Viewfirth - Coming Down

[Bobinovich]

Well it's a sad day for me as they've started to rip the main building down this morning. Photo's here

I'll add more shortly

[buggyracer]

it is a shame, and its such a nice building, sad.

[Jeemag_USA]

Isn't it a listed building or something , I practically grew u0p in that building

Whats going in its place? More ugly flats of hideous architecture like the ones down near Princes St no doubt.

[thirsaloon]

Once again another building with an interesting history has gone. You have to hand it to whoever passes judgement on what stays up and what comes down. They dont half know how to get rid of what fine buildings we have.

I went round all the rooms in Viewfirth 2 days before they closed it and to be honest apart from 2 rooms which had some severe rot in the woodwork I couldnt see any major signs of detereation. Certainly the stone work seemed more than stable from what the naked eye could see.

The way things are going Thurso will soon be filled with nothing but shoe box housing packed together, neighbours looking straight into each others windows. Rooms so small that you cant swing a cat flea in never mind the cat! Hope the green field site will not be smothered with housing like what was done at Mansons Lane/ Meadow Lane. Never heard anyone say a good word for them.

With the run down of Dounreay and the county needing to promote itself like Orkney has done and bring tourists in and make them stay a bit longer we certainly need buildings of character in place for them to see, not a pile of rubble!

To quote two tourists who came up here when the cottages in Mansons Lane were being demolished "We travelled all the way from the south of England to visit relations and see a small historic town, what a shame its being demolished in front of our eyes".

[mums angels]

Great pics bob ...must be hard for you to see it go

think we all have a happy memory or two at the viewfirth

[thirsaloon]

Afraid not Jeemag. Viewfirth wasnt listed, there is only one property in Duncan Street that is C (s) listed. The Viewfirth was built in 1873 and gets its name from the view it had over the firth. Was built by the Gerry's who had pavement works down at Thurso Harbour.

Gerry Square was built by them to give accomodation for some of their staff. The "barn" at the Viewfirth was the office where you paid for for your order of flagstone. It changed hands a couple of times until Mr. Ironside who was the rector of Miller bought it. After he passed away his wife sold it to the U.K.A.E.A. She then moved into the cottage at the back of it which used to be occupied by Pentland Housing. Thats the basic story of folks!

[Ash]

hope dont mind me asking, but why is it being taken down?

[Tubthumper]

Once again another building with an interesting history has gone. You have to hand it to whoever passes judgement on what stays up and what comes down. They dont half know how to get rid of what fine buildings we have.

I went round all the rooms in Viewfirth 2 days before they closed it and to be honest apart from 2 rooms which had some severe rot in the woodwork I couldnt see any major signs of detereation. Certainly the stone work seemed more than stable from what the naked eye could see.

The way things are going Thurso will soon be filled with nothing but shoe box housing packed together, neighbours looking straight into each others windows. Rooms so small that you cant swing a cat flea in never mind the cat! Hope the green field site will not be smothered with housing like what was done at Mansons Lane/ Meadow Lane. Never heard anyone say a good word for them.

With the run down of Dounreay and the county needing to promote itself like Orkney has done and bring tourists in and make them stay a bit longer we certainly need buildings of character in place for them to see, not a pile of rubble!

To quote two tourists who came up here when the cottages in Mansons Lane were being demolished "We travelled all the way from the south of England to visit relations and see a small historic town, what a shame its being demolished in front of our eyes".

Manson's Lane was a disgrace. Young folk need houses more than a derelict collapsing pile of rubble that no-one was interested in. How long did the debate about the old brewery go on, and how much business did those moaning tourists bring into our county?
Lucky you, Thirsaloon, that you can afford such oppulent surroundings with spacious rooms, shame about your fleas. Would you rather have young people leave Thurso because of the lack of housing?
I personally don't wish to live in a tourist resort. I would rather have meaningful employment and entertainment for folk of all ages who live here, not Caithness as some kind of tourist-dominated low-paying Brigadoon for rubberneckers, or an unchanging and timeless link to the past for retirees moving from elsewhere.
Instead of gurning about the Viewfirth (which was pretty much deserted latterly - where were all of you when it was going down the pan) why not think about replacing it with a bright modern new community facility that Thurso folk will actually use?
Instead of moaning about the loss of unwanted old dumps, why are you not doing something about developing Caithness's architectural & archaeological heritage. Or are you one of those who doesn't do anything, just whines about how things were always better in the old days...?
Dounreay is going, Viewfirth has gone, stop whining, get over it and get working on a future that people want to take part in.
By the way, the new houses seem to be selling OK so I guess that says something about (a) those poky little houses (b) people's confidence in the Caithness future and (c) Thurso without the Viewfirth.

[Tubthumper]

hope dont mind me asking, but why is it being taken down?

Because it was structurally unsound, few people went there so it couldn't function as a social club any more, and no-one with sense or money wanted it for any meaningful purpose.

[Ash]

ok thank you, well hopefully it can be developed into something that will be used............

[Tubthumper]

Isn't it a listed building or something , I practically grew u0p in that building

Must have had a great effect on you, seeing as you left for the colonies.

Whats going in its place? More ugly flats of hideous architecture like the ones down near Princes St no doubt.

...which people who want to stay here in Thurso would like to buy or rent.

[Tubthumper]

ok thank you, well hopefully it can be developed into something that will be used............

Sorry, my response sounded a bit brusque. I knew the Viewfirth well and had some great times there, but now I'm more concerned about opportunities for me, you and others to have great times in the future.
I didn't mean to be snappy, Ash.

