Caithness

Keiss Post Office
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Keiss Post Office

A former county of NE Scotland extending to 177,592 ha (438,833 acres), Caithness was a pendicle of the Norse Earldom of Orkney that was erected into a Scottish Earldom in the Middle Ages. The earldom passed to Henry Sinclair in 1379 and in 1468 the King of Denmark-Norway pledged his Crown Rights to James III as security for the dowry of his daughter Margaret. While King James acquired rights over Orkney, the Sinclairs remained Earls of Caithness. With a coastline of 105 miles (168 km), Caithness is bounded to the west and south by Sutherland and to the north and east by the Pentland Firth and the Moray Firth. Its highest point is Morvern (705m / 2313 feet) and its chief settlements are Wick, the former county town, and Thurso. Between 1975 and 1996 Caithness was a district of Highland Region. Following reorganisation into unitary authorities, Caithness has remained as an informal administrative unit within the sizeable new Highland Council.


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