Castletown, Highland

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For other places with the same name, see Castletown (disambiguation)

Castletown
Castletown shown within Scotland
OS grid reference	ND196678
Council area	Highland
Lieutenancy area	Caithness
Constituent country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	THURSO
Postcode district	KW14
Dialling code	01847
Police	Northern
Fire	Highlands and Islands
Ambulance	Scottish
European Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Scottish Parliament	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency in the Highlands and Islands electoral region
List of places: UK • Scotland

Coordinates: 58°35′N 3°23′W / 58.59, -3.38

Castletown is a village on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. It is within the historic parish of Olrig, where it is the main settlement, and within the historic county of Caithness. The A836 links the village with Thurso and Tongue in the west and with John o' Groats in the east. The B876-A99 links the village with Wick in the southeast.

Much of the village is built on the old townland (or fermland) of Stanergill. The Stanergill Burn was the eastern boundary of the townland. It flows now through the eastern end of the village and so into Dunnet Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

The name Stanergill can be read as meaning Stone Valley and much of Castletown was built during the 19th century boom years of Caithness as a source of flagstone. Much of the stone was processed in the harbour area of the village, known as Castlehill, and many of the streets of London were paved with it. The harbour was built by James Bremner. Castletown's main building is the 'Drill Hall'. This is mainly used for parties, discos and small clubs such as the indoor bowls. The building that used to be used was the 'Traill Hall'

More modern industry in the village includes manufacture of food-storage freezers, which used to be known as Norfrost but is now Ice Tech, employing many Polish workers.

[edit] Local government

Castletown is in the Landward Caithness ward of the Highland Council. The ward elects four councillors by the single transferable vote system of election, which produces a form of proportional representation. It is one of seven wards within the council's Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross corporate management area and one of 22 wards within the council area.

[edit] Sport

Castletown do have a football team who are Castletown FC. The pitch is regarded as the best in Caithness and Sutherland, and many Highland finals are held at the venue.