Discover our historic landscape
In Caithness and Sutherland, you don’t have to look far to find traces of the past. Neolithic cairns rise from
the moorland, Iron Age brochs stand along the coast, and ruined castles mark centuries of conflict and change.
Some stories are closer to home: the places where families lived, worked and worshipped, and the
communities left behind after the Clearances.
With a local guide, these places become more than stops on a map.
They offer a way into the lives that shaped the far north.
History & Heritage
From castles on the cliffs to fishing ports and Highland villages, the far north has a history you can still see all around you.
The lives behind the landmarks
Walk through a clifftop castle once held by a Highland clan, or explore the streets of Wick, where the herring trade brought thousands of people to the harbour. Wick Heritage Centre is one of many fascinating museums around the county, preserving the work, homes and traditions of the people who lived here.
There are harder stories too. During the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, landlords evicted thousands of families from their homes, often to make way for sheep farming. Some moved to coastal villages; others emigrated overseas. In Sutherland, the remains of former townships and the accounts held at Strathnaver Museum offer a moving insight into a dark chapter in history.
We’ll help you choose the places that speak to your interests and give you time to hear their stories.
Ancient Caithness
Step further back in time among the brochs, cairns and standing stones scattered across the northern landscape.
Thousands of years of history
People have made their homes in Caithness for thousands of years, and each age has left something behind.
Neolithic communities built the atmospheric burial cairns at Camster. Centuries later, Iron Age builders raised brochs along the coast, including the remains
you can explore at Nybster. Caithness is home to some of the best preserved brochs in Scotland. Pictish carved stones and Norse place names add
further layers to the story.
Out among these sites, you can stand where people once gathered and begin to picture the lives lived here long before the castles appeared.
Trace your Scottish ancestry
For many visitors, the journey north begins with a family name, an old photograph or a story passed down through generations.
Uncover your family story
The histories of the Gunn, Mackay, Sinclair and Sutherland clans run through this region. Explore the dramatic ruins of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe on the Caithness coast or travel through Strathnaver, long associated with Clan Mackay, and you begin to see the places behind the family names. Sometimes the most meaningful connection is quieter: a gravestone, a former village or the street where a relative once lived.
Local heritage centres and archives can help you put names and places together. Tell us what you know before you travel, and we can shape a visit around the connections that matter to you – whether that means exploring a clan’s history or spending time in the place your family once called home.
BESPOKE TOURS
Tailored around you
Family name to trace, or a castle you’re longing to see?
Whatever draws you north, we can craft a private tour around it. Tell us what interests
you and we will build a trip around the people and places you want to explore.
It’s your journey; we’ll help you make the most of it.
Experience the road less travelled
Image credits:
Cover: Camster Cairns: iStock/Graham King.
History & Heritage: Top: Sinclair & Girnigoe Castle. iStock/Swen_Stroop. Bottom left: Mary Anne’s Cottage, VisitScotland/Kenny Lam. Bottom right:Castle of Mey, VisitScotland/Kenny Lam.
Ancient Caithness: Top: Strath Naver, iStock/Richard Heath. Bottom left: Camster. Flickr/fht80. Bottom right: Nybster, Flickr/jsutcℓiffe
Ancestry: L: Mackay Country. iStock/lucentius. Kilts: Unsplash/Leo Visions.
Bottom CTA: Loch Hope: VisitScotland/Richard Elliot