCE – 500CE
The tall towers known as Brochs towered over the flat Caithness landscape. They were built between 400BCE and 100CE, and more of them were built here than anywhere else.
Picts – c300CE – 800CE
The Picts arrived late here in Caithness, and the Kingdom of the Cat was founded in about 800CE. Pictish stones have been found across the county and are on display in many locations.
Vikings – c800 – 1100
Caithness was a Norse Earldom under the rule of Orkney. Many place names in Caithness were influenced by the Vikings with Vik, Wick, named for its bay. The people of Wick could well be Vikings, Vikingr – people of the bay.
Gaels
Gaelic speaking Scots spread from the west to Caithness introducing Gaelic place names though Caithness, mingling with Pictish and Norse cultures and languages although Caithness had a stronger Norse and Scots character than Gaelic speaking regions.
Clans – c1200 – 1700
Caithness had battles and tragedies during this time with bitter feuds between the Sinclairs and Gunns that went on for centuries. Strong hold castle remains can still be visited.
Royal Burgh Charter – 1589
Wick was made a Royal Burgh by King James VI, 1589, changing it from a Burgh of Barony to a Royal Burgh, giving it higher status, trading rights and administrative privileges, and recognizing its status as a port.
Highland Clearances – 1760 – 1855
Highlanders were forced/evicted from their inland homes to coastal towns to undertake fishing, crofting or emigrated. While some were evicted in Caithness, far more were evicted from Sutherland, arriving here as homeless migrants in Caithness.
Herring boom – 1860 – 1910
Wick became the richest fishing port in Europe during the herring boom. It was said that you could walk across the boats from one side of the harbour to another in it’s hey day. The silver darlings were the fish gutters and packers. Chosen by the British Fisheries Society to be developed and the infrastructure that was required to be built to support the boom was designed by Thomas Telford and called Pulteneytown.
First World War – 1914 – 1918
Wick harbour was transformed into a Naval base and minesweeping station, whilst the Grand Fleet anchored in Scapa Flow. The Cameron Highlanders and Seaforth Highlanders fought on the Western Front.
Prohibition – 1922 – 1947
Prohibition in Wick lasted 12 years longer than America. There were secret stills that operated, and many took the Wick to Lybster light railway for a drink as only the Town of Wick was dry.
World War Two – 1939 – 1945
Caithness was of great importance during World War II. There were many airfields and RAF Wick and RAF Skitten were used for top secret, covert missions of national importance, playing their part in winning the War. You can still see the anti-tank prevention on some of the beaches in Sinclair’s Bay and Freswick. Find out more at the Caithness At War Trail.
Working harbour to date
Today Wick harbour is a busy working harbour with fishing boats, renewable activities both providing maintenance to offshore turbines and receiving blades and towers for on land windfarms too, it also has an 80-berth marina that is very popular with visitors.
Help the Archaeologists
Find out about volunteering at Swartgill Dig in the summer by emailing
heritage@yarrowsheritagetrust.co.uk or enquiries.orca@uhi.ac.uk
