John o' Groats
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Map sources for John o' Groats at grid reference ND380734
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John o' Groats (Taigh Iain Ghròt in Scottish Gaelic) (grid reference ND380734) is a village in the traditional county of Caithness, in the Highland council area of Scotland, and is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement on the mainland of Great Britain. The actual location of the most northerly point, however, is at nearby Dunnet Head (ND202767).
The name John o' Groats has a particular resonance because it is so often used in outlining the length of Great Britain when races, walks and charitable events take place between the Cornish point, Land's End (at the extreme western tip of the Cornish peninsula in England) and John o' Groats. The phrase Land's End to John o' Groats is frequently heard both as a literal journey and as a metaphor for great or all-encompassing distance.
The punctuation and capitalisation in John o' Groats is the correct form. The space after o' appears to vary but was probably the correct older form.
The town takes its name from Jan de Groot, a Dutchman who obtained a grant for the ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney, recently acquired from Norway, from King James IV in 1496.
[edit] External links
- Visit John o' Groats
- Undiscovered Scotland page about the village and area
