Thurso is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Positioned in the historic location of Caithness, it is the northernmost community on the British mainland. It lies at the junction of the north-south A9 road as well as the west-east A836 road, attached to Bridge of Forss in the west as well as Castletown in the eastern. The 34-mile (55 kilometres) River Thurso moves with the community as well as into Thurso Bay as well as the Pentland Firth. The river tidewater acts as a tiny harbour. At the 2011 Census, Thurso had a population of 7,933. The bigger Thurso civil church including the community as well as the surrounding countryside had a population of 9,112. Thurso functioned as a crucial Norse port, as well as later on traded with ports throughout north Europe until the 19th century. A prospering angling centre, Thurso also had a credibility for its linen-cloth and tanning tasks. As of 2015 the Dounreay Nuclear Research Establishment, although primarily deactivated at the end of the 20th century, uses a significant number of the regional populace. The Category-A detailed wrecked Old St Peter's Church (St. Peter's Kirk) is one of the oldest churches in Scotland, dating to a minimum of 1125. The existing church, St Andrew's as well as St Peter's, was built in 1832 to a design by William Burn in the Gothic design. The community has the primary school of North Highland College and Thurso Secondary School, the northern most senior high school on the British mainland, which was established in 1958. Thurso Castle, built in 1872, remains in ruins. Thurso is home to the football (football) 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 north station on the Sutherland and also Caithness Railway. The close-by port of Scrabster provides ferryboat services to the Orkney Islands; the Northlink ferryboat (MV Hamnavoe) runs between Scrabster and also Stromness.