John o'Groat's

Coordinates: 58°38′N 3°04′W / 58.64°N 3.07°W / 58.64; -3.07

John o' Groats
Scottish Gaelic: Taigh Iain Ghròt
John o' Groats House
John o' Groats  John o' Groats shown within Scotland
Population	300
OS grid reference	ND380734
Council area	Highland
Lieutenancy area	Caithness
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WICK
Postcode district	KW1
Dialling code	01955
Police	Northern
Fire	Highlands and Islands
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Scottish Parliament	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
List of places: UK • Scotland •

John o' Groats (Taigh Iain Ghròt in Scottish Gaelic) (grid reference ND380734) is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Once a part of the county of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although the actual most northerly point is nearby Dunnet Head. (ND202767)

The name John o' Groats has a particular resonance because it is often used as a starting or ending point for walks and charitable events to and from Land's End (at the extreme south-western tip of the Cornish peninsula in England). The phrase Land's End to John o' Groats is frequently heard both as a literal journey (being the longest possible in Great Britain) and as a metaphor for great or all-encompassing distance, similar to the American phrase coast to coast.

The punctuation and capitalisation in John o' Groats is the correct form. The space after o' appears to vary but was probably the correct older form. The town takes its name from Jan de Groot, a Dutchman who obtained a grant for the ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney, recently acquired from Norway, from King James IV in 1496. The collective term for people from John o' Groats is Groatsers.

Demography

The population of John o' Groats is approximately 300 ± 10.^[1] The village is dispersed but has a linear centre where council housing, sports park, and a shop which is on the main road from the nearest town of Wick.

Tourism

John o' Groats attracts large numbers of tourists from all across the world all year round. Not all commentary is good - in 2005 a popular tourist guide, Lonely Planet, described the village as a "seedy tourist trap".^[2]

Signpost

The famous "Journey's End" signpost at John o' Groats is privately owned and operated by the same Penzance-based photography company which operates its counterpart at Land's End, with a fee payable for having pictures taken next to the signpost. A free signpost is situated on the wall next to the First and Last souvenir shop and the harbour.

Sport

John o' Groats is home to two football clubs, John o' Groats and Canisbay Juniors. John o' Groats FC are an amateur outfit who play in the top flight of Caithness Amateur Football, they also enter a team into the Winter 7s which are played in Thurso. They are current champions of the second division. They also have the distinction of being the most northerly British mainland club. They recently won the Eoin Mackintosh Memorial Cup with a 2-1 victory over local rivals Pentland United, claiming their first major county trophy. Canisbay Juniors are the "feeder" team to John o' Groats FC with many of the key first team players having played for the juniors side at one time. They play in the youth development leagues in Caithness where they enter teams at all age groups.

Hotel

The John o' Groats House Hotel was built on the site of Jan de Groot's house and was established in 1875. Although no longer a hotel or public bar, it has been described by Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant as "one of the UK's most famous landmarks"^[3].

See also

• Land's End to John o' Groats
• Land's End
• Europa Point

References

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article John o' Groat's House.

• John o' Groats, Britannica Online Encyclopedia