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Wick, seaport, parl. and royal burgh, par., and co. town of Caithness, on Wick Water and Wick Bay, 161½ miles NE. of Inverness by rail and 110 NW. of Aberdeen by sea - par., 47,264 ac., pop. 12,822; parl. burgh, pop. 8026; royal burgh, pop. 2954; town, pop. 8053; P.O., T.O., 6 Banks, 2 newspapers. Market-day, Friday. Wick consists of three portions - Wick proper (the oldest part), Louisburgh, and Pultneytown, and is the seat of a very important and extensive fishery district. The harbour has been enlarged and greatly improved, subsequent to 1883, at a cost of about £100,000. There is regular steam communication with Aberdeen, Granton, Kirkwall, and Lerwick. (For shipping statistics, see Appendix.) Fishing, particularly herring fishing, is the great industry. There are rope and sail factories, a distillery, and a brewery. The royal burgh, created in 1589, was extended in 1883. The Wick Burghs (Wick, Kirkwall, Dornoch, Dingwall, Tain, and Cromarty) return 1 member to Parliament. The Castle of Old Wick, or "The Auld Man o' Wick," is situated on a headland 1½ mile SW. of the town.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))

Wick, a royal burgh, seaport, seat of trade, and the county town of Caithness, at the head of Wick Bay, near the middle of the E coast of the parish just described. It is the eastern terminus of the Sutherland and Caithness section (1874) of the Highland railway, and by rail is 161¼ miles NNE of Inverness. By road it is 18½ miles S of Huna and John o' Groat's House, and 14¾ NNE of Lybster. By sea it is about 50 miles S of Kirkwall, and 110 NNW of Aberdeen. The town may be said to consist of three portions, Wick proper to the N of Wick Water, Louisburgh still farther N, and Pulteneytown to the SE on the S side of Wick Water. The burgh was formerly confined within narrow limits, but in 1883 the sheriff granted a petition praying for the inclusion within the boundary of both Louisburgh and the high ground on the opposite side of the river from Wick about the railway station. In the time of the Vikings, from whom it received its name, it seems to have been a resort of some importance, and mention of it occurs in the Sagas as early as 1140, when ` Earl Rognvald went over to Caithness and was entertained at Vik by a man named Harold; ' but its modern history may be said to date from 1589, when Wick proper was constituted a royal burgh by charter of James VI. So little idea, however, had the citizens as to their rights and privileges thus obtained, that the burgh practically remained under superiors-first the Earls of Caithness and thereafter the families of Ulbster and Sutherland-like a mere burgh of barony till the Municipal Reform Act of 1833. There are no burgage lands, and the Duke of Sutherland is still feudal superior. Wick itself consists of a narrow crooked street called High Street, running in a general line N and S along the N bank of the river, and with closes and lanes running off on both sides. It is poorly edificed. Lonisburgh, which dates from the latter part of last century, lies to the N and NW. Opening off High Street southward is the only wellbuilt street of the town, the short Bridge Street, which crosses the river by a fine stone bridge of three arches erected in 1874. This leads to Pulteneytown, which is divided into Lower Pulteneytown, situated on low ground adjoining the bank of the stream, and Upper Pulteneytown, situated on the high ground overlooking the bay. The greater portion of both lies along streets regularly laid out at right angles, Upper Pulteneytown having in addition a large but somewhat neglected central square. This suburb, which is the seat of all the trade, and contains more than half the whole population, was laid out by the British Fisheries Society in 1808, shortly before they commenced operations at the harbour, and was designed to be a model fishing-town. Wick townhall, in Bridge Street, is a somewhat dingy building with a sandstone front and a cupola-shaped belfry over the doorway. The county buildings, erected in 1866 at a cost of £6000, are also in Bridge Street, and contain a good court-room with retiring rooms and accommodation for the various county offices. The prison behind the town-house has been disused since 1882. The parish church, at the W end of the town, was erected in 1830 at a cost of £5000, and is a poor Gothic building with a spire. It contains 1900 sittings. The preReformation parish church, dedicated to St Fergus, is supposed to have stood at Mount Halie, near the E end of the town, but a more recent structure-the predecessor of that removed to make way for the present building occupied a site close to the existing church. The only traces of it now remaining are the structures called the Sinclair Aisle and the Dinbar Tomb. At Pulteneytown there is a quoad sacra church erected in 1842, and containing 550 sittings. The Free church in Bridge Street is a good building, erected in 1862. Of two Free churches in Pulteneytown the one dates from the Disruption, and has a spire added in 1862. The other Reformed Presbyterian till 1876-was built in 1839, and contains 380 sittings. The United Presbyterian church in Pulteneytown,- built in 1878-79 at a cost of £4000, and containing 700 sittings, replaced an older church erected in 1815. The original Congregational church in Wick, built in 1799, was replaced by the present building on a different site in 1882. It contains 500 sittings. The Evangelical Union church, with 520 sittings, was erected in 1845. St John's Episcopal church, in Pulteneytown, a building of 1870, Decorated Gothic in style, has 150 sittings, and there are also a small Baptist church (1809), with 150 sittings, and St Joachim's Roman Catholic church in Pulteneytown, erected in 1837, and containing 250 sittings. The Temperance Hall, erected in 1842, has accommodation for about 1000 persons. Two of the bank offices are very good buildings, and there is a fine hotel close to the bridge erected at the time of the opening of the railway. Besides the stone bridge at Bridge Street, there is a wooden bridge farther down the river near the harbour. The old burying ground was round the church, but owing to its crowded condition, a new cemetery was formed in 1872 to the S of Pulteneytown. Under the burgh school board the Pulteneytown Academy, North Wick and South Wick schools, with accommodation for 519, 300, and 280 pupils respectively, had, in 1884, attendances of 334, 234, and 259, and grants of £323, 15s., £204, 15s., and £226, 8s. 6d.

