Tracking the rise and fall of the herring industry, this great town museum displays everything from fishing equipment to complete herring boats. It’s absolutely huge inside, and is crammed with memorabilia and extensive displays describing Wick’s heyday in the mid-19th century. The Johnston collection is the star exhibit. From 1863 to 1977, three generations photographed everything that happened around Wick and the 70,000 photographs are an amazing record.
Wick Heritage Centre
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
21.48 MILES
Two significant archaeological sites were found here by a farmer on his land. The first is a Bronze Age stone building with a firepit, indoor well and…
29.65 MILES
This eclectic museum is a great visit, combining some excellent 360-million-year-old Devonian fish fossils found locally with a well-designed exhibition…
7.69 MILES
Dating from between 4000 BC and 2500 BC, these burial chambers are hidden in long, low mounds rising from an evocatively lonely moor. The Long Cairn…
19.09 MILES
Eight miles east of Thurso a minor road leads to dramatic Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on the British mainland. There are majestic cliffs…
Scapa Flow Visitor Centre & Museum
27.55 MILES
Lyness was an important naval base during both World Wars, when the British Grand Fleet was based in Scapa Flow. This fascinating museum and photographic…
Forsinard Flows Visitor Centre
29.95 MILES
On the platform at Forsinard railway station is the RSPB's Forsinard Flows Visitor Centre, an exhibition dedicated to the neighbouring nature reserve…
15.19 MILES
The Castle of Mey, a big crowd-puller for its Queen Mother connections, is 6 miles west of John O’Groats. The exterior is grand but inside it feels…
21.15 MILES
Discovered while digging was under way for a car park, this 5000-year-old chambered tomb has yielded a vast quantity of human bones, well preserved thanks…
Nearby attractions
0.37 MILES
Though it can no longer claim to be the most northerly whisky distillery on mainland Scotland (that goes to the upstart Wolfburn in Thurso), friendly…
1.17 MILES
A path leads a mile south from town to the ruins of 12th-century Old Wick Castle, with the spectacular cliffs of the Brough and the Brig, as well as Gote…
2.75 MILES
Three miles northeast of Wick is the magnificently located clifftop ruin of Castle Sinclair. It's a short walk from a car park, with some interpretative…
6.77 MILES
The Cairn o’Get, a prehistoric burial cairn, is signposted off the road in Ulbster. There's a mile of boggy walking from the car park.
7.02 MILES
At Ulbster, 5 miles north of Lybster, this staircase cut into the cliff provides access to a tiny natural harbour, with an ideal grassy picnic spot,…
7.69 MILES
Dating from between 4000 BC and 2500 BC, these burial chambers are hidden in long, low mounds rising from an evocatively lonely moor. The Long Cairn…
8.79 MILES
Two miles beyond the Camster turn-off on the A99 is a curious, fan-shaped arrangement of 22 rows of small stones, probably dating to around 2000 BC…
12.34 MILES
Six miles to the northwest of Lybster and a mile off the A9, these 30 standing stones date from around 2000 BC. The crumbling monuments still capture the…