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cathy
25-Jan-07, 16:45
My ancesters lived at numbers 20 and 21 Louisburg street, i wondered if anyone knows if houses stand there today.
Cathy

mccaugm
25-Jan-07, 21:04
My husbands aunty lives at 24 and there are houses on either side of it. Not sure when they were built though - sorry. They seem quite recent within the past 50 years or so.

Bill Fernie
25-Jan-07, 21:15
Most of the former Louisburgh Street must have been demolished many years ago. As the previous poster said the houses there are not very old in building terms.

The older part of the street can be seen here http://www.caithness.org/atoz/wick/louisburghstreet/louisburgh2.htm
and these hosues have been added to roof tiles and harling etc.

Here is photo from air taken in World War Two -
http://www.caithness.org/atoz/wick/airviews/wickwar/index.htm

Louisburgh Street is visble in the photo if you work your way from the parish church on the far left and up Kirkhill and right into Louisburgh Street.

scaraben
25-Jan-07, 23:18
If you phone Royal Mail Sorting Office at Wick 602397 they would tell you if these numbers exist.

johno
25-Jan-07, 23:35
If you phone Royal Mail Sorting Office at Wick 602397 they would tell you if these numbers exist.
naw, no20 is a council house built in the thirties no 21 would have been cross the road some where near where the ashley house was. most of that area was ripped down . then the old bb hall went. any one recall the dances there.

caithness lad
25-Jan-07, 23:40
yes they are still there. john horne the caithness writer lived very close to number 20. i wonder does anyone know that louisburgh st was once called trout street and there is burial ground between the back of louisburgh st and the job centre.

johno
26-Jan-07, 00:02
yes they are still there. john horne the caithness writer lived very close to number 20. i wonder does anyone know that louisburgh st was once called trout street and there is burial ground between the back of louisburgh st and the job centre.
isnt jim christies house [ john horne,s] a bit further down the street, it,s a bit before my time but there was a whole lot of wee houses straight across the road from there ,right down to and around the pipe band hall , cause some of my ancestors lived there, think kirk lane & kirk style is some of the names. would be interesting if some one could post a map of that particular area. it must be about the oldest bit of wick ?

Gleber2
26-Jan-07, 00:16
isnt jim christies house [ john horne,s] a bit further down the street, it,s a bit before my time but there was a whole lot of wee houses straight across the road from there ,right down to and around the pipe band hall , cause some of my ancestors lived there, think kirk lane & kirk style is some of the names. would be interesting if some one could post a map of that particular area. it must be about the oldest bit of wick ?

My father's family lived in Louisburgh St up until 1927. I think it was 40 or 42.

johno
26-Jan-07, 00:45
My father's family lived in Louisburgh St up until 1927. I think it was 40 or 42.
hi i think 40 42 must be further up the street, somewhere about janet,s shoppie. that would be about the time that the street got facelifted .so maybe thats why your folks got relocated, the street had a break in it cross the road from the nethercliffe hotel where there was a rough car park.
there was an old long low house there that an old wifie used to stay in, just where the flats are now, but there were lots of old foundations there right up to the playpark, the house next up the road is still there [ the watts home.]

candyfloss
26-Jan-07, 09:52
My dad was born in 1913 in Louisburgh St and also lived there too but i can't remember what number, i think it's the one that looks straight down woolies lane.:D

My mum could have lived in the street too but i'm not to sure.

Bill Fernie
26-Jan-07, 10:10
Gleber 2 is correct about Jim Christie the founder of the Wick Girls Pipe Band.
http://www.caithness.org/earlypictures/wickgirlspipeband/index.htm

He lived at number 8 Louisburgh street and eventually worked with his father in the bekery also at that address. See the obituary at http://www.caithness.org/earlypictures/wickgirlspipeband/jimchristie.htm

In 2005 former members of the Wick Girls Pipe Band marched past his house in Louisburgh Street to unveil a memorial plaque opposite the Scout Hall at the foot of Kirkhill.
See http://www.caithness.org/fpb/june2005/photogallery/index.php?gallery=17&start=0

lelebo
26-Jan-07, 11:37
I think John Horne's house must be number 12 - the first council house in the row is number 14 and its right next door to it - council houses then go most of the way along the street with some older houses dotted in amongst.

johno
26-Jan-07, 12:39
Gleber 2 is correct about Jim Christie the founder of the Wick Girls Pipe Band.
http://www.caithness.org/earlypictures/wickgirlspipeband/index.htm

He lived at number 8 Louisburgh street and eventually worked with his father in the bekery also at that address. See the obituary at http://www.caithness.org/earlypictures/wickgirlspipeband/jimchristie.htm

In 2005 former members of the Wick Girls Pipe Band marched past his house in Louisburgh Street to unveil a memorial plaque opposite the Scout Hall at the foot of Kirkhill.
See http://www.caithness.org/fpb/june2005/photogallery/index.php?gallery=17&start=0 thanks for that Bill Jim was a close neighbour and a very fine gentle man .Jim & Lilly are certainly missed by many many people

evelyn
27-Jan-07, 12:40
Does anyone have any info on Coghill Square. It was in that area as well. It was on the same side as the old laundry at the top of Shore Lane. That was where my late mother in law stayed.

Murchiemannie
27-Jan-07, 16:38
Does anyone have any info on Coghill Square. It was in that area as well. It was on the same side as the old laundry at the top of Shore Lane. That was where my late mother in law stayed.