The jurisdiction of the port of Wick extends from Bonar-Bridge round all the E, N, and W coast as far as Rhu Stoer on the W coast of Sutherland, and takes in also the island of Stroma in the Pentland Firth. It thus includes the harbours of Little Ferry, Helmsdale, Lybster, Broadhaven, Scrabster, and Portskerry, besides numerous creeks. Except as regards fishing-boats, the shipping trade is mostly confined to Wick. In 1850 the number of vessels belonging to the port was 54, with an aggregate tonnage of 3445; in 1875 there were 65 sailing vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 6412, and 1 steam vessel, with a tonnage of 108; and in 1884 there were 56 sailing vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 5085. The following table shows the tonnage of vessels that entered from and to foreign and colonial ports and coastwise with cargoes and ballast, in various years:-

Entered.				Cleared.
Year.	British.	Foreign.	Total.	British.	Foreign.	Total.
1860	103,706	4,770	108,476	98,547	8,648	107,195
1867	79,258	5,271	84,629	75,853	5,146	80,999
1874	92,840	5,310	98,150	82,731	4,778	87,509
1883	108,714	13,651	122,365	87,195	13,496	100,560

The exports are chiefly fish, but grain, cattle, and country produce generally are also sent away. The imports are principally coal, wood, and goods suited for a general country trade. There is regular steam communication with Aberdeen and Granton twice a week in summer and once in winter, and with Kirkwall and Lerwick once a week.

The commerce of early times seems to have found accommodation in the mouth of the river, and at small jetties on the N side; and no attempt to form a regular harbour was made till 1810, when the first one was constructed, partly from Government funds, and partly with money furnished by the British Fisheries Society, originally founded in 1786 for the purpose of developing the fisheries round the British coasts. The works then executed cost £14,000; but as they proved inadequate for their purpose, improvements were carried out between 1825 and 1831 at a cost of £40,000, and the works brought into the state in which they remained down to 1882. From the increased size of vessels and boats employed in connection with the fishing, this new harbour was, within a few years, again found too small, and in 1844 the Fisheries Society obtained an Act of Parliament empowering them to enlarge it. Nothing was, however, done, and in consequence of the insufficient nature of the accommodation, and the harbour's being a tidal one, and having its mouth so placed to shelter it from the sea that boats entering 189 had to broach broadside to the sea before running in, great loss of life occurred in 1845, and again in 1848. In 1857 a fresh Act was obtained, but as the scheme proposed under it required the sanction of the Admiralty, and that body wished for the formation of a harbour of refuge which the Society could not afford to carry out, nothing was done till 1862, when it was agreed that a modified harbour of refuge should be formed. This was to be accomplished by the construction of a breakwater running out from the S shore of the bay 430 yards to the SE of the old works, and extending 1450 feet outward at right angles to the shore, terminating in 30 feet of water, and sheltering an area of about 25 acres, of which more than 20 had a depth of over 2 fathoms at low water. The force of the waves in the bay seems, however, to have been underestimated, if, indeed, the principle of construction was not wholly wrong; and year after year portions of the great pier were thrown down. At last, after the Society had expended £62,000 of a Government loan, £54, 000 of their own funds, and £40,000 of surplus harbour rates, in terrific gales during the years 1871 and 1872-when the force of the waves was such as to break iron bars measuring 8 by 3 inches-the whole structure was completely ruined, except a fragment of the shore end, and operations were abandoned in 1874, from which time till 1880 the storms of each winter swept away portion after portion of what remained. In 1879 a fresh Act was obtained by the Fisheries Society, empowering them to hand over the whole works to a body of trustees elected by public bodies in the town, while all sums against the harbour for repayment of the sums expended on it by the Society were abandoned. The old works were injured by the storms of 1880; and the trustees obtained from the Treasury, first a remission of interest, and ultimately in 1882 a suspension of the present repayment of the £60,000 due to the Public Works Loan Commissioners; and under a provisional order obtained in 1883, they have proceeded with new works which are estimated to cost £90, 000, of which £50,000 is to be obtained on loan from the Public Works Commissioners. These operations contemplate the lengthening of the south quay 300 feet, the erection of a new north quay outside the present one, so as to enlarge the existing harbour by 2½ acres, and the deepening of the whole area by 8 feet, the extreme depth of the entrance at low water being thus about 17 feet.

