- published: 16 Jul 2015
- views: 851
Coordinates: 58°35′46″N 3°31′16″W / 58.596°N 3.521°W / 58.596; -3.521
Thurso (Scots: Thursa,Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Theòrsa) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. It is the northernmost town on the British mainland. At the 2001 Census, Thurso had a population of about 9,000.
The name comes from Old Norse Thjórsá, meaning "Bull's River". Historically, it is one of two burghs within the county of Caithness. It lies at the junction of the north-south A9 road and the west-east A836 road, connected to Bridge of Forss in the west and Castletown in the east.
Thurso's history stretches back to at least the era of Norse Orcadian rule in Caithness, which ended conclusively in 1266. The town was an important Norse port, and has a later history of trade with ports throughout northern Europe until the 19th century. In 1330 Scotland's standard unit of weight was brought in line with that of Thurso at the decree of King David II of Scotland, a measure of the town's economic importance. Old St Peter's Kirk is said to date from circa 1220 and the time of Caithness Bishop Gilbert Murray, who died in 1245. Much of the town, however, is a planned 19th-century development. A major expansion occurred in the mid-20th century when the Dounreay nuclear power plant was established at Dounreay, 9 miles (14 km) to the west of the town. Within a period of about five years, Thurso's population expanded rapidly, from around 2,500 to about 12,000 between 1955–58, as the nuclear plant attracted skilled migrants from all parts of the United Kingdom. By 1960, it dropped back to around 9,000, after a lot of the initial Dounreay construction crew left the area. Thurso is also the name of the viscountcy held by the Sinclair family in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The present Viscount Thurso is also the local MP.
I feel that I was meant for something more
My curse, this awful power to unmake
And ever since you found your taste for war
You've forced me onto those whose lives you'd take
While Guernica in peaceful valley lay
And Dresden dreams of anything but death
The day was turned to night and night to day
You let me loose upon their fragile flesh
And so I hid among the smallest things
You found me there and ferried me above
The flame deluge is waiting in the wings
The smallest thread holds back the second flood
And who will stand to greet the blinding light