Hi! there,
as far as I remember Coghill Square was in behind Hamish Webster's shop which was situated on the corner of Tolbooth Lane and Louisburgh Street.
You could gain entry by going down steps and there were a few houses set in a "square". Think it was demolished in the fifties but not too sure.

johno
27-Jan-07, 18:43
My dad was born in 1913 in Louisburgh St and also lived there too but i can't remember what number, i think it's the one that looks straight down woolies lane.:D

My mum could have lived in the street too but i'm not to sure.
the original houses in that area are pulled down . the council houses are there now . that s across the road from coghill sq. further back across from john camerons was another wee square that you had to go down steps to.
coghill sq had no steps into it, dan campbell the watch maker had a wee shop right on the corner of coghill sq, then next to dan,s was the wick steam laundry
run & owned by bill macgan. in at the back of the laundry was a carpenters bis then the bottom of the high st.

johno
27-Jan-07, 18:48
Does anyone have any info on Coghill Square. It was in that area as well. It was on the same side as the old laundry at the top of Shore Lane. That was where my late mother in law stayed.
there used to be a big tenement building in coghill sq on the lines of the ashley house cept that it had,nt the basement flat. the only other building in the sq was the back of campbells watchmaker shop where mr & mrs rosie lived.

katarina
28-Jan-07, 12:03
naw, no20 is a council house built in the thirties no 21 would have been cross the road some where near where the ashley house was. most of that area was ripped down . then the old bb hall went. any one recall the dances there.

Were there any other houses across the road? I remember Ashley house and it was surrounded by a high wall. the BB hall was accross the road. If there were any other houses at any time it would be interesting to find out.
The numbers definately jump from 20 to 24. But there used to be some old buildings used as outhouses, but did have fireplaces, (so it's safe to assume that they may have been dwellings ar some time) behind the origonal no 24.

johno
28-Jan-07, 12:25
Were there any other houses across the road? I remember Ashley house and it was surrounded by a high wall. the BB hall was accross the road. If there were any other houses at any time it would be interesting to find out.
The numbers definately jump from 20 to 24. But there used to be some old buildings used as outhouses, but did have fireplaces, (so it's safe to assume that they may have been dwellings ar some time) behind the origonal no 24.
across the road from 14 16 18 20 [those were 30,s council houses]
the nethercliff hotel the bb hall the ashley house, it stood in a big garden with a high wall all around it, just straight over the road from jim christies was a lane that ran down to the now pipe band hall. at the top of the lane was laura doulls home then the house that katie banks [ the hall caretaker] joined onto the hall. from the hall going south on high st there were terraced houses next to the old cinema where the wee garden now is. right behind them there were more wee houses . you can see them in the org pics by ham gunn. i can just recall those homes ,but cant remember them other than derilect

htwood
28-Jan-07, 17:54
In the 1830's, my dad's family lived at Louisburgh, almost as if it were a village on other side of river, not yet a part of Wick.

johno
29-Jan-07, 00:45
In the 1830's, my dad's family lived at Louisburgh, almost as if it were a village on other side of river, not yet a part of Wick.
your right ,i think louisburgh st was a village, but i think it was just louisburgh then
. not sure but does,nt burgh mean something royal or what?.

cathy
29-Jan-07, 15:35
Thanks Bill for the pictures.It was kind of you to show them.
The one taken from the air is very good.
I came up to Wick a few years ago, so from the picture i can see where Louisburgh Street is.
Cathy

veritas
29-Jan-07, 18:31
Hi

The Archive at the library has OS maps dating from 1860 at a scale of 1:500 these details all the streets at that time and should be useful in showing the houses and streets that are being discussed.

quality
29-Jan-07, 18:43
Hi Cathy,

Here is a link to the 1860 Map, it shows Louisburgh as a village, I think.

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/oldmaps/servlet/RawImageServlet?application=oldmaps&command=omStartup.sh&operation=large&save=OFF&imageList=/datar/raid6/60cait1/ep1/60025001.TIF&projParams=33%2032767%202%209%206377563.3959999997 %200.0066705398%201.0000000000%200.0000000000%20-3.3702933788%2058.6694335938%200.0000000000%200.00 00000000%200.0000000000%200.0000000000%200.0000000 000%200.0000000000%200.0000000000%200.0000000000%2 00.0000000000&westTM=335824.0&eastTM=338058.0&southTM=950461.7021755439&northTM=951958.2978244561&zoomLevel=6&winWidth=2666&winHeight=1786
(http://www.old-maps.co.uk/servlets/DirectMap2?easting=378367&northing=425425&county=10lancs191)

Bill Fernie
30-Jan-07, 00:03
This section from Frank Foden's book "Wick of the North" has useful section on Louisburgh.

"The population was said to be increasing, particularly on the coast and the burgh of Wick as the fisheries have become more extended and successful. There being no reliable official enumerations, Sutherland's estimates are in very round figures: ' atleast 5000 young and old in the parish, as compared with Dr Webster's count of 1755 of 3938: and in Wick burgh itself about 1000 in 200 families. In consequence of the villages projected on the north and south of the town, Mr Sutherland expects that the population will be considerable augmented'. In addition to the develoment south of the river under discussion with the British Fisheries society, he alludes to the creation of the 'village' of Louisburgh, a planned rural settlementjust north of the town, consisting of 'houses woth at least 10 pounds' each on an acre of 'excellent land fit for garden ground', 33 acres altogether, a project of Mr Dunbar of Hempriggs. This village, named 'in compliment to Mrs Dunbar, whose christian name is Louisa..... can scarcely fail to prosper from the many advantages it possesses.'

cathy
30-Jan-07, 10:52
Thank you for the map its very interesting.
Cathy

cathy
30-Jan-07, 11:04
Thanks for the information On Louisburgh, Bill.
My ancesters lived on that street in 1881 i have the census.
They were travellers so its making me wonder if they camped on Louisburgh Street.Although on the census they lived at numbers 20 and 21.
Cathy