[Ash]

Sorry, my response sounded a bit brusque. I knew the Viewfirth well and had some great times there, but now I'm more concerned about opportunities for me, you and others to have great times in the future.
I didn't mean to be snappy, Ash.

i didnt think u were being snappy, but thank you

[buggyracer]

Because it was structurally unsound, few people went there so it couldn't function as a social club any more, and no-one with sense or money wanted it for any meaningful purpose.

are people not aloud to be nostalgic about the nice times they may have had there?

[Tubthumper]

are people not aloud to be nostalgic about the nice times they may have had there?

Sorry, my response sounded a bit brusque. I knew the Viewfirth well and had some great times there, but now I'm more concerned about opportunities for me, you and others to have great times in the future.
I didn't mean to be snappy, Ash.

I'm all for nostalgia, but let's not write off the future for the sake of retaining bits of the past that no longer have a function.
I will always remember the Viewfirth for one of my first (and best) experiences of drinking in Caithness, and for many musical evenings spent in good company. However in its latter days it was a poor shadow of its former self; I got sad thinking about better times.
Live the present, remember the past, look forward to a brighter future.

[Sporran]

Well it's a sad day for me as they've started to rip the main building down this morning. Photo's here

I'll add more shortly

It's a sad day for me too, Bobinovich! Thanks for the link to your photos, and I'm not ashamed to say that they did bring a tear to my eye. Apart from the fact that Viewfirth was a lovely Victorian building, it also held many happy memories for me. When I was a wee girl, I went to my first Christmas party there, when I was 3, in 1958. When I started school at West Public Primary, I would pass Viewfirth on my way to and from there. We lived in the Brownhill Road flats at the time, and sometimes I'd take a shortcut across the Viewfirth Green, instead of starting at the top of Sweyn Road. Many's the time I played in the nearby playground, as well. When I was 14, I started going to teenage discos held in the "Barn", and later became a regular at the Thurso Folk Club, which was also held there. When I was old enough, I'd go to the dances in the big hall.

Nearly 31 years ago, I had my wedding reception in the "Barn", and wedding dance in the big hall, and that is yet another reason that Viewfirth was of sentimental value to me. My husband and I still continued to go there until we left Thurso in 1978. We'd often have Saturday lunch in the "Barn", before going downtown to shop. We still attended the folk club and dances, and my husband also enjoyed playing snooker in Viewfirth's sport's bar, or "bottom bar'' as it was affectionately called.

I do hope that a community centre is built in its place for the benefit of all Thurso folk, and that the Green remains just that - a wide open space for everyone to enjoy!

[thirsaloon]

In reply to your post Tubthumper, Mansons Lane which you described as a disgrace and I presume by this you’re referring to the cottages they were structurally sound. This was announced at a Thurso Community Council meeting by those who were working on the redevelopment. However it saved them paperwork to demolish it rather than renovate it, their words, not mine!

Whether you like it or not, those “moaning tourists” plus others do bring money into the county. Be it from accommodation that they stay in - hotels, B & B plus whatever they spend throughout the tourist season in the county all adds up. I would much rather see some revenue coming in from tourism than nothing at all. I’m sure those who run commercial premises that rely on their custom throughout the season would agree or would you rather them do without and go down the pan like the Viewfirth to.

I have no problem with a new community centre being built; it’s just a shame that they couldn’t use what was already there. I don’t see that as a problem. Regarding your statement about “retirees moving from elsewhere” I would imagine that there is already a good percentage of them already here as they came to work at the likes of Dounreay and Vulcan and decided to settle. I’m sure many who use the message board are from such families. And by the way I don’t live in opulent surroundings but at least the rooms are spacious!

Of course I don’t want to see young people leaving Thurso because of a lack of housing but I would say its more because of a lack of employment than housing. I’m all for housing been built within reason. If it is affordable, better still, but at least give them something decent for their money instead of some cramped chicken coup.

You then go on to have a personal attack at me for some reason saying “why are you not doing something about developing Caithness’s architectural & archaeological heritage.” ….. “Or are you one of those who doesn’t do anything”. I am already heavily involved with this kind of work and have been doing so at absolutely no financial gain to myself. Much of which is out of my own pocket and time, therefore I am already doing more than my fare share. I am an active member of several organisations which do what you stated by “developing Caithness’s architectural & archaeological heritage”. Do you? By using what we already and promoting it we may have a chance to help the future. Unless you can come up with any better ideas then i'm sure we are all willing to listen and help if we can.

Oh, and by the way you stated your opinion regarding what you want for the county and what you dont want, perhaps you could share with us what you are actively doing to support your argument to bring "meaningful employement and entertainment for folk of all ages." You never know you may get offers of help.

[Sporran]

Does anybody know what will happen to the stones that Viewfirth was built from? Can they be put to good use in the construction of a new building in its place? Or some other local building?

[badger]

Until the government (Westminster) does something about the crazy VAT rules old buildings will continue to be demolished instead of being restored. But why oh why do most new houses have to be so ugly? Is it just laziness on the part of developers or ignorance or what? Surely it's not too diffiicult to incorporate a bit of individuality and good design? This is not a Scottish problem as it applies all over GB, even in so-called conservation areas. Why do planners approve these monstrosities?

[thirsaloon]

Cant agree with you more badger! A lot of these new houses seem to be thrown up with little thought to the design. Tends to be a case of pack as many people in so as to make as much money as you can. There are some cracking new houses being built but alas they seem to be kept in the shade by the monstrosities.