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North
Highland Archives Web Page
On Highland Council
North Highland Archive Leaflet - Pdf
Collections Held
Contact
[email protected]
Nucleus, The Nuclear and Caithness Archive
Airport Industrial Estate
Wick Airport
Wick
Caithness
KW1 4QS
Archive Opening Times
Monday-Friday 9-5
The North Highland Archive has a huge range of
items which can be consulted in person at the Nucleus, Wick airport
Scotland - free of charge. Staff are always available to help you find
what you are looking for. There are some closure periods on sensitive
material, but if you require information relating to your own family we
can look it up for you.
Our material can be of interest to family
historians, professional or amateur local historians, academics,
schoolchildren, or anyone interested in any of the topics in which
Caithness has made its mark. These include fishing, shipping,
lighthouses, architecture, brewing, tourism, manufacturing and crafts
such as glassmaking, and of course the famous Highland railways - the
most northerly lines in Britain. Not to forget other staple industries
of farming and crofting.
If you use the internet on a regular basis, you
will probably know that it is now possible to access the Mormon's
International Genealogical Index through their own web site. To verify
names and dates, however, and to give a broader picture of your
family's life, you need to look beyond the index. So much information
is available that it will never be possible or economic to put it all
on the net. Searching primary sources is absolutely essential for
successful research, especially if you want to verify information
picked up from the index.
Brenda Lees
Leaves North Highland Archive
 Brenda Lees archivist at the
North Highland Archive had a night out to say farewell with her friends
and volunteers from the Archive in Wick. Brenda is starting a
new job in Wales shortly near to the place where she comes from.
25 June 2002The
Highland Council Archive
Trudi
Mann Archivist Retires
Sinclair Macdonald Collection
The
Sinclair Macdonald collection is the most wide-ranging collection of
architect's drawings available for this part of Scotland. Principally
concentrating on Caithness, many plans are also available for
Sutherland and Orkney, with some going further afield. The
collection has over 7000 pans and business records covering 1889 - 1939
If you see anything in the lists that you are
interested in, please take a note of any reference number (eg P48/2 or
CE/5/1) as well as the title or description beside them. The items are
filed by reference number, so this will save you checking the list a
second time when you come up. You will also need this reference number
(as well as the title or description) if you are quoting from original
material in an essay or publication.
Book Shop
Highland
Council Genealogy Service
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Links
10 January 06
Catalogues
The catalogues previously listed on this page have been
removed as they were out of date and a renumbering has been
done. We hope to have an updated catalogue in the near
future. Meantime contact the archive with enquiries on items
you are looking for.
1861 Census Indexes Now Available
The 1861 census indexes, and now have Bower, Canisbay, Dunnet, Halkirk,
Latheron and Wick Burgh & Pulteneytown indexes finished and
ready for sale as follows:-
Bower �2.50 (25 pages) 90g
Canisbay �3.50 (39 pages) 126g
Dunnet �2.50 (28 pages) 96g
Halkirk �4.00 (43 pages) 136g
Latheron �10.00 (102 pages) 276g
Olrig �2.50
Reay �3.50
Thurso (town and landward) �7.50
Watten �2.00
Wick Burgh & Pulteneytown �9.00 (72 pages) 208g �7.00
Would those who
want copies posted to them please add up the weight of copies you
require and add postage as per the
Royal Mail website for mailing within the UK
and for
overseas mail (Printed papers)
Then post or e-mail me your order. I will then advise methods
of payment. Indexes will not be despatched until payment is received.
Sinclair
Macdonald Collection
Old
Parish Registers
Giving
the full entry for births, marriages, and (where available) deaths.
This entry usually gives the name of the individual village or
farmstead, and the name of a witness who was usually another relative.
Held for both Caithness and Sutherland
Census records
Giving the ages, occupations, and place of birth of each individual
member of the household. Held for Caithness and Sutherland
Other printed or microfilmed records which may be
useful for both family and local history are: -
Maps
We hold 1st and 2nd edition Ordnance Survey maps (1873 and 1906, in 6"
and 25" to 1 mile); also 10ft to 1 mile maps of Wick (1872), coloured
maps of Wick in 1898 (also 10ft to 1 mile) showing householders, shops
and other properties (produced by our history group in 1998).
Valuation rolls
These give the name of the householder and were produced yearly, we
hold rolls from 1878 for Caithness and from 1883 for Wick burgh, to the
Council Tax returns for 1994.
Calendars of
confirmations (1876-1936) and indexes to the services of
heirs of Scotland
Indexed by the name of the heir give details of wills and inheritance.
Records of land transfer (indexes and abridgements of sasines running
from 1646-1968) are also available in the archive.
The
Ordnance Survey Name Book (1871-1873)
Gives
details of each area or dwelling in Caithness at the time the first
Ordnance Survey maps were being produced. For the second Ordnance
Survey maps, we also hold Inland Revenue maps giving property
boundaries.
A more detailed guide to the use of our printed and
microfilmed sources is available for sale in the NHA priced �2.50
Unique archive or rare printed sources include: -
Education records
School admission registers give date of birth and of entry into the
school; log books detail the school's daily life, sometimes mentioning
children individually; and any special events or the yearly
prize-giving would be noted in the local papers which we also hold.
Trade records
We have copies of trades directories, newspaper advertisements for
businesses, and several archive collections which contain
correspondence, details of employees and diaries of work undertaken.
Council records
These give not only details of council officials or contractors but
discuss anything of note occuring at the time - court cases, visits of
national dignitaries, applications for trading licences, etc, etc.
Local newspaper articles
(Principally the John O'Groat's Journal and the
Northern Ensign). These were even broader in scope than they
are now, as they covered national and international news as well as
matters relating directly to Caithness. They range from emigrants
letters (from Caithnesians in the new world) to accidents, disputes,
events, achievements and entertainment at home. They also contain many
notices of births, marriages and deaths, which often list surviving
family and can help to fill in missing links.
Highland Railways Archives
The archive includes Iain Sutherland's notes and drafts for his book
'The Wick & Lybster Railway' and the original memorandum from
1901.
Plans of Georgemas Junction; copies of shareholders minutes.
Extensive council minutes and local newspapers covering the extension
to Wick 1872.
A selection of photographs.
Census records showing staff and station houses
Large-scale OS maps.
Wick
Lybster
Railway
Railway Links
Needless to say, council records and newspapers
detail the developments in Caithness industry and economic activity as
well as the trade records mentioned. The largest private collection
relates to shipping and fishing activities (Wick Harbour Trust). A
guide to the use of our own archive sources and records relating to
Caithness held elsewhere is available for sale in the search room
priced �1.50.
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