| County of Caithness|
until circa 1890
| County of Caithness |
circa 1890 to 1975
| Caithness District|
1975 to 1996
||-----|| Highland council area |
1996 to present
Caithness (Gallaibh in Gaelic) is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1708 to 1918). Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is now entirely within the Highland council area. In 2007 the Highland Council, which is now the local government authority, created the Caithness ward management area, which has boundaries similar to those of the historic local government area.
Caithness became a local government county, with its own county council, in 1890, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. Although officially within the county, the burghs of Wick and Thurso retained their status as autonomous local government areas. Wick, a royal burgh and traditionally the county town, became the administrative centre for the local government county. County and burgh councils were later abolished, in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and Caithness became one of eight districts, each with its own district council, within the new two-tier Highland region. In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the region became a unitary local government area, and the district councils were abolished.
As registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area, Caithness has a land boundary with the equally historic local government area of Sutherland. Otherwise it is bounded by sea. The land boundary follows a watershed and is crossed by two roads, the A9 and the A836, and one railway, the Far North Line. Across the Pentland Firth ferries link Caithness with Orkney, and Caithness has also an airport at Wick. The Pentland Firth island of Stroma is within Caithness.
In 2001 Caithness had a resident population of 23,866 and settlement centres include those of Berriedale, Burnside, Castletown, Dunnet, Halkirk, Haster, Reiss, John o' Groats, Latheron, Gillock, Mey, Reay, Sibster, Thurso, Watten and Wick.
Caithness extends about 40 miles (64 kilometres) north-south and about 30 miles (50 km) east-west. The general aspect of Caithness, which measures in area about 712 square miles (1844 km²), is flat, in contrast to the majority of Highland Region. Until the latter part of the 20th century when significant areas were planted in conifers, this was rendered still more striking by the almost total absence of forest.
Most of Caithness is old red sandstone to an estimated depth of over 4,000 metres. This consists of the cemented sediments of Lake Orcadie, which is believed to have stretched from Shetland to Grampian during the Devonian period, about 370 million years ago. Fossilised fish and plant remains are found between the layers of sediment. Older metamorphic (granite) rock is apparent in the Scaraben and Ord area, in the relatively high southwest area of the county. Caithness' highest point (Morven) is in this area.
Caithness is a land of open, rolling farmland, moorland and scattered settlements. The area is fringed to the north and east by dramatic coastal scenery and is home to large, internationally important colonies of seabirds. The surrounding waters of the Pentland Firth and the North Sea hold a great diversity of marine life. Away from the coast, the landscape is dominated by open moorland and blanket bog, divided up along the straths (river valleys) by more fertile farm and croft land.
The Caithness landscape is rich with the remains of pre-historic occupation. These include the Grey Cairns of Camster, the Stone Lud, the Hill O Many Stanes, a complex of sites around Loch Yarrows and over 100 brochs. A prehistoric souterrain structure at Caithness has been likened to discoveries at Midgarth and on Shapinsay. Numerous coastal castles (now mostly ruins) are Norse in their foundations. When the Norsemen arrived, probably in the 10th century, the county was probably Pictish, but with its culture subject to some Goidelic influence from the Celtic Church. The name Pentland Firth can be read as meaning Pictland Fjord.
Numerous bands of Norse settlers landed in the county, and gradually established themselves around the coast. On the Latheron (south) side, they extended their settlements as far as Berriedale. Most of the names of places, and not a few of the surnames in the lowland parts of the county, are Norse in origin. A dialect of the Norn language was spoken, although little is known about it. Some of this linguistic influence still exists in some parts of the county, however. A native of Wick, for example, will tend to say til instead of to. This is an example of the surviving modern use of an Old Norse word (til is Old Norse for to).
For a long time sovereignty over Caithness was disputed between Scotland and the Norwegian Earldom of Orkney. Circa 1196 Earl Harald Maddadarsson agreed to pay a monetary tribute for Caithness to William I. Norway has recognized Caithness as fully Scottish since the Treaty of Perth in 1266.
