Castletown lies on the coast by Dunnet Bay; its history spans everything from flagstone production to RAF Castletown. At the Castlehill Heritage Centre, you can explore different aspects of local history, while named routes offer a range of distances and walking times.
Exhibitions and crafts at the Castlehill Heritage Centre
The Castlehill Heritage Centre is located on the northern edge of Castletown in renovated 18th-century farm buildings. It is an award-winning four-star attraction accredited by VisitScotland. The regularly changing interpretive exhibitions explore the industrial, maritime, military, agricultural and social heritage of Castletown and the parish of Olrig.
A permanent exhibition is dedicated to RAF Castletown. It includes a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine recovered from a peat bog in Caithness in 1990. This specific exhibit connects military history with a find site in the wider region.
Local and traditional crafts are also part of the programme: the Castlehill Heritage Society runs workshop and training days on rope-making, wood carving, dry-stone walling, croft crafts, lime pointing and beach crafts such as driftwood sculptures. In August, the Heritage Centre serves cream teas with homemade scones, jam and cakes every Sunday afternoon.
Flagstones, harbour and architectural heritage
Castlehill Harbour was built in the early 19th century so that flagstones from James Traill’s Pavement Works could be shipped out. The story of local production can also be traced at the harbour. The buildings of Castlehill Pavement Works are part of a waymarked trail; signs indicate parking areas.
Other reminders of local history include the Windpump Tower, a listed structure on the Castletown Heritage Trail, and Castletown Battery. The latter is listed as a Scheduled Monument under designation SM13625. The various monuments and the historic harbour highlight different aspects of Castletown’s history: its buildings, coastal location and the former shipping of flagstones.
Coast and walks nearby
Nearby, the sandy beach at Dunnet stretches for two miles, while Dunnet Community Forest offers nature-rich walking trails. Alongside coastal paths, walks in the woodland provide another option near Castletown.
The named routes vary in both length and terrain. The Battery Walk is a 2.25-mile rough coastal path with a stated walking time of one hour. The four-mile Birkle Hill Walk follows country roads and includes a section on a rough track; its stated walking time is two hours. The five-mile Olrig Hill Walk, a hill route, is also listed as taking two hours. It leads to a viewpoint and the remains of St Trothan’s Kirk.
For planning, the Birkle Hill Walk and Olrig Hill Walk are listed as taking a similar amount of time, but their routes differ: one alternates between country roads and a rough section of track, while the other includes a hill path, a viewpoint and the remains of the kirk. By contrast, the shorter Battery Walk offers a rough coastal path and a stated walking time of one hour.
Visiting hours and access
The Castlehill Heritage Centre is open to visitors year-round on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 pm. It is closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. If you would like to combine your visit with the seasonal cream teas, these are available on Sunday afternoons in August.
The Centre is step-free and fully accessible. Its opening hours and accessible facilities make it easier to plan your visit to the Heritage Centre; you can consider the various walks separately, using their stated walking times and route profiles.
Discover more destinations: Polloch, Duirinish, Totscore, Farr, Ullapool, Dalwhinnie, Dunbeath, Halkirk
For the broader travel overview: Highland.
