Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016665
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016665
Thurso was a settlement in Norse times and two characters prominent in the Sagas were killed there, Moddan in the 11th century and John, Earl of Orkney, in 1231, murdered in the cellar of a house where he had hidden. Little is heard of Thurso after this until it became a free burgh of barony in 1633. The old part of Thurso lay north of Olrig Street, where one old house dated 1687 with a round stair tower still remains at nos 16-18 Shore Street. Old St Peter's Church in Wilson Lane is the medieval parish church, much altered in the 17th century when it was filled with lofts (one loft front is preserved in St Peters and the Holy Rood). It now stands roofless (key from Municipal Offices, Rotterdam Street). The tracery window in the south gable is typical 17th century Gothic. At the east end is the apse of the medieval church, formerly walled off as a burial vault. The tower is dated 1638 or 1640, and had a session room above reached by a private spiral stair. Later it was let out to the Town Council who used it variously as a prison and a council chamber.
In 1735 the town was described as 'A neat fashionable little town ... with one principall street, severall wynds and sufficient buildings in it'. It was then the market for a good part of the country's produce and dealt in corn, cod and ling. Thurso expanded greatly in the early 19th century, when a New Town was laid out by Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, the originator of the Statistical Accounts. Its grid pattern of streets is still clear, centred on Sinclair Street and Sir Johns Square. Many of the original houses still stand, and this is an attractive area to walk round, particularly on a summer evening when the traffic has stopped. The grandest houses are in Janet Street, looking out over the river, some still having stables and gighouses behind. The streets filled up gradually: thus most of Janet Street was built in 1800-10, but Campbell Street only in 1820-30.
At the end of Sinclair Street stands a classical building with portico and domed tower, the former Miller Academy, designed by W Scott of Edinburgh and donated by the Rev Alexander Miller in 1859, where boys were taught English, Mathematics, Latin, Greek and French. The Town Well in Meadow Lane is covered by a circular wellhouse with conical roof dated 1822, while the pump inside was installed in 1850. In Manson's Lane, nos 22 and 24 are the Old Brewery and the Brewer's House, part of Sinclair's planned town. The brewery is open-plan inside, the upper floors supported on wooden pillars. On the east bank of the river at Millbank (ND 115677), there is a fine group of late 18th- and 19th-century mill buildings, the miller's house with a castellated facade (now a youth centre); next to them is the old Millbank Foundry.
In the High Street adjacent to the former Town Hall is Thurso Museum. Among the exhibits is a relic of Norse Thurso, a rough stone cross intended to be laid on a grave with a runic inscription '(name missing) ... nade this overlay for his father Ingulf', perhaps 11th century in date, also two Pictish cross-slabs from Ulbster and Skinner. On the east side of Thurso, and seen from the coastal path, is the modern Thurso 'Castle' of 1872 with a castellated gateway and lodge, replacing a mansion of 1660. Near it is the base of a concrete tower known as Lady Janet's Seat. East of Thurso (ND 135692), and to be seen only from a distance unless with permission, is Harold's Tower, a curious hexagonal mausoleum with pencil turrets at the angles, erected by Sir John Sinclair around 1790-98 to commemorate Earl Harold who was killed in battle in 1190 and buried nearby.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