Scottish Gaelic was historically spoken throughout Caithness and remained the majority language until the early 19th century. It has survived, in a limited form, in the west of the county. Gaelic is sometimes erroneously claimed to have never been spoken in Caithness; the Gaelic name for the region, Gallaibh, translates as "Land of the Gall (non-Gaels)" - a name which reflects historic Norse rule - but this is a result of language shift towards English within recent centuries. The language boundary changed over time, but the New Statistical Record in 1841 says,
Historically, the Anglic language of Caithness has been defined and named, usually, as English. There is little or no evidence, predating the late 20th century, of Scots being used as a name for Caithness dialect, but there is now, in some quarters, a tendency to see and name it as a form of Scots language.
The underlying geology, harsh climate and long history of human occupation have shaped this rich and distinctive natural heritage. Today we see a diverse landscape incorporating both common and rare habitats and species, and Caithness provides a stronghold for many once common breeding species that have undergone serious declines elsewhere, such as waders, water voles and flocks of over-wintering birds.
Many rare mammals, birds and fish have been sighted or caught in and around Caithness waters. Harbour porpoises, dolphins (including Risso's, bottle-nosed, common, Atlantic white-sided and white-beaked dolphins) and minke and long-finned pilot whales are regularly seen from the shore and boats. Both grey and common seals come close to the shore to feed, rest and raise their pups, and otters can be seen close to river mouths in some of the quieter locations.
Caithness became a local government county, with its own elected county council, in 1890, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. At that time, two towns within the county, Wick and Thurso, were already well established as autonomous burghs with their own burgh councils. Ten parish councils, covering rural areas of the county were established in 1894.
Wick, a royal burgh, served as the county's administrative centre.
The parish councils were abolished in 1930 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929. The county council and the burgh councils were abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The 1973 act also created a new two tier system, with Caithness as a district within the Highland region.
Prior to implementation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, civil administration parishes were also parishes of the Church of Scotland, and one Caithness parish, Reay, straddled the boundary between the county of Caithness and the county of Sutherland, and another, Thurso had a separate fragment bounded by Reay and Halkirk. For civil administration purposes, implementation of the act redefined parish boundaries, transferring part of Reay to the Sutherland parish of Farr and the fragment of Thurso to the parish of Halkirk.
In the cases of two of the parishes, Thurso and Wick, each includes a burgh with the same name as the parish. For civil administration purposes each of these parishes was divided between the burgh and the landward area of the parish. Landward, in this context, means rural.
|Bower||Has the Stone Lud near its geographic centre|
|Canisbay||Includes the village of John O Groats|
|Dunnet||Includes the village of Dunnet and Dunnet Head|
|Halkirk||Includes the village of Halkirk|
|Latheron||Includes the village of Latheron|
|Reay|| Includes the village of Reay |
Was, at one time, partly in the county of Sutherland
|Olrig||Includes the village of Castletown|
|Thurso Landward||A rural area around the burgh of Thurso|
|Watten||Includes the village of Watten|
|Wick Landward||A rural area around the burgh of Wick|
Caithness was a district of the Highland local government region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996. When created, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the district included the whole of the county plus Tongue and Farr areas of the neighbouring county of Sutherland. The boundary was soon changed, however, to correspond with that between the counties. Caithness was one of eight districts in the Highland region.
The region was also created in 1975, as one of nine two-tier local government regions of Scotland. Each region consisted of a number of districts and both regions and districts had their own elected councils. The creation of the Highland region and of Caithness as a district involved the abolition of the two burgh councils in Caithness, Wick and Thurso, as well as the Caithness county council.
Wick, which had been the administrative centre for the county, became the administrative centre for the district.
In 1996 local government in Scotland was again reformed, to create 32 unitary council areas. The Highland region became the Highland unitary council area, and the functions of the district councils were absorbed by the Highland Council.
In 1996, Caithness and the other seven districts of the Highland region were merged in to the unitary Highland council area, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The new Highland Council then adopted the former districts as management areas and created a system of area committees to represent the management areas.
In 1999, however, ward boundaries were redrawn but management area boundaries were not. As a result area committees were named after and made decisions for areas which they did not exactly represent. The new Caithness committee area, consisting of ten out of the 80 new Highland Council wards, did not include the village of Reay, although that village was within the Caithness management area. For area committee representation the village was within the Sutherland committee area.
