Castletown

[Olin]

I know this is a very small and probably easy to answer question but I thought I would post it anyways.....

Is Castletown actually a town?

I was discussing this with someone at work and we didn't know....

[goldenguernsey]

Does it have a castle?

[Even Chance]

I only recently pondered the very same question. Where does the name Castletown actually come from. Was there a castle? Im almost 100% sure there was no castle.

Over to you guys n' gals for an answer...............

[Phoebus_Apollo]

According to Wiki its a village with a population of 800 (2006 census)....so no it ain`t a town.

[Lavenderblue2]

Hope this is of interest Olin,

Castletown: the castle comes from the earlier Castlehill but it is doubtful if there ever was a castle there. The Shelly Hillock, an old kitchen midden, could have been mistaken for the ruins of an old stronghold.

This is an excerpt from The Caithness Book (1972) edited by Donald Omand

[Duncansby]

The New Statistical Account for the parish of Olrig mentions the establishment of Castletown during the growth of the stone industry in the mid 19th century. I'm guessing Castletown derived from Castlehill, but where the 'castle' bit comes from I don't know.

As the village was built on the property of James Trail, the town bit may derive simply from the fact that it was built on the 'townland' - area subdivided into agricultural units.

http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sas.asp/?monospace=&twoup=&nohighlight=&account=2&transcript=&session-id=079788dbdfc8967421727709e855c4ea&naecache=8&accountrec=014803&navbar=&action=publicdisplay&parish=Olrick&county=Caithness&pagesize=#pageimage

[Dog-eared]

Or Mr Traill upping the name to Castletown for his prestige ?