Wick Street Names

[Elenna]

Hallo Elenna,

Saltoun Street .... named after Gilbert Salton, Secretary of Fisheries Society.


Rose Street..... George Rose, Treasurer of British Fisheries Socy.


Martha Terrace and Barbara Place are named after female relatives of Directors of the British Fisheries Socy.


It's worth to try a google search on some of the names for more details if you wish.

Kind regards
Trinkie

Ohhh, so Rose wasn't a lady after all!

And I am definitely intrigued about much of what is on this thread, so have taken some notes and will be doing some Googling in the odd spare moment.

Thanks, Trinkie!

[trinkie]

a few more -

ALBERT STREET..... named after Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert.

BARROGILL STREET....James Sinclair, Earl of Caithness, Caithness Landowner, including Barrogill Castle and Mains.

RUTHERFORD STREET .....Andrew Rutherford Scottish Judge, Solicitor General for Scotland. British Fisheries Society Shareholder.


Was there a Lemonade Factory there in Rutherford street ?
Certainly there were Fish Yards.

[Echidna]

What about Beufoy St? This looks like another 'ring in', probably another BFS director....any clues?

[trinkie]

Yes.......
BEAUFOY STREET .... Henry Beaufoy M.P. also BFS Director.



Was he once Chancellor of the Exchequer?? Or was that his father ? ( I cant find my notes ! )

[MR J]

Mowat Lane - named after Thomas Mowat. He was a tailor in the town in the early 1800's. He built the house at the top of the lane next to the Nethercliffe Hotel.

[trinkie]

BROWN STREET..... Isaac Hawkins Brown
MP Director of British Fisheries Society.

DUNBAR STREET... Sir Benjamin Dunban of Hempriggs,
Land proprietor who gave 390 acres
for the development of Pulteneytown.

DUNDAS STREET.... Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville
BFS shareholder

DUNVEGAN STREET ..... General Norman MacLeod
of MacLeod, Dunvegan,Skye.
BFS Shareholder

GLADSTONE PLACE... William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister,


HARROW HILL..... Part of the original land designated
for the building of Pulteneytown
( Owned by Sir Benjamin Dunbar.)

KINNAIRD STREET... George William Fox Kinnaird,
9th Baron Kinnaird. BFS Shareholder

MacLEAY STREET ..... William MacLeay Agent of BFS
Provost of Wick.

MALCOLM STREET..... Neil Malcolm, BFS Shareholder.

MORAY STREET....... Rt Hon The Earl of Moray. BFH Shareholder.

MURCHISON STREET..... Kenneth Murchison. BFS Shareholder

NICOLSON STREET .....Provost William Nicolson, elected a Baillie
in 1894. Became Provost in 1896 until
the amalgamation of Wick and Pulteneytown
in 1902. Elected Dean of Guild in 1907

NORTON PLACE..... John Bruce Norton, Advocate General.
BFS Shareholder.

SINCLAIR TERRACE.......Sir Tollemache Sinclair. M.P.
BFS Shareholder.

SMITH TERRACE.........William Smith, Deputy Governor of Society.

WELLINGTON TERRACE. ..... Sir Arthur Wellesley,
Duke of Wellington.
BFS Shareholder.

WILLIAMSON STREET...... James Williamson, retired Soldier turned
Farmer, Society's Agent

[trinkie]

Most of the streets named here have been from Pulteneytown !

What a time that must have been in the mid 1800s when they decided to build a NewTown on the south side of Wick !
The sight of all the building work must have been something to behold ! So many new houses and roads where before there would have been open fields.
What excitement and feelings of expectation !
Then gradually the houses became occupied with folks from further down the road..... country folk each one I'm sure, new to town living. I wonder how they felt living in streets with so many neighbours on each side. Did they get on well together?
It must have been so strange to them.
I think I'm right in saying it was the first 'purpose built new town' in the country !

some notes.....

1824 The first locally owned ship carries exported herring.
1826 The Distillery and brewery opened.
1833 Cholera outbreak which seriously affects the fishing.

