County Offices, Wick | |
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Location | High Street, Wick |
Coordinates | 58°26′33″N3°05′29″W / 58.4425°N 3.0915°W |
Built | 1820 |
Architectural style(s) | Neo-Georgian style |
Listed Building – Category C(S) | |
Official name | High Street, Stafford Place, Wick Council Offices |
Designated | 16 August 2002 |
Reference no. | LB48834 |
County Offices was a municipal structure at the corner of High Street and Market Place in Wick, Caithness, Scotland. It was built in 1894 as a post office and served as the main offices of Caithness County Council from 1930 onwards. In 1965 the council's offices were expanded to also include an adjoining older terrace called Stafford Place. The County Offices passed to the Highland Council on local government reorganisation. The building was demolished except for Stafford Place in 2013. A new building called Caithness House was built on the site to serve as an area office for the Highland Council, opening in 2015. Stafford Place is a Category B listed building. [1]
When Caithness was made a shire in 1641, Wick was declared to be the head burgh of the shire. [2] [3] However, the Sheriff of Caithness took to holding most courts and having his clerk's office in Thurso. This situation continued until 1828, when the Wick authorities took legal action against the sheriff and secured an order from the Court of Session requiring the clerk's office and regular courts to return to Wick. [4] [5] The county's main civic buildings were then the Town and County Hall (now known as Wick Town Hall) of 1828 and the adjoining Wick Sheriff Court of 1866, both on Bridge Street. [6] [7]
Wick was expanding in the 19th century, particularly following the completion of Wick Bridge across the Wick River in 1808 and the construction of a new harbour in the 1820s and early 1830s. [8] : 9
Many buildings in the town centre were rebuilt around this time. One of the new buildings was a curved three-storey tenement known as "Stafford Place" on the south side of the High Street, close to the corner with Market Place. It was designed in the Neo-Georgian style and built in contrasting whinstone and sandstone. On stylistic grounds the building has been dated by Historic Environment Scotland to c. 1820, [1] but land ownership records suggest that it may not have been built until sometime between 1833 and 1835. [8] : 10 The design involved a curved main frontage of six bays facing onto the High Street. There were originally nine openings on the ground floor with doorways in the second, third, fifth and eighth openings. The building was fenestrated with sash windows on the first and second floors, and there was a cill course separating each of the floors. Above were three shallow pyramid-shaped roofs, each with a central chimney stack. [1]
A modern plaque on Stafford Place commemorates Alexander Bain, inventor of the electric telegraph, who served as an apprentice to a watchmaker called John Sellar there between 1829 and 1830. [9] Wright (2009) argues that Bain probably served his apprenticeship in the previous building on the site rather than in Stafford Place itself, contrary to the wording on the plaque. [8] : 10
In the late 1830s and early 1840s, the left-hand section of the ground floor accommodated a grocers and drapers business, Purves & Brown. [10] However, in the mid-19th century, the left-hand section of the ground floor was taken over by the bookseller and stationer, William Rae & Son, who also became the proprietor of a newspaper known as the Northern Ensign, first published in 1850. [11]
In 1894 a new post office was built to the east of Stafford Place, on the corner with the Market Place. [12] The post office moved to a new building in 1912, after which the old post office building of 1894 was occupied by Wick Parish Council, sharing the building with a club and several businesses. The 1894 building was acquired by Caithness County Council to serve as its administrative offices in 1930, becoming known as the County Offices. [8] : 22 [13] The County Offices did not have a council chamber, and council meetings continued to be held at the Town Hall on Bridge Street, as they had been since the creation of the county council in 1890. [14] [15] [16]
In 1965 the county council acquired Stafford Place to the west of the County Offices, converting it to be additional office space. [8] : 4 When Caithness County Council was abolished in 1975, the County Offices / Stafford Place complex passed to Caithness District Council, before passing on to the Highland Council when local government was reorganised again in 1996. [17]
Between 2013 and 2015, the site was redeveloped to create a customer service point for the delivery of local services by the council. [18] The works involved the complete demolition of the 1894 building, which had problems with subsidence and had been subjected to various unsympathetic repairs over the years. [8] : 19 The redevelopment also involved the demolition of numerous outbuildings behind the original building at Stafford Place. The works were carried out by Morgan Sindall at a cost of £8.5 million. [19]
The new office complex comprises a modern three storey building with its main public entrance and a four storey clock tower on the corner of Market Place and High Street. It has wings to the rear projecting towards Market Street and the river, and also incorporates office space within the renovated Stafford Place building. The new building was named "Caithness House" and opened in October 2015. [20] [21]
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It has land borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. The wider upland area of the Scottish Highlands after which the council area is named extends beyond the Highland council area into all the neighbouring council areas plus Angus and Stirling.