The great industry of Wick is fishing, particularly herring fishing. Prior to 1768 the only herring caught were by hand lines for bait; but then, under the encouragement of a parliamentary bounty, boats were fitted out for systematic prosecution of the trade. In that year, probably from inexperience, operations failed, but in 1782, 363 barrels were caught, and in 1790, 13, 000 barrels; and ever since the formation of the harbour it has been frequented by large numbers of boats from all quarters. During the season, in July and August, this gives the place a somewhat ` ancient and fish-like smell,' and herring and herring barrels are everywhere to be found along the shore, sometimes occupying considerable spaces along the sides of the streets in the portion of the town nearest the harbour. The fishermen come from all parts of Scotland, the greater number being ` hired men ' from the Western Highlands and Islands. The fishery district of Wick extends from Whale Goe or Whaligoe, 7 miles N by W of the town of Wick, round the rest of the Moray Firth and N and W coasts as far as Cape Wrath. It embraces the fishing towns and villages of Whaligoe, Sarelet, Wick, Ramsgoe, Broadhaven, Greenigoe, Uttergoe, Elzie, Staxigoe, Ackergill, Keiss, Nybster and Auckingill, Freswick, Duncansbay, Stroma, Huna, Gills, Mey, Scarfskerry, Ham, Brough, Dunnet, Murkle, Thurso and Scrabster, Crosskirk and Brims, Sandside, Portskerry, Strathyhead, Armadale, Kirktomy, Farr, Torrisdale, Scullomy, Talmine, Eri boll, and Smoo. Half of the boats and men employed, and about two-thirds of the first-class boats, belong to Wick itself and the neighbouring places. Belonging to the district there were, in 1883, 388 first-class, 49 second. class, and 336 third-class boats, employing 2642 fisher n en and boys and 3776 other persons. The boats were valued at £51,507, the nets at £37, 916, and the lines as 458. The number of boats fishing within the district, most of them from Wick harbour and the neighbouring Broadhaven, in 1821 was 595, and from this time it gradually increased till 1831 when it was 1021, fell off again in 1838 to 566, increased in 1857 to 1100 and in 1862 to 1122, and has since then, owing to the insufficient harbour accommodation, fallen off very largely. The number in 1883 was 518, and the total catch 120, 304 crans, the best average fishing per boat ever made. There were employed in connection with these boats 3367 fisher men and boys and 2186 other persons, and the total number of barrels cured was 155, 668, of which 135, 842 were exported to the Continent. A bank within ten miles of Wick, and other banks beyond, afford excellent white fishing, the town being in winter and spring one of the great centres of this industry. The number of cod, ling, and hake cured in 1883 was 69, 004; and over £25, 000 worth of other fish, including crabs and lobsters, were captured. Minor industries are the manufacture of ropes, sails, and herring nets; and there is a large steam sawmill in Wick, and a distillery and brewery in Pulteneytown.

