Thurso is a town and also previous burgh on the north coastline of the Highland council location of Scotland. Situated in the historical location of Caithness, it is the northern most town on the British mainland. It exists at the joint of the north-south A9 road and the west-east A836 road, attached to Bridge of Forss in the west and Castletown in the eastern. The 34-mile (55 kilometres) River Thurso streams through the community as well as right into Thurso Bay as well as the Pentland Firth. The river estuary works as a small harbour. At the 2011 Census, Thurso had a population of 7,933. The bigger Thurso civil parish consisting of the town and also the bordering countryside had a population of 9,112. Thurso worked as an important Norse port, and later on patronized ports throughout northern Europe till the 19th century. A thriving angling centre, Thurso also had an online reputation for its linen-cloth and tanning tasks. Since 2015 the Dounreay Nuclear Research Establishment, although primarily deactivated at the end of the 20th century, uses a substantial variety of the neighborhood population. The Category-A listed messed up Old St Peter's Church (St. Peter's Kirk) is just one of the oldest churches in Scotland, dating to at least 1125. The existing church, St Andrew's and St Peter's, was integrated in 1832 to a design by William Burn in the Gothic design. The town consists of the major university of North Highland College and Thurso Secondary School, the northernmost high school on the British mainland, which was established in 1958. Thurso Castle, built in 1872, is in damages. Thurso is home to the football (soccer) group, Thurso FC, developed in 1998, which play in the North Caledonian League, and also the rugby teams Caithness Crushers and Caithness RFC. Thurso railway station, opened in 1874, was the most northern station on the Sutherland as well as Caithness Train. The neighboring port of Scrabster offers ferryboat services to the Orkney Islands; the Northlink ferryboat (MV Hamnavoe) runs in between Scrabster and Stromness.