In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Sinclair like this:
Castles Girnigoe and Sinclair, two neighbouring ruined fortalices on the coast of Wick parish, Caithness, crowning a rocky peninsula, a little W of Noss Head, and 3¼ miles NNE of Wick town. Built mainly at a time unknown to record, and partly in the 16th century, they were the chief strongholds of the Sinclairs, Earls of Caithness; and, of great extent and irregular structure, included an extant five-storied tower, 50 feet high. ...
A room in Castle-Sinclair, said to have been the bedchamber of the Earls, communicated through a trap-door with the sea; and the whole was so strong, by both nature and art, as to be impregnable prior to the invention of gunpowder. In a dark dungeon here, John Garrow, Master of Caithness, was imprisoned (1576-82) by his father, the fourth Earl, whom he had displeased by his lcnity towards the townsfolk of Dornoch. At last his keepers, having kept him for some time without food, gave him a large mess of salt beef, and then withholding all drink from him, left him to die of raging thirst. The singular episode of the coiner Smith (1612) and the Capture of Girnigoe by Sir Rt. Gordon (1623) are recounted in vol. i., pp. 436,532, of Chambers's -Domestic Annals (1858).
Sinclair through time
Sinclair is now part of Highland district. Click here for graphs and data of how Highland has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Sinclair itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Sinclair, in Highland and Caithness | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/27065
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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