Ackergill is a settlement in the
Wick,
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
, in the
Highland Council area of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
History
In Ackergill is a famous tower/castle named
Ackergill Tower
Ackergill Tower (or Ackergill Castle) is located on the coast of Sinclair's Bay, about 4 km north of Wick, Caithness, in northern Scotland. It was built in the early 16th century, and is a category A listed building. The building is a five- ...
. In the 1920s, archaeologists excavated an ancient cemetery in an elongated sand mound at Ackergill, finding ten graves with sixteen burials. Most inhumations were in long
cists. Grave goods were found in only one of the burials. A
Pictish symbol stone depicting the lower part of a fish together with a rectangular symbol bore the
Ogham inscription “NEHTERI,” meaning “Neht, son of Etrios.” It is believed the burial ground may have been important through the first and second centuries.
Economy
Despite being a small village, Ackergill used to have a
lifeboat
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
A ...
station, which served the increasing volume of shipping that began to pass through the area with the rise of the
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
industry at nearby
Wick from the mid-19th century; in poor weather, vessels often sought shelter in Sinclair's Bay. The lifeboat station is no longer used.
Overview of the lifeboat
/ref>
References
{{Reflist
Populated places in Caithness