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B874

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B874
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (20)
From:  Thurso (ND116684)
To:  Wick Airport (ND353526)
Distance:  22.5 miles (36.2 km)
Meets:  A9, B870, A99
Former Number(s):  A840
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

Highland

Traditional Counties

Caithness

Route outline (key)
B874 Thurso – Wick Airport
This article is about the current B874 between Thurso and Wick.
For the original B874 in Wick, see B874 (Wick Harbour)
.


The B874 follows a route that loosely follows the A9 - A882 route from Thurso to Wick, but mostly on the opposite side of a river.

Route

It starts on the A9 in the centre of Thurso and heads southwestwards along Princes Street to pass the station and leave town as Ormlie Road. There's then a TOTSO with an unclassified road just north of Glengolly, where the B870 turns off to the right. The road is now running along the gently sloping hillside to the west of the River Thurso, following the railway line relatively closely, before it swings across to the east bank alongside the A9. As the road turns around to the south, it diverges a little from the river and climbs to a summit at Skinnet. It then drops down once more into the pretty little planned town of Halkirk, where it crosses the River Thurso on Halkirk Bridge. Over the bridge, it passes the Ross Institute (an ornate village hall) before TOTSOing left onto Sinclair Street. Once out of town, the road follows a long straight eastwards over a level crossing on the Thurso branch line before it meets the A9 again at a staggered crossroads.

Sibster

So far the B874 has been almost entirely two-way, often with a centre line. However, across the A9 it continues east along a narrow, straight single track road, thinly scattered with isolated buildings. It climbs a little at first, before a series of long straights through a patchwork of fields take it through Stemster and Gillock. The road passes to the north of Loch Watten, but thanks to thick roadside hedges little more than an occasional glimpse of the water can be had. A sharp double bend then leads to Mains of Watten where the B874 meets the B870 again. There's a short multiplex before the B870 turns off left and the B874 continues ahead. The railway line to Wick is now close at hand as the two routes cross the southern edge of the flat Moss of Killimster to the north. To the south, the Wick River, meanders downstream on the far side of the railway line. After a couple of miles with barely a house to be seen, the tiny scattered settlement of Winless is reached, as the road climbs a little across the side of the Hill of Harland. The straights get shorter, and the bends a little twistier through Sibster and (another) Gillock, for the last couple of miles before to the end of the road at a sharply angled T-junction on the A99 just west of Wick Airport.

History

All of the above was unclassified in 1922, with the exception of the short section as far as the station in Thurso, which was the A840. The B874 had come into being by 1932, continuing south from the A840 and along the west bank of the River Thurso as far as Halkirk. Here it turned eastwards to end on the A88 (present A9) at Roadside. The road was extended further east in 1935, giving it its current eastern end near Wick. However, the A840 hung on for many more years before being downgraded in the 1960s, thus allowing the B874 to be extended into the centre of Thurso.

At some point in the 1970s or 1980s, the route within Halkirk was changed, so that instead of turning sharp left into the narrow and winding Crescent Street immediately after crossing the river, it was re-routed one street farther south into the much wider and straighter Sinclair Street, and a new eastern extension to Sinclair Street built to give a smooth transition into the original route once out of the village.




B874
Crossings
Roads
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (20)
Approaching Halkirk - Geograph - 243149.jpgB874-snow1.jpgB874-snow2.jpgB874 in Thurso at Ormlie.jpgA9 in Thurso with B874.jpg
Other nearby roads
Thurso
Wick
B800 – B899
B800 • B801 • B802 • B803 • B804 • B805 • B806 • B807 • B808 • B809 • B810 • B811 • B812 • B813 • B814 • B815 • B816 • B817 • B818 • B819
B820 • B821 • B822 • B823 • B824 • B825 • B826 • B827 • B828 • B829 • B830 • B831 • B832 • B833 • B834 • B835 • B836 • B837 • B838 • B839
B840 • B841 • B842 • B843 • B844 • B845 • B846 • B847 • B848 • B849 • B850 • B851 • B852 • B853 • B854 • B855 • B856 • B857 • B858 • B859
B860 • B861 • B862 • B863 • B864 • B865 • B866 • B867 • B868 • B869 • B870 • B871 • B872 • B873 • B874 • B875 • B876 • B877 • B878 • B879
B880 • B881 • B882 • B883 • B884 • B885 • B886 • B887 • B888 • B889 • B890 • B891 • B892 • B893 • B894 • B895 • B896 • B897 • B898 • B899
Former versions: B801 • B805 • B808 • B810 • B812 • B814 • B817 • B825 • B828 • B834 • B835 • B837 • B848 • B851 • B852
B854 • B855 • B857 • B858 • B859 • B860 • B862 • B863 • B864 • B865 • B866 • B867 • B869 • B870 • B872 • B873 • B874
B875 • B876 • B877 • B879 • B880 • B883 • B887 • B889 • B891 • B892 • B893 • B895 • B896(N) • B896(W) • B897 • B898

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