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Wick charity worker 'shocked and disgusted' by dirty deed at historic castle


By Alan Hendry

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Karen Haden-Homer with the Castle of Old Wick in the background. She was taking part in a Virtual Kiltwalk to raise funds for Enable Scotland.
Karen Haden-Homer with the Castle of Old Wick in the background. She was taking part in a Virtual Kiltwalk to raise funds for Enable Scotland.

A Caithness charity worker was “shocked and disgusted” to find that someone had used a historic castle as a makeshift toilet.

The culprit had left his or her mess inside the 860-year-old Castle of Old Wick along with soiled paper.

Karen Haden-Homer encountered the unpleasant sight on Saturday morning while on a fundraising walking challenge.

“It was right in a corner inside the castle walls," she said.

“Going to the toilet is one thing – it is normal. But doing it in a castle and leaving it… I just thought, ‘surely not’.

“I was shocked and disgusted because it was so disrespectful.”

Karen (46) is an employment co-ordinator for the All in Highlands service run by Enable Works and was taking part in a Virtual Kiltwalk at the weekend in aid of Enable Scotland.

“When I was walking I had all these numerous thoughts and one was that it is really disrespectful to use an old castle as a toilet, for whatever reason," she said. "Then I was thinking maybe there was a genuine reason – perhaps it was a toddler and it was a moment of desperation, or somebody just needed to go.

“But still, you don’t leave it there. You take your mess with you, whatever it is.

"They were organised enough to have a box of tissues with them. I thought ‘come on, pick up after yourself – it’s the least you can do’.”

After living in the south of England for about 25 years, Karen moved back to her home town in November 2019 with husband Chris and their three children. The cliff-top path to the Castle of Old Wick is one of the family's favourite walking routes.

Built by Harald Maddadson around the 1160s, it is one of the oldest castles in the country and is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. It is known locally as the Old Man of Wick.

“We do need to educate people to stop littering these lovely sites," Karen said. "When I walk past the Old Man of Wick with my kids we like to give him a salute because we kind of respect him. We’re grateful he is still standing.

“It’s a fabulous castle to go into and I love the fact that we can still go in it. That’s one of the definite perks of living here – we can still get really close up to our old castles. But I’ll be keeking round the corner next time."

Enable Works supports people aged 16 and over in the Highland region who have additional support needs and are looking for work. Karen was among 11,000 people across Scotland doing the Virtual Kiltwalk over the weekend, and along with 120 colleagues around the country she helped raise more than £20,000 to support Enable Scotland’s charitable projects.

It was the culmination of a personal challenge for Karen, who had set herself a target of walking 500,000 steps over the course of five weeks. She ended up surpassing that with 512,000 steps.

She also noticed on Saturday that a number of lager cans had been discarded in an area between the cliffs at the castle. She considered going down to retrieve them but felt it was unsafe.

“I thought it was a shame because those cans are going to get washed out to sea,” she said.

Karen is the daughter of the late Ian and Janet McDonald, who ran the family photography business in Wick’s Shore Lane for many years.


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