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Thurso Railway StationThurso Railway Station · Photo: Sunil060902 · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History of Thurso · Historic Environment Scotland

88 listed buildings, 41 of them in the second category

Historic Environment Scotland counts them inside Thurso’s locality, 119 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 2 scheduled monuments. We have photos of 14 of its listed buildings.

41Category B2scheduled monuments15on Campbell Street
Listed buildings
88
119 per 10,000 residents
Category A
0
national importance
Category B
41
regional importance
Scheduled monuments
2
nationally important sites
In pictures

Thurso in 16 photos

Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial GroundThurso, St Peter's Church and Burial GroundScheduled monumentScrabster CastleScrabster CastleScheduled monumentHigh Street, Thurso Heritage Museum (Former Carnegie Library)High Street, Thurso Heritage Museum (Former Carnegie Library)Category B listedManson's Lane the Meadow Well HouseManson's Lane the Meadow Well HouseCategory B listed5, Market Street5, Market StreetCategory B listed+11See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.

The map

Where Thurso’s history is

Every Category A and B building, monument and historic park.

Scrabster Castle, scheduled monumentThurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground, scheduled monumentDavidson's Lane Miller Institution, Category BGranville Street, Pentland House and Garden Walls, Category BHigh Street, Thurso Heritage Museum (Former Carnegie Library), Category BHigh Street, Town Hall, Category BHolborn Head Lighthouse and Attached Keeper's House, Category BK6 Telephone Kiosk at Town Hall, Category BManson's Lane the Meadow Well House, Category BMillbank Road, Former Thurso Mill, Category BOlrig Street Bank of Scotland, Category BOlrig Street Former St Andrew's Church, Category BPrinces Street, St Peter's Parish Church (Church of Scotland), Church Room, Enclosure Railings and Gate Piers, Category BShore Street, Kippering House with Kiln, Fish-House, Yard, Store and Shop, Category BSinclair Street Thurso West Church (Church of Scotland) Church Room and Gate Piers, Category BSir John's Square, Sir John Sinclair Memorial, Category BThurso Railway Station, Category B1, Janet Street, Category B11, Campbell Street, Category B11, Traill Street, Category B13, Campbell Street, Category B13, Traill Street, Category B15 and 17 Traill Street, Clydesdale Bank, Category B15, Campbell Street, Category B16, 18, Shore Street, Category B17, Campbell Street, Category B19, Campbell Street, Category B2, Janet Street, Category B20, Miller's Lane, Category B22, 24, Manson's Lane the Brewer's House (22) and Old Brewery (24), Category B24, Durness Street Allendale, Category B25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, Traill Street, Category B3, Janet Street House and Stables/Gighouse, Category B30, Princes Street, Category B4, Janet Street, Category B5, Market Street, Category B6, 8 Barrock Street Piers and Garden Walls, Category B7 Wilson Lane, Category B7, Campbell Street, Category B7, Janet Street, Category B8 Janet Street, Category B9 and 10, Janet Street, Category B9, Campbell Street, Category B
Category BScheduled monument

Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.

88 listed buildings by grade
0 Category A41 Category B47 Category C

Historic Environment Scotland lists buildings in three categories: Category A for buildings of national or international importance (about 7.5% of listed buildings), Category B for buildings of regional importance (about 50%), and Category C for buildings of local importance (about 43%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.

Every entry on Historic Environment Scotland’s designations whose point lies inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.

Category B

The 41 Category B listed buildings in Thurso

Buildings of regional importance. 14 are photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.

Show the other 29
Historic streets

Campbell Street has the most listed buildings

Streets by the listed entries with an address on them. One entry can be a whole terrace, so long rows count once.

Campbell Street15 listed · 7 II*
Janet Street6 listed · 6 II*
Princes Street6 listed · 1 II*
30, Princes Street
Traill Street6 listed · 3 II*
11, Traill Street13, Traill Street
Barrock Street3 listed

Of the 88 entries, 61 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

What’s protected

Most of Thurso’s listed buildings are homes

Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.

Houses, terraces & villas66
Public & civic buildings8
Walls, gates & bridges5
Inns, shops & warehouses3
Churches, chapels & priories3
Memorials, crosses & tombs3

66 entries (75%) are houses, terraces and villas. 3 are churches, chapels and priories.

Buildings are sorted by words in each entry’s name (church, gate, inn, memorial…): the list’s open data has no building type. An entry named only by its address counts as a house.

Category C

47 Category C listed buildings

This category covers buildings of local importance. Open any building to read its official list entry.