Thurso is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great Britain. From a latitudinal standpoint, Thurso is located further north than the southernmost point of Norway and in addition lies more than 500 miles (800 km) north of London.
Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Viking era when the area was ruled by the Jarl of Orkney; although Sutherland includes some of the northernmost land on the island of Great Britain, it was called Suðrland from the standpoint of Orkney and Caithness.
Caithness is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Wick is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. "Wick Locality" had a population of 6,954 at the time of the 2011 census, a decrease of 3.8% from 2001.
Watten is a small village in Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland, on the main road (A882-A9) between the burgh of Wick and the town of Thurso, about twelve kilometres west of Wick and close to Wick River and to Loch Watten. The village is on The Far North railway line but trains stopped calling at the village in 1960. The railway station is now a private house.
A county hall or shire hall is a common name given to a building that houses the seat of local government for a county.
Georgemas Junction railway station is a railway station located in the Highland council area in the far north of Scotland. It serves several rural hamlets in the historic county of Caithness, including Georgemas, Roadside and Banniskirk. It is also the nearest station to the village of Halkirk, which lies approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km) west of the station.
Wick railway station is a railway station located in Wick, in the Highland council area in the far north of Scotland. It serves the town of Wick and other surrounding areas in the historic county of Caithness, including Staxigoe, Papigoe and Haster. The station is the terminus of the Far North Line, 161 miles 36 chains from Inverness. It is managed by ScotRail, who operate all trains serving the station.
The Wick and Lybster Light Railway was a light railway opened in 1903, with the intention of opening up the fishing port of Lybster, in Caithness, Scotland, to the railway network at Wick. Its construction was heavily supported financially by local government and the Treasury. It was worked by the Highland Railway.
The Highland Council is the local authority for Highland, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council is based at the Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
North of Scotland Newspapers (NOSN) is the trade name under which Scottish Provincial Press publishes two weekly newspapers, the John O'Groat Journal and the Caithness Courier, both serving the Caithness area in the Highland council area of Scotland. The two papers share one website.
Inverness-shire or the County of Inverness, is a historic county in Scotland. It is named after Inverness, its largest settlement, which was also the county town. Covering much of the Highlands and some of the Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county by land area. It is generally rural and sparsely populated, containing only three towns which held burgh status, being Inverness, Fort William and Kingussie. The county is crossed by the Great Glen, which contains Loch Ness and separates the Grampian Mountains to the south-east from the Northwest Highlands. The county also includes Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in both Scotland and the United Kingdom.
The Caithness flag is the flag of the county of Caithness. It was registered with the Flag Institute as the official flag of the county in 2016. The flag was adopted following a competition arranged by the Highland Council. It was unveiled by the Lord Lyon, Dr Joseph Morrow, at a ceremony in Caithness House, Wick on 26 January 2016. The Nordic cross design symbolises the ancient ties of the county to the Vikings. The black recalls the county's geology with the famous Caithness flagstone, while the gold and blue allude to the beaches and sea reinforcing the maritime nature of the county and its heritage. The traditional emblem of Caithness, a galley, is placed in the first quarter, with a raven upon its sail as it appears in the county's civic arms.
Gail Elizabeth Ross is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician, who served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross from the election in May 2016 up until 2021 when she decided to not seek re-election. She was a councillor on the Highland Council 2011–2016, and civic leader of Caithness 2012–2016.
Perth Sheriff Court is an historic building on Tay Street in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The structure, which is used as the main courthouse for the area, is a Category A listed building.
Nairn Town and County Buildings is a municipal structure in the High Street, Nairn, Highland, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a service point for The Highland Council, is a Category B listed building.
Wick Town Hall is a municipal building in Bridge Street, Wick, in the Highland area of Scotland. The structure, which is used as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building. It formerly served as the meeting place of both Wick Town Council and Caithness County Council.
Wick Sheriff Court is a judicial structure in Bridge Street, Wick, Caithness, Scotland. The structure, which remains in use as a courthouse, is a Category B listed building.
County Offices is a former municipal building on Main Street in Golspie in Scotland. The building, which used to be the headquarters of Sutherland County Council, is now divided into seven residential properties known as 1-7 The Old Post Office.
...ratified with respect to Caithness on 17 November 1641, with Wick as its head burgh
The proposal will be considered by the County Council as a meeting to be held within the Town Hall, Wick, on Saturday, 28th February 1953...