Caithness Archives held at Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives, consist of many Collections of records. The main series of official records held are those created by The Highland Council and its predecessors, the former Regional, County, District and Burgh Councils. These, along with over 1,000 privately deposited Collections can be viewed within our archive searchroom. Collections can be any size: from a single letter to the records of an entire business or family.
You can explore our online catalogue for a more detailed search of our collections. Below are links to PDF versions of our catalogues where available:
CC – Caithness County Council (1720-1975) These records include school and pupil records, valuation rolls and parish records of poor relief (1720-1975)
CC/5/3 – Caithness County Council Records of all Schools (c.1864-c.2020)
HRC – Highland Regional Council (1975-1996)
BT – Burgh of Thurso (1861-1975) These records include minute books and Dean of Guild Court building warrants.
BW – Burgh of Wick (1660-1975) These records include minute books and Dean of Guild Court building warrants.
CE – Customs and Excise (1855-1988) Records of the port of Wick including the Royal Naval Reserve (1905-61) and Registers of Fishing Boats with a WK registration (1869-1989)
WHT – Wick Harbour Trust (1829-1990) Records of the Harbour Trust including minute books, details of harbour works, and Harbourmasters’ records (1850-1980)
NC – Northern Constabulary (1841-1974) Records of the Caithness Constabulary, including records of crimes and other offences, lockup books, and WW2 war incident files (1858-1975)
SM – Sinclair Macdonald and Sons, Architects of Thurso: a large collection of hundreds of plans and drawings of Caithness buildings c.1880-c.1960s [please search our online catalogue]
AS/C – Abridgements of Sasines (1646-1970) An instrument of Sasine is a legal document that records the transfer of ownership of a piece of land or a building. The full Registers of Sasines can be consulted at the National Records of Scotland.
WS – The Wick Society Collection (1476-2022, n.d.) Comprised of many sub-fonds (or sub-collections) varying in both subject matter and chronological scope, all detailing the rich and absorbing history of Wick and wider Caithness.
Private Deposit Collection
Private Deposits are items that have been deposited by individuals, families, businesses and societies. They can include items such as letters, photographs, maps, scrapbooks, family trees, business or society records, diaries, certificates and much more. Depositing collections with us will ensure safekeeping and preservation for future generations.
Index to Collections
The index is divided into two parts: the first, shorter, section summarises the main
collections in Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives as you might expect to
find the catalogues arranged in the public searchroom. The second, much longer,
section is an alphabetical index to persons, places and subjects featured in the main
collections.