All 47 Category C listed buildings, A to Z
Castle Street Former West Public Primary SchoolCastle Street, Congregational ChurchFormer Drill Hall, 21 Sinclair Street, ThursoMasonic Hall (former Drill Hall) including gatepiers, boundary walls and railings, Olrig Street, ThursoMillbank, FoundryPennyland House, Former Threshing Mill, Cottages and Boundary Walls, Thurso (excluding former byre and stable to south, and extension to house to north dating to around 2009)Princes Street, Greenacres, House and Stable with Gighouse. (Former Free Church and Subsequently Church of Scotland Manse)Scrabster HouseScrabster Ice House and Adjoining CottageSir George's Street, Episcopal Church of St Peter and the Holy RoodSir John's Square Sir George Sinclair Memorial FountainSir John's Square War Memorial, 1914-18 and 1939-451, 3, 5, 7, 9 Traill Street1, Campbell Street10 Barrock Street10, 12 Campbell Street11, Brabster Street12 Barrock Street and Garden Walls12, Princes Street14, 16, 18 Campbell Street14, Princes Street15, Riverside Place16, Olrig Street18, Barrock Street19, 21 and 23 Traill Street2, 4 Barrock Street2, Campbell Street2, Princes Street and Court Yard Wall20, Campbell Street21, 23, 25, Rose Street (Right to Left)21, Miller's Lane23, Riverside Place24, Sinclair Street26, Campbell Street37 Traill Street4 and 6, Campbell Street4, Princes Street43, 45 Olrig Street5, 7, Riverside Road the White House50, Duncan Street6, Janet Street the Thurso Club6, Princes Street8 Wilson Lane8, 10 Princes Street8, Campbell Street8, Wilson Street9, Rose Street ("Aldourie") and 11, Rose Street ("Bothangarrow")
Conservation areas

1 conservation area covers 4.4% of Thurso

Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.

Thurso 197018 ha
18 hain conservation areas, of 421 ha inside the locality.

61 of the 88 listed buildings stand in one.

Historic Environment Scotland’s conservation areas layer, supplied by councils (incomplete in places, so a page fact, never graded). Hectares are the part of each area inside the locality.

How the list grew

More than half of Thurso’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1984

The year each building now on the list was first listed.

1984 · 461975 · 30
19501960197019801990200020102020

The first 30 entries were listed in 1975. 46 came in 1984, as Scotland’s list was resurveyed from the 1970s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.

Monuments & landscapes

Monuments, parks and gardens

Designations that overlap the town by a tenth of their area or half a hectare.

2 scheduled monuments

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from Historic Environment Scotland.

Scrabster Castle
Scrabster Castle20th Century Military and Related: Pillbox; Prehistoric domestic and defensive: settlement; Secular: castle
Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground
Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial GroundCrosses and carved stones: tombstone; Ecclesiastical: church
Born here

12 notable people born in Thurso before 1900

Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.

Arthur St. Clair
Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet
George Finlayson
Andrew Geddes Bain
James McKay Sr.
Stewart Ryrie, Junior
William Alexander Smith
Hugh Robert Mill
Peter Gunn
William David Ross
Jock Campbell
Jock Macdonald
170017501800185019001950
Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair1737–1818 · American soldier and politician (1737-1818)
William David Ross
William David Ross1877–1971 · Scottish philosopher and translator (1877–1971)
Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet
Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet1754–1835 · Scottish politician, writer on finance and agriculture (1754–1835)
HM
Hugh Robert Mill1861–1950 · Scottish meteorologist (1861–1950)
Andrew Geddes Bain
Andrew Geddes Bain1797–1864 · South African scientist and engineer (1797–1864)
William Alexander Smith
William Alexander Smith1854–1914 · Founder of the Boys Brigade (1854–1914)
Jock Campbell
Jock Campbell1894–1942 · British army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross
GF
George Finlayson1790–1823 · Scottish naturalist, traveller and writer (1790-1823)

Everyone born in Thurso → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

In brief

Thurso in brief

Thurso has 88 listed buildings, including Thurso Railway Station. On Campbell Street alone there are 15 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1970. Most entries on the list, 75%, are houses, terraces and villas.

Of the 12 people born here before 1900, the best known include Arthur St. Clair (1737), William David Ross (1877) and Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet (1754). The big year was 1984, when 46 of the 88 went on the list. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: like most towns its size, it has no Category A building; and it also has 2 scheduled monuments.

Questions about Thurso’s history

How many listed buildings are there in Thurso?

Historic Environment Scotland lists 88 buildings inside Thurso’s locality: 0 Category A, 41 Category B and 47 Category C.

Which street in Thurso has the most listed buildings?

Campbell Street (15), Janet Street (6) and Princes Street (6) have the most listed entries named by an address. One entry can be a whole terrace.

Are there scheduled monuments in Thurso?

Yes, 2 scheduled monuments, including Scrabster Castle and Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground.

How many conservation areas are there in Thurso?

1, covering about 18 hectares of the town. The largest is Thurso.

When were Thurso’s buildings listed?

The first in 1975; the most, 46, in 1984.

Who was born in Thurso?

Among people born before 1900: Arthur St. Clair (1737), William David Ross (1877), Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet (1754), Hugh Robert Mill (1861) and Andrew Geddes Bain (1797).

Thurso has no History Grade.

Listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites: Historic Environment Scotland, Open Government Licence v3.0. Check an entry on Historic Environment Scotland’s portal before relying on it.

Sources: Historic Environment Scotland designations (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary · Historic Environment Scotland conservation areas (compiled from councils; October 2026). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.