1844 Pulteneytown is now the biggest herring port in Europe.
The administration of the town is transferred from
the British Fishing Society in London to the locally-
elected Pulteneytown Improvement Commissioners.
The Police force, the smallest in Britain consisting of
an Inspector and two Constables, is set up.

1846 Piped water from Loch Yarrow reaches the harbour.
1848 Thirty seven men drowned in a storm in the bay
1861-2 The largest ever fleet of about 1100 boats fished from the
harbour. It is possibly the largest herring fishing port
in the world .

1863 - 71 Five attempts are made to extend the harbour by
building a breakwater but each time the sea destroys
it, at enormous cost.

1879 Wick Harbour Trust is created to manage
the affairs of the harbour.

1883 July was the heaviest fishing ever recorded in one month.

1889 Police force amalgated with the County Force.

1902 On February 25th the Commissioners vote 10-1
to amalgate the burgh with Wick and it ceases to exist
on March 17th. This was the shortest existence of any
burgh in Scotland.

( notes from The Caithness Vintage Picture Show )

[caroline]

Anyone know if there was a Francis Street in Pultneytown around 1866. Marriage certificate is very bad but certainly looks like Francis Street. Any help greatly appreciated

[Torvaig]

http://uk8.multimap.com/map/browse.c...x=191&down.y=2

This shows Francis Street in Wick..

[trinkie]

Ojibwa asked about Baron's Well......
All I have found out is that there was a Well in or near Willowbank.
I wonder who owned that land - He would have been the Baron I suppose .

I'll continue to ask around..... but you could ask in the Wick Library Archives section. They are usually very helpful.
Trinkie

[trinkie]

I understand Henrietta Street was once called Roseberry Street - is that correct?
I wonder where the name came from.
Trinkie

[johno]

part of henrietta street is roseberry terrace, from the girnigoe st juction[ ex police houses] to where the new houses on the old n,o.s.m.m.b garage used to be ,on that side.
i think that those houses can go under either henrietta st or roseberry tce

[lynne duncan]

I just put back a book to the library on the history of wick, didn't finish reading ti all got up to about 1800, but I think I remember that the henrietta area not street at this time was named after one of the dunbar's wife's. will go back to the library and check.

[trinkie]

I've just spotted another street name ..... MARCH Road Wick.

Now why March? Was there a famous March from this area sometime?
Or is it from the month ??

I bet from now on it will be remembered for the first spotting of the Grasshopper Warbler June 2007 - wouldn't that nice?

[Bill Fernie]

I understand March Road was originally the March Dyke or ditch. March is apparently commonly associated with boundaries.

[horseman]

Trinkie you come up with some facinating facts,(if thats grammatical) Great stuff. I only know about bridge st. I was born there..

[trinkie]

Thank you Bill - I should have guessed that, as I now live near the Welsh / English border where the Marches run from top to bottom.
March comes from an Anglo Saxon word Mearc meaning boundary - so I found out from a quick google.
Locally it is thought a March was the distance a troop of soldiers could do in a day. I think there is a Castle or Fort at the end of each March.

Thank you too Horseman........ Bridge street....... any good stories ?

[plumber]

Does anyone know if there was such a place as Farquars Lane, and where about it was. And does it still exsist

[trinkie]

I notice from an old map that Vansittart street was once called Royal street.

Not far from Royal Street, up over Shilling Hill was the Distillery Yard and wall. There it says on my map '' Nuge broke both his legs trying to fly from this dyke, using barrel staves as wings. c. 1911''

Can anyone tell me more about Nuge and his flying experiment ?
( Week's own Eddie the Eagle )

[trinkie]

Still looking at this wonderful old map - done by Iain Sutherland with invaluable notes - I find that Smith Terrace was once called The Front.

Marked is Jessie Clyne's Bakery - the front of her little shop used to be tarred - I bet the new owners had great difficulty getting rid of that black tar !
Across the bottom of Huddart street is Big Meg Clyne's ?? - anyone know?
I think Mrs Flett had a little shop there in the 1950s

Further along Smith Terrace near the Post Office was the famous Mountain Dew !
Up in Huddart Street - where Jack Bremner had his shop, Iain writes '' This is where the Whisky was brought and the saying We are the Boys.....''
Blast .... I can't make out the rest of it - any ideas ?