The dialect in Caithness is rather gloriously called “North North Scots”. It has much in common with Orcadian and Shetlandic because of the strong Viking history here. Caithness was part of Norway until 1299, and Orkney and Shetland were Norwegian islands until 1472. All three places spoke Norn which has a strong influence on the modern Caithness dialect.
In early Medieval times, settlers from Ireland brought Gaelic, or Gàidhlig, to the West Coast, the Highlands and the Western Isles. But they did not reach as far as the Lowlands to the south, or Caithness to the east. During the 19th century clearances, displaced Sutherlanders brought Gàidhlig north with them to Caithness, but it tended to die out in a generation or two, and was never widely spoken here.
Most visitors have never heard the Caithness accent spoken, but Wick Voices is a rich source of wonderful recordings.
Crofting only goes back about 200 years to the Highland Clearances.
Up until the Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745, the people of the Highlands were connected by networks of rights and duties between lairds, heritors (who inherited land and obligations), and the ordinary people. Up in the hills and straths, people lived and farmed co-operatively in townships, paying their rent in produce and work, not money. They cultivated land in strips called run-rigs near the houses, and the rough grazing was further away. In the summer they took cattle to seasonal pastures called sheilings in the hills.
By the 1900s, Scotland’s lairds lived in Edinburgh and London. The lairds spoke English not Scots or Gàidhlig. Their relationships with the people of their clans had broken down. New ideas about agricultural “improvements” were fashionable, and sheep were seen as more profitable than people. The lairds evicted their tenants, and destroyed their ancient way of life by taking over the townships and sheilings to farm sheep. The victims of the clearances were resettled on the coast, on pieces of land called “crofts”, and they were told to learn new skills like sea-fishing. Short-term leases replaced long-term tenancies. This made it impossible for the new crofters to plan ahead and improve the buildings or the land, embedding poverty from generation to generation.
So a croft is not a building, it is, as the saying goes, “a small piece of land surrounded by legislation”.
“End to Enders” famously go from Land’s End to John o’Groats, and it’s always a real achievement when they do. Our first guests were end-to-enders, and we love hosting them.
But if you really want to go from the most southerly point in mainland England to the most northerly point in mainland Scotland, you need to go from Lizard Point to Dunnet Head.
So why is Land’s End to John o’Groats the route, and not Lizard Point to Dunnet Head? Basically because Britain is not set on a perfect diagonal; the coast is full of inlets and headlands, so the farthest distance is the LeJog route. And of course, commercialism has something to do with it too.
Tourists have been visiting Land’s End – the furthest to the south west – since the mid 1650s, even though Lizard Point is farther south. At the other end of the country the hotel was built next to the harbour at the village of John o’Groats much later, in 1875. This was just four years after the first recorded end-to-end walk by John and Robert Naylor in 1871. Popularity picked up slowly, and the route really took off after WW2, and is now completed by walkers, runners, cyclist, and even by kayakers doing it by sea. For a while one business owned the two famous sign-posts and the nearby hotels, but these days the shops and cafes at John o’Groats are locally owned and run, making it a great place for souvenirs and gifts.
Scotland is famous for its whisky, from Speyside to Islay, and whisky supports 66,000 jobs in the UK, and 41,000 in Scotland. It contributes over £7bn to the British economy, over £5bn of that in Scotland. And we’ll drink to that!
The earliest record of people distilling in Scotland is in 1494, but I am willing to bet it was well-established in straths and glens long before then.
Today, hundreds of individually owned craft and artisan distilleries have sprung up all over Scotland, and you can stock your entire drinks cabinet from Caithness.
If you want a holiday that is about experiences and not just views, then Caithness is one of the best parts of the NC500 for meeting people and going to local events. Almost 30% of the people who live on or near the route, live here in Caithness. So it is great for exhibitions, live music (sometimes local bands, sometimes traditional music), and community events that welcome visitors.
They can be hard to track down because they are mainly for and by the people who live here, though visitors are always welcome. Here are some great places to look. Though the best place of all can be the notice boards in the supermarkets! Everything going on in Caithness is advertised there!
Hello, my name is Ben, and I have been welcoming guests to the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage at Noss Head Lighthouse since 2018. I am fascinated by this little-known county, and take every chance to find out more about the unique people and history of Caithness. As a result, I also study Scottish History part time at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
No AI here! These are my own words, with some details supplied by friends and neighbours, though all the mistakes are mine. The information and links were all valid when this blog was written.
