{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |official_name= Latheronwheel |scots_name= |gaelic_name= Latharn a' Phuill |static_image_name= Latheronwheel Harbour.jpg |static_image_caption= Latheronwheel harbour |static_image_width= |map_type= Caithness |coordinates= {{coord|58.27754|-3.37424|display=inline,title}} |population= |os_grid_reference= ND195329 |unitary_scotland= Highland |lieutenancy_scotland= Caithness |country= Scotland |post_town= LATHERON |postcode_area= KW |postcode_district= KW5 |dial_code= 01593 |constituency_westminster= Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross |constituency_scottish_parliament= Caithness, Sutherland and Ross }}
'''Latheronwheel''' ({{derive|gd|Latharn a' Phuill|muddy place of the pool}})<ref>[http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/gaelic/gaelicnorseinthelandscape.pdf Gaelic and Norse in the Landscape: Placenames in Caithness and Sutherland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921192834/http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/gaelic/gaelicnorseinthelandscape.pdf |date=21 September 2011 }}. Scottish National Heritage.</ref> is a small village in Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland.<ref name="Tait">{{cite book | last=Tait | first=Charles | title=The North Coast 500 Guide Book| date=2017 | isbn=978-1909036604 | page=135-136}}</ref>It is {{convert|4|mi|km|0}} southwest of Lybster on the A9 road<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scothighlands.com/Details?content=Drive-from-Scrabster-to-Latheronwheel-Scotland&id=218|title=Scothighlands - Drive from Scrabster to Latheronwheel, Scotland|website=www.scothighlands.com|access-date=2019-11-22}}</ref> to Helmsdale, near the junction with the A99 road to Wick, which lies in the equally small village of Latheron. Dunbeath lies to the south-west and Lybster to the north-east.
The village is at the mouth of a wide valley, through which flows a small river called the Burn of Latheronwheel.
==History== The settlement was built on the land of one Captain Dunbar (who had actually wished for it to be called Janetston, after his wife and a stone tablet reflects this on the old hotel).<ref name="Tait"/> It was a planned settlement, begun in 1835 with the building of a hotel (then known as 'Dunbar's Hotel' but today as 'The Blends' - due to its proprietor in the 1890s penchant for blending whisky from stills of dubious legality).<ref name="Tait"/> In the beginning, tenants of the settlement were allocated {{convert|2|acre|m2}} and the right to fish from the harbour.<ref name="Tait"/>
The harbour was constructed around 1840, with a small lighthouse (soon disused) built on the southern headland. The nearby Latheronwheel harbour bridge is much older, dating to the 1720s and was the crossing for the old coast road.<ref name="Tait"/> The bridge is open to pedestrians.
At one time the harbour was the home of 50 boats although few now remain.<ref name="Tait"/> Initially salmon was caught, but this gave way to herring. As the herring trade became more concentrated in larger ports in the years before the First World War, the catch and the number of vessels in use in Latheronwheel declined: {{multiple image | align = centre | perrow=2 | header=Fishery Statistics | total_width=600 |background_color=#C5CBE1 | image1 = Latheronwheel tonnage.png | caption1=Tonnage of vessels | image2 =Latheronwheel cwt landed.png | caption2= Cwt of fish landed | image3 = Latheronwheel vessels.png | caption3=Vessels by class | image4 =Latheronwheel value.png | caption4=Value (£] of fish landed | image5 = Latheronwheel fishermen.png | caption5= Fishermen | image6=Latheronwheel curing stations.png | caption6=Number of curing stations (Placeholder -none in this case) }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst2008.html Overview from the Gazetteer for Scotland] *[http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/moretpix2008.html Photographs] *[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Latheronwheel,+UK Latheronwheel] on Google Maps
Category:Populated places in Caithness
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