Blairmore Pier

on Nov 16, 2019

The pier at Blairmore replaced a large and commodious ferry boat at Portinstuck when it was built in the summer of 1855. The new landing point was particularly needed by the feuars who had built houses on the north bank of the Holy Loch as the piers at Kilmun and Strone had fallen into disrepair, and indeed, the pier at Strone was closed to traffic for a while in a dispute arising from the ownership by Mr. David Napier. “A new pier about to built at Blairmore, situated upon Lochlongside, and at distance of a mile or so from Strone Point. A number of feus have been taken in the neighhoorhood, and the pier will be a source of convenience to all the feuars north of Port-in-Stuck. The bank of Lochlong, from Strone to Ardentinny, is admirably adapted for marine villas, and there is no doubt that after the erection of the pier, the shore will be dotted with a goodly number.”—Greenock...

Strone Pier

on Oct 20, 2019

The development of the north bank of the Holy Loch by David Napier proved to be a successful enterprise for the new landowner. The key to this success was the accessibility of the area by the provision of a pier and steamboat connections. With the opening of the Greenock Railway, there was a new incentive to acquire coast properties with easy access to Greenock, now within an hour of Glasgow. Opportunities for feuing and the construction of villas extended eastwards from the head of the Holy Loch towards Strone Point. However, this was inconveniently distant from Kilmun Pier for discerning Glasgow businessmen, and a new pier was required to encourage growth in the area. Although David Napier had left the area in the 1830s, he continued to respond to the needs of his feuars on the Holy Loch. The building of a pier at Strone, extending the stone quay and making it available at all states...

Edgar Battersby’s trip to Rothesay

on Sep 25, 2019

I was recently contacted by a gentleman by the name of Rupert Battersby who has a large number of quarter-plate glass negatives taken by his great uncle, Edgar Battersby. Some of these were taken on a trip to Scotland in August 1913, and just over twenty feature views taken on the Clyde and Loch Lomond. This is an important and interesting collection and I have been given permission to reproduce the photographs of the Clyde on this site. I have to point out that these images are copyright and any further use requires permission of the owner. The Battersby family were hat manufacturers from Stockport in Lancashire. A history of the business has been documented in a book “Battersby Hats of Stockport — An Illustrated History” also by Rupert Battersby and published by Amberley in 2016. The factory in Stockport closed in 1966. Edgar Battersby was a young man on his visit to Scotland. He is...

Ardnadam Pier

on Jun 6, 2019

The pier at Ardnadam, at 200 feet, the longest in the upper Firth, was built in 1858 to facilitate feuing at the head of the Holy Loch and along its southern fringe at Sandbank. The water at the head of the loch is quite shallow and the length of the pier was dictated to achieve sