Freswick

Freswick
Remains of Buchollie Castle
Freswick Location within the Caithness area
OS grid reference	ND3667
Council area	Highland
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish

Freswick (/ˈfrɛzɪk/ FREZZ-ik^[1]) or Skirza, is a small remote hamlet, overlooking Freswick Bay to the east, in eastern Caithness, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.^[2] The village of Skirza lies directly northeast of Freswick.

Name

The name Freswick probably originates from the Old Norwegian Frøysvík meaning 'Freyr's bay'. Current Fresvik is a village in Norway. It is also suggested that Freswick stemms from 'Frisians' wick',^[3] similar to the toponyms Vreeswijk and Friezenwijk^[4] in the Netherlands. There is a connection with former Frisia and Freswick concerning early-medieval brooches that have been found. A fragments of Viking-Age fibula, so-called penannular brooch type, found at Freswick by Bremner in 1939 has similarities to a fibula fragment found at the hamlet of Hallumerhoek, province Friesland in the Netherlands.^[5]

See also

• Fresvik
• Vreeswijk

References

1. "ekko". Retrieved 31 December 2019.
2. "Freswick". The Gazetteer for Scotland. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh and The Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
3. Chamson, Emil Rudolf (2014). "Revisiting a millennium of migrations. Contextualizing Dutch/Low-German influence on English dialect lexis". Academia.
4. Faber, Hans (2022). "Dissolute Elisabeth and her Devil". Frisia Coast Trail. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
5. IJssennagger, Nelleke (2017). Central because Liminal. Frisia in a Viking Age North Sea World. Groningen: Netzodruk. pp. 202–204. ISBN 9789403401973.