The burgh is governed by a provost, 3 bailies, a dean of guild, a treasurer, and 9 councillors; and under the General Police and Improvement Act of 1862, which was adopted in 1874, the councillors are also police commissioners, but the police force is united with that of the county. The British Fisheries Society are superiors of Pulteneytown, but there are 12 improvement commissioners who exercise local power, and who also, under the Public Health Act, form the Local Authority. There is a separate police force of 3 men (one to every 1691 or the population), under a superintendent with a salary of £50 a year. Gas is supplied by a private company constituted in 1846. Pulteneytown is supplied with water from Loch Hempriggs, and a supply was introduced into the other districts in 1882 from Loch of Yarehouse at a cost of £6000. The town has a head post office, with money order, savings' bank, insurance, and telegraph departments, branch offices of the Bank of Scotland, British Linen Company, Commercial, North of Scotland, and Town and County Banks. There is also a branch of the National Security Savings' Bank, agencies of 39 insurance companies, and several good hotels. The newspapers are the Liberal John o' Groat Journal (1836), published on Thursday, and the Independent Northern Ensign (1850), published on Wednesday evening. Among the miscellaneous institutions may be noticed a custom-house, a station of the Naval Reserve, with buildings erected in 1876 on the South Head, beyond Pulteneytown; a Freemasons' hall, a lifeboat station, two public newsrooms, a chamber of commerce, artillery and rifle volunteers, a branch of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, and the usual benevolent and philanthropic associations. Sheriff ordinary and commissary courts for the county are held every Tuesday and Friday during session, and small debt courts for the parishes of Wick, Watten, Bower, and Canisbay every Tuesday during session. Down till 1828 these courts were held at Thurso. (See Thurso.) Quarter sessions are held at both Wick and Thurso, and justice of peace small debt courts on the first and third Mondays of each month. There is a weekly market on Friday, and there are fairs on the second last Tuesday of July, on 17 November o. s., or the Tuesday thereafter, and on the last Friday of every other month. There is a coach to Castletown and Thurso, and another to Lybster and Dunbeath every day.

The parliamentary burgh, which includes Pulteneytown, Louisburgh, Broadhaven, and a small district round, as well as Wick proper, unites with Dingwall, Tain, Cromarty, Dornoch, and Kirkwall in returning a member to parliament. Parliamentary constituency (1885) 941; municipal 448. Valuation, royal burgh, (1875) £4691, (1885) £5585, including £478 for the railway; parliamentary burgh (1875) £21, 892, (1885) £24, 218. Pop. of extended royal burgh, 2954; inhabited houses, 527. - Pop. of parliamentary burgh (1841) 5522, (1861) 7475, (1871) 8131, (1881) 8053, of whom 3810 were males and 4243 were females. Houses (1881) 1258 inhabited, 32 uninhabited, and 10 being built. Of the whole population 5253 were in Pulteneytown, 1860 in Wick proper, and 940 in Louisburgh; and of the inhabited houses 791 were in Pulteneytown, 293 in Wick proper, and 174 in Louisburgh.—Ord. Sur., sh. 116, 1878.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Wick (Scand. vik, 'a bay'), a large coast parish containing a royal burgh of the same name, and also a river in the NE of the county of Caithness. It is bounded N by the parishes of Bower and Canisbay, E by the outer Moray Firth, S by the parish of Latheron, and W by the parishes of Latheron, Watten, and Bower. The boundary line for 5½ miles along the N and W sides at the NW corner is formed by the Kirk Burn and its continuation the Burn of Lyth, and for ½ mile near the centre of the W side by Wick Water; elsewhere it is artificial, except along the sea coast, and at one or two points where, for short distances, it follows the courses of small burns. The extreme length of the parish, from the point on the N where the boundary reaches the sea ¼ mile N of Brough Head, S by W to the point where the boundary again reaches the sea at Bruan, is 15½ miles; the breadth varies from 2½ miles from E to W, across the centre of the Loch of Wester, to 7³/8 miles measuring straight W from the projecting land S of Staxigoe; and the area is 48, 627.696 acres, of which 715.213 are water, 570.189 are foreshore, and 78.073 are tidal water. Following windings the length of the coast-line is about 27 miles, and includes in its northern portion the large sweep of Sinclair or Ackergill Bay, and near the centre Wick Bay, ⁷/8 mile wide in a straight line across the mouth, and ¾ mile deep from this line to the town of Wick. Immediately N of Wick Bay is the smaller bay of Broad Haven, and all along the coast from Noss Head-on the SE of Sinclair Baysouthward are a number of narrow creeks with steep rocky sides, and