NORTHWORD
  • Home
  • Storytelling Workshop
  • 100 THINGS
    • Submit a thing
  • What makes a good story
    • Every picture tells a story
    • Landscape as a storyteller
    • How an object tells a story
    • Spoken Word
  • YOUR STORIES
    • Ardclach Bell Tower
    • The Ghost of Ardvreck Castle
    • Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui
    • The Black Shadow
    • The Brodie Pontifical
    • The Brora Coalfield
    • The Burghead Bull
    • Caithness Dialect
    • Carbisdale Castle Clock
    • The Burning of the Clavie
    • Coinneach: the Brahan Seer
    • Culbin
    • Ghostly Shinty at Dalarossie
    • The Dounreay Dalek
    • The Dwarfie Stane
    • Phantom Train of Dunphail
    • Greenmire
    • Highland Ghost Stories
    • The Highland Pony
    • Hogmanay Bonfire at Pulteneytown
    • The Hydrogen Story
    • Laidhay remembered
    • LS Lowry and Caithness
    • Lochindorb
    • Mary Ann's Cottage
    • The Orkney Energy Community
    • Orkney Sea Monsters
    • Sandwood Bay Legends
    • A simple, happy life
    • The Skaill House Ghosts
    • Skekling
    • Smuggling and Illicit Distilling
    • Teddy Banjo, Teuksy and Wick Wivies
    • The genius of Thomas Telford
    • Traveller Beware
    • White Wife of Watlee
    • Christmas in Wick
    • The Wulver of Shetland

LS Lowry and Caithness

LS Lowry in Caithness

Picture
Detail from LS Lowry's painting of the Black Stairs in Wick.
Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) is best remembered for his depictions of his home town of Salford, featuring his characteristic matchstick men and women.  However, in the 1930s, Lowry spent holidays in Scotland including several visits to Caithness.

During his time in Caithness he painted a number of pictures including both Shore Street in Thurso and the Black Stairs in Wick


The Black Stairs are a broad set of steps made of Caithness flagstone, linking the residential areas above the bank, via Dunbar Street, with the harbour below.  They are a celebrated feature of the town and where part of Thomas Telford's plan laying out Pulteneytown for the British Fisheries Society.  The stairs were laid out in the 1820s. 
Picture
The Black Stairs are a broad set of steps made of Caithness flagstone, linking the residential areas above the bank, via Dunbar Street, with the harbour below.  They are a celebrated feature of the town and where part of Thomas Telford's plan laying out Pulteneytown for the British Fisheries Society.  The stairs were laid out in the 1820s. 
Picture
Picture
LS Lowry's painting of Shore Street, Thurso.
Lowry also painted Shore Street in Thurso during his 1936 visit to Caithness. 
 
In November 2013, his painting of the Black Steps in Wick was sold at auction in London for over £890,000.  Four months later, his painting of Shore Street in Caithness went for £842,000. 

​
Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Storytelling Workshop
  • 100 THINGS
    • Submit a thing
  • What makes a good story
    • Every picture tells a story
    • Landscape as a storyteller
    • How an object tells a story
    • Spoken Word
  • YOUR STORIES
    • Ardclach Bell Tower
    • The Ghost of Ardvreck Castle
    • Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui
    • The Black Shadow
    • The Brodie Pontifical
    • The Brora Coalfield
    • The Burghead Bull
    • Caithness Dialect
    • Carbisdale Castle Clock
    • The Burning of the Clavie
    • Coinneach: the Brahan Seer
    • Culbin
    • Ghostly Shinty at Dalarossie
    • The Dounreay Dalek
    • The Dwarfie Stane
    • Phantom Train of Dunphail
    • Greenmire
    • Highland Ghost Stories
    • The Highland Pony
    • Hogmanay Bonfire at Pulteneytown
    • The Hydrogen Story
    • Laidhay remembered
    • LS Lowry and Caithness
    • Lochindorb
    • Mary Ann's Cottage
    • The Orkney Energy Community
    • Orkney Sea Monsters
    • Sandwood Bay Legends
    • A simple, happy life
    • The Skaill House Ghosts
    • Skekling
    • Smuggling and Illicit Distilling
    • Teddy Banjo, Teuksy and Wick Wivies
    • The genius of Thomas Telford
    • Traveller Beware
    • White Wife of Watlee
    • Christmas in Wick
    • The Wulver of Shetland