New wards were created for elections this year, 2007, polling on 3 May and, as the wards became effective for representational purposes, the Highland Council's management and committee structures were reorganised. The Caithness management area and the Caithness area committee were therefore abolished.
In 2007 an area similar to that of the Highland Council's Caithness management area was divided between three new wards electing councillors by the single transferable vote system of election, which is designed to produce a form of proportional representation. One ward elects four councillors. Each of the other two elects three councillors. Also, the council's eight management areas were abolished, in favour of three new corporate management areas, with Caithness becoming a ward management area within the council's new Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross operational management area, which covers seven of the council's 22 new wards. The boundaries of the Caithness ward management area are not exactly those of the former Caithness management area, but they do include the village of Reay.
The ward management area is one of five within the corporate management area and consists of three wards, the Landward Caithness ward, the Thurso ward and the Wick ward. Each of the other ward management areas within the corporate management area consists of a single ward.
Although created under local government legislation (the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973) community councils have no statutory powers or responsibilities and are not a tier of local government. They are however the most local tier of statutory representation.
Under the 1973 Act, district councils were obliged to implement community council schemes. A Caithness district scheme was adopted in 1975, dividing the area of the district between 12 community councils.
The area of the former district of Caithness is now covered by 12 community council areas which are numbered and described as below in the Highland Council's Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils in Caithness, October 1997. Current community council names and contact details are given on a Highland Council website.
The Caithness constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain (1708 to 1801) and the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1801 to 1918) represented essentially the county from 1708 to 1918. At the same time however, the county town of Wick was represented as a component of Tain Burghs until 1832 and of Wick Burghs until 1918.
Between 1708 and 1832 the Caithness constituency was one of the Buteshire and Caithness alternating constituencies: one constituency elected a Member of Parliament (MP) to one parliament and then the other elected an MP to the next. Between 1832 and 1918 it was a separate constituency, electing an MP to every parliament.
In 1918 the Caithness constituency and Wick were merged into the then new constituency of Caithness and Sutherland. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
The Scottish Parliament constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was created in 1999 and now has boundaries slightly different from those of the House of Commons constituency.
The modern constituencies may be seen as more sub-divisions of the Highland area than as representative of counties (and burghs). For its own purposes, however, the Highland Council uses more conservative sub-divisions, with names which refer back to the era of district councils and, in some cases, county councils.
The John O'Groat Journal and The Caithness Courier are weekly newspapers published by Scottish Provincial Press Limited trading as North of Scotland Newspapers and using offices in Union Street, Wick (but with public reception via Cliff Road.) and Olrig Street, Thurso.
News coverage tends to concentrate on the former counties of Caithness and Sutherland. The John O'Groat Journal is normally published on Fridays and The Caithness Courier is normally published on Wednesdays.
Historically, they have been independent newspapers, with the Groat as a Wick-centred paper and the Courier as a Thurso-centred paper. Even now, the Groat is archived in the public library in Wick, while the Courier is similarly archived in the library in Thurso. The Courier was printed, almost by hand, in a small shop in High Street, Thurso until the early 60's by Mr Docherty and his daughter. The Courier traditionally covers that week's sheriff court cases.
Caithness FM has been broadcasting since 1993.
Various community organisations, including Caithness Arts, Castletown and District Community Council, Castletown Heritage Society, and Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council Caitness Moto Cross Club, maintain their own websites, as do the trusts that run the Castle of Mey and Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.
Caithness, with the boundaries of the former local government county, is one of the Watsonian vice-counties, subdivisions of Britain and Ireland which are used largely for the purposes of biological recording and other scientific data-gathering.
The vice-counties were introduced in Hewett Cottrell Watson who first used them in the third volume of his Cybele Britannica published in 1852. He refined the system somewhat in later volumes, but the vice-counties remain unchanged by subsequent local government reorganisations, allowing historical and modern data to be more accurately compared. They provide a stable basis for recording using similarly-sized units, and, although grid-based reporting has grown in popularity, they remain a standard in the vast majority of ecological surveys, allowing data collected over long periods of time to be compared easily.