Wick is on an estuary, partly enclosed straddling the river Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. Estuaries form a transition between the ocean and the river and are subject to the influences of tidal waves, the influx of saline water, and storms. Estuaries are among the most productive natural habitat and are usually heavily populated. There are three harbours in Wick; the outer, the inner and the river, all of which are formed and protected by breakwaters. Because Wick is so close to the seas, when the elements chose to rage it is a very dangerous place to be. They have been known to have an occasional hurricane.
The Wick coast has some of the most spectacular formations, with the wave action producing caves, bridges, boring's and pyramids of rock upstanding in the sea, cut off from the main land. It also has some of the best cultivated land in Caithness.
'Weik ' or Wick is an old Viking settlement, sheltering their boats from the wild seas. Wick is frequently mentioned in the "Sagas" - many prominent Norsemen spent the winter months there. Not much is known of the previous settlers, the Picts. Chambered tombs, cairns and standing stones have been found but not a lot of earlier artifacts to tell us who resided there. Wick did not become very important until later when it was created as a royal burgh by James VI in 1589. Because it was considered to be on royal lands they were granted a charter and acquired a monopoly of foreign trade. Each royal burgh was represented in Parliament and could appoint Baillie's (civil officers or magistrates with wide powers in civil and criminal justice.)
The de Cheyne family, with grants of land from the king, Robert the Bruce, owned immense estates which included Wick. The Vikings and Sinclairs used the less accessible lands, cut out by the sea to build their impregnable castles, such as 'Lambaborg of Svein Asleifarson, Girnigoe and the Castle of Wick.
