Watten, Highland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Watten (grid reference ND242544) is a small village in Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland, on the main road (A882-A9) between the county town of Wick and the burgh of Thurso, about twelve kilometres (eight miles) west of Wick and close to Wick River and to Loch Watten. The village is on The Far North railway line but trains stopped calling at the village in 1960. The railway station is now a private house.

The village is within the parish of Watten, which has the Parish of Bower to the north, that of Wick to the east, that of Latheron to the south and that of Halkirk to the west.

The Loch Watten is the largest body of water in Caithness. The name of the village and loch appear to come from the Old Norse Vatn, meaning water, and the loch is famous for its brown trout fishing.

Watten is famous also as the birth place of Alexander Bain, inventor of an electric clock and a fax machine and was the site of POW Camp 165 during World War II.