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

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

in northern

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was once a big

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

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 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 placenames ...

and

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...

. 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

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

s and

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

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. It hosts the "World Championships of

Knotty Knotty is a Scottish team sport played with sticks and a cork fishing float. It is a variation of the game of shinty as played in the fishing communities of Lybster, Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, re ...

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

shinty Shinty () is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. It is played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and among Highland migrants to the major cities of Scotland. The sport was formerly more widespread in Scotland and even played in Northern ...

. 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 Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. 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 ( , ; ; ; ) 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 and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in ...

, Michigan. One of the more famous of the clan was Patrick Sinclair, the founder of the island's

Fort Mackinac Fort Mackinac ( ) is a former British and American military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century in the city of Mackinac Island, Michigan, on Mackinac Island. The Kingdom of Great Britain, British built the f ...

in the USA.

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