A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Castles Girnigoe and Sinclair, two neighbouring ruined fortalices on the coast of Wick parish, Caithness, crowning a rocky peninsula, a little W of Noss Head, and 3¼ miles NNE of Wick town. Built mainly at a time unknown to record, and partly in the 16th century, they were the chief strongholds of the Sinclairs, Earls of Caithness; and, of great extent and irregular structure, included an extant five-storied tower, 50 feet high. A room in Castle-Sinclair, said to have been the bedchamber of the Earls, communicated through a trap-door with the sea; and the whole was so strong, by both nature and art, as to be impregnable prior to the invention of gunpowder. In a dark dungeon here, John Garrow, Master of Caithness, was imprisoned (1576-82) by his father, the fourth Earl, whom he had displeased by his lcnity towards the townsfolk of Dornoch. At last his keepers, having kept him for some time without food, gave him a large mess of salt beef, and then withholding all drink from him, left him to die of raging thirst. The singular episode of the coiner Smith (1612) and the Capture of Girnigoe by Sir Rt. Gordon (1623) are recounted in vol. i., pp. 436,532, of Chambers's -Domestic Annals (1858).
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "two neighbouring ruined fortalices" (ADL Feature Type: "historical sites") |
| Administrative units: | Wick ScoP Caithness ScoCnty |
| Place: | Sinclair |
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