“Blink and you’d miss Ebenezer Place,” writes Anne Ward, author of Nothing to See Here: A Guide to the Hidden Joys of Scotland, a guide book to the unusual places in Scotland. Located in Wick, in Scotland, between Union Street and River Street, Ebenezer Place is officially recognized as the shortest street in the world by the Guinness Book of Records. It measures just 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 meters) long, beating the previous record of 17 feet or 5.2 meters set by Elgin Street, in Lancashire. The street has only one address: the front door of No. 1 Bistro, which is part of Mackays Hotel.
Although Ebenezer Place made it to the Guinness Book of Records only recently, it was built a long way ago – in 1883. At that time, a gentleman by the name of Alexander Sinclair, having made a fortune in America, returned to Wick and built what is now Mackay's Hotel at the junction of Union Street and River Street. The city council instructed him to put a name on the short end of the building. He did so and the world’s shortest street was born. Four years later, Ebenezer Place appeared in the town’s records.
Sources: Wikipedia / www.mackayshotel.co.uk / Nothing to See Here
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It's not so much the story but the pictures that tell far more than the story itself. Looking closely at the building, there are fixtures on the roof that are stack or exhaust ports for smoke to exit the building's many room that had(have?) fire places in them for heating purposes. Today, they are left in place for asthetic purposes or for original archetictural effect. First with coal or wood, then gas, then electric. Hopefully the fireplaces are blocked inside so the heat doesn't escape up and out. Looking at the windows, one wonders if they are double glazed or single pane. Spent time in the Caringorms in the early eighties and tried all the different recipies of haggis that were available. Good stuff! Great article here too.
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