locally known as goes. The northern portion of the coast has a low sloping shore line, while round the greater part of Sinclair Bay there is a low sandy beach; but from the S side of this, round Noss Head and all the way southwards, there is a line of cliffs which are at many places very lofty and picturesque, rising at some points sheer from the sea to a height of over 200 feet. Close inshore, but detached, there are a number of stacks, one of which, called The Brough, 1½ mile S of Wick, is perforated by a long narrow cave which passes right through the mass of rock. Near the centre the roof of the cave has fallen in, so that an oval opening runs from the top to the sea below. A quarter of a mile N of The Brough is the Brig o' Trams- the name given to a narrow natural bridge of rock which connects an outlying stack with the mainland. There is another natural arch called the Needle E'e near Ires Goe, 1½ mile farther S, and near the South Head of Wick on the S side of the bay are several caves. The whole of the rock scenery is good, and on the S side of the South Head there is a heap of stones called the Grey Stones, which illustrate in a noteworthy manner the immense power of the waves on this exposed coast. ` To the S of the town of Wick,' says Dr Archibald Geikie, ` the waves have quarried out masses of Old Red Sandstone, and piled them up in huge heaps on the top of the cliff, sixty or a hundred feet above high-water mark. Some of the blocks of stone, which have been moved from their original position at the base or on the ledges of the cliffs, are of great size. My friend, Mr C. W. Peach, has been so kind as to send me some notes regarding them. " The largest disturbed mass," he says, "contains more than 500 tons, and is known as Charlie's Stone. Others, varying in bulk from 100 to 5 tons or less, lie by hundreds piled up in all positions in high and long ridges, which, before the march of improvement began in the district, extended far into the field above the cliff. Near the old limekiln, South Head, similar large blocks of sandstone have been moved by the gales of the last three years [1862-64]." ' The caves already mentioned are generally inhabited by tinkers, an interesting description of whose ways as modern ` cave-dwellers ' is given by Dr Arthur Mitchell in The Past in the Present (Edinb. 1880). The surface of the parish is gently undulating, and nowhere rises to any great height. In the division to the N of the valley of Wick Water the highest point is Hill of Quintfall (190 feet) in the NW; while S of the river no portion of the surface is less than 90 feet above sea-level; and towards the south-western border are Blingery Hill (340), Tannach Hill (457), Hill of Oliclett (462), Hill of Yarehouse or Yarrows (696)-which is the highest point-Whiteleen Hill (464), and Hill of Warehouse (513). Along the shore the highest point is Hill of Toftcarl (229 feet). About one-fourth of the parish, mostly near the coast and along the valley of Wick Water in the centre, is cultivated; but the rest of the surface is a bleak bare moorland, with extensive tracts of moss in the N and W of the northern district and in the centre and SW of the southern district. Across the centre of the northern section is a hollow occupied by Wester Water, Loch of Wester, and-extending along the NW corner-Burn of Lyth; another strath, occupied by the deep and extensive moss of Kilminster, stretches southward along the middle part of the western border; and a third strath, traversed by Wick Water, extends across the centre of the parish. The soil varies from light sand to good loam, but is mostly a stiff hard clay or peaty earth. The underlying rocks are flaggy beds belonging to the Old Red Sandstone, and are quarried for building purposes. Near the centre of the northern division is Loch of Wester (<sup>7</sup>/8 x ¼ mile), 2<sup>1</sup>/8 miles SSW is Loch of Kilminster, and 1<sup>1</sup>/8 mile farther SSW Loch of Winless (1 mile x 150 yards). In the southern division are Loch of Hempriggs, 2 miles S by W of the town of Wick; Loch of Yarehouse (½ x ¼ mile; 301 feet), 5 miles S by W of the town; Loch Sarclet (½ x <sup>1</sup>/8 mile; 130 feet), 5 miles S of the town; and the small Loch Watenan and Groats Loch, 6½ miles S by W at Ulbster. The drainage is carried off in the N by Burn of Lyth flowing to, and Wester Water flowing from, Loch of Wester-the latter stream reaching the sea near the centre of Sinclair Bay -and by smaller streams flowing to these or direct to the loch; in the centre by Wick Water, in the W and SW of the southern division by the Achairn Burn, and in the NE of it by a burn carrying off the surplus water of Loch of Yarehouse and Loch of Hempriggs, both streams flowing to Wick Water. Loch Sarclet and Loch Watenan both drain direct to the sea. There is good fishing on the lochs and streams, but the trout are small. Wick Water has its principal source in Loch Watten (55 feet), and has thence a course of