Lybster (, gd, Liabost) is a village on the east coast of

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 northern Scotland. It was once a big

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, ...

fishing port. The Waterlines heritage museum is located in Lybster Harbour and provides information on the history and geology of Lybster. A small number of crab fishing boats also operate from Lybster Harbour. Lybster lies at the end of the tenth stage of the John o' Groats Trail, a long-distance walking trail from Inverness to John o' Groats.

History

Lybster owes its origin to the fishing industry. A wooden pier was built in 1790 for use by the fishing boats. The village was founded in 1802 as a planned village by the local landowner, General

Patrick Sinclair Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

and his sons continued with its development. By 1859 some 357 boats operated from the harbour, making it the third busiest fishing port in Scotland, only exceeded by

Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placename ...

and

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; sco, The Broch or ; gd, A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, about north of Aberdeen, and north of P ...

. By this time there were some 1500 fishermen at sea, and other servicing the industry on land. Lybster railway station was part of the Wick and Lybster Railway. It opened on 1 July 1903 and closed on 3 April 1944, having been overtaken by events, the opening up of the road for traffic and the decline of the herring industry. A white-fish fleet operated from the port in the 1900s, but that dwindled too, and now the harbour is used by fishing boats catching lobsters and

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

s, and recreational craft. Lybster was an important port in the herring industry in the nineteenth century. In 1838, the population was said to be 1312, and there was a move to build a church there, because otherwise worshippers had to travel to either Latheron or Bruan, both about away. Lybster declined in importance as a herring fishing port before the First World War as the local industry concentrated in Wick. LybsterValue

It hosts the "World Championships of

Knotty The game of knotty is a Scottish team sport. It is a variation of the game of shinty as played in the fishing communities of Lybster, Caithness. It used to be played widely in the town, as was shinty in the rest of Caithness, but it ceased to be ...

"; knotty or ''cnatag'' is a variant of

shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...

. The film, '' Silver Darlings'', from Neil Gunn's book, was shot here. In 2019, Lybster was used as a location for shooting the Netflix drama, The Crown. The Sinclairs of Lybster have long roots running back to the Sinclair earls who ruled Caithness that was once a much larger area taking in much of Sutherland. Tracing further back the family has connections to the Norwegian earls who controlled the north of Scotland for centuries.

Patrick Sinclair

Lybster's sister city is

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( ; french: Île Mackinac; oj, Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; otw, Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac a ...

, United States. One of the more famous of the clan was

. Today there is a pub on

that bears his name. Ironically it is an Irish pub.

Gallery

File:Old Bridge at Lybster Harbour - geograph.org.uk - 676.jpg, Old bridge at Lybster Harbour File:Lybster Harbour Entrance.jpg, Entrance to Lybster Harbour File:Upper_Lybster_West.jpg, Upper Lybster West File:The Church of Scotland, Parish of Latheron, Lybster.jpg, The Church of Scotland, Parish of Latheron, Lybster

References

External links

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Lybster
{{Authority control Populated places in Caithness