a little over 4 miles E by S to the sea, which it reaches at the head of Wick Bay. Immediately after leaving Loch Watten it receives from the S the stream formed by the joint waters of the Burn of Acharole from Loch of Toftingale and Strath Burn from the southern part of the parish of Watten; and farther down on the same side are the Achairn Burn and a burn from Hempriggs Loch. On the N side the principal tributary is a small stream from Loch of Winless. It is a sluggish stream, and though little over 30 feet in mean breadth it is subject to such heavy floods during rainy weather that it then lays s a large part of its strath under water. The fishing is poor and the trout small. The principal antiquities are remains of Pictish towers at several places-a very well preserved one being on the shore of Loch of Yarehouse-and there are also cairns and traces of stone circles and weems. There are a number of ancient burial mounds along the margin of Sinclair Bay. On a headland 1¼ mile SSW of the town is the castle of Old Wick, known locally as ` The Auld Man of Wick.' It is a ruined square tower, and is of unknown antiquity; but it must be older than the 14th century, when it was the residence of Sir Reginald de Cheyne, the last of the male line of a once powerful Norman family who held large possessions in the N of Scotland. After his death it passed to the husband of his second daughter, Nicholas, second son of Kenneth, Earl of Sutherland, and was afterwards in the possession of the Oliphants, from whom it passed to Lord Duffus, and so to Dunbar of Hempriggs. Ackergill and Girnigoe and Sinclair Castles are separately noticed. There were a number of chapels in the district, one at Ulbster being dedicated to St Martin, one at Hauster to St Cuthbert, one at Head of Wick to St Ninian, one at Sibster to St Mary, one at Kirk of Moss to St Duthac; and St Tears, on the S shore of Sinclair Bay, was associated with the Holy Innocents. Curious observances connected with Innocents' Day and Christmas Day are noticed in the New Statistical Account. The Moor of Tannach was in 1464 the scene of a clan battle between the Gunns on the one hand and the Keiths of Ackergill and the Mackays of Strathnaver on the other; and Allt-namarlach, to the W of the town, was in 1678 the scene of the defeat of the Sinclairs by Lord Glenorchy and a body of Highlanders he had mustered to enforce his claims to the earldom of Caithness. The parish is traversed for 6 miles by the Georgemas Junction and Wick section of the Highland Railway, with stations at Bilbster-9 miles ESE of Georgemas and 5 WNW of Wick-and at the town of Wick. It is also traversed by two main roads to Thurso, by one northward along the coast to Huna and Dunnet, and by one along the coast southward by Lybster to Sutherland; and there are a number of excellent district roads. The industries other than farming are connected with the town of Wick, under which they are noticed. Besides the town of Wick the parish contains also the villages of Broadhaven, Keiss, Newton, Reiss, and Staxigoe. The principal mansions are Ackergill, Bilbster, Hempriggs, Keiss, Reiss, Stirkoke, Thrumster, and Thuster.

Wick is in the presbytery of Caithness and synod of Sutherland and Caithness, and the living is worth £445 a year. The church is noticed in connection with the town. Ecclesiastically the parish is divided into Wick, Pulteneytown, and Keiss, and besides the churches noticed under the town there are Free churches at Keiss and Bruan, and a Baptist church at Keith. Under the landward school board Bilbster, Kilminster, Staxigoe, Tannach, Thrumster, West Banks, Whaligoe, and Wick schools, with accommodation for 80, 160, 120, 80, 200, 350, 80, and 110 pupils respectively, had, in 1883, attendances of 27, 69, 69, 45, 55, 190, 40, and 90, and grants of £28, 19s. 4d., £56, 9s., £38, 15s., £31, 17s. 6d., £42, 2s. 1d., £161, 16s., £29, 4s. 10d., and £77, 11s. Wick unites with Latheron to form the Latheron combination which has a poorhouse, with accommodatioin for 50, but the number of inmates seldom exceeds 10. The chief proprietor is Garden Duff-Dunbar, Esq. of Hempriggs; and 7 others hold each an annual value of £500 or upwards, 17 hold each between £500 and £100, and 116 hold each between £50 and £20. The land rental increased between the middle of last century and the middle of the present century nearly twelve-fold, but during that time large outlays were made by the proprietors for improvements. Valuation (1885) £24, 561, 7s., exclusive of the town, but inclusive of £604 for the railway. Pop. (1801) 3986, (1831) 9850, (1861) 12, 841, (1871) 13, 291, (1881) 12,822, of whom 6079 were males and 67 43 females, of whom 4769 (2269 males and 2500 females) were in the landward portion, while 6820 were in the ecclesiastical parish. Houses in the landward part (1881) 991 inhabited, 29 uninhabited, and 1 being built.—Ord. Sur., shs. 116, 110, 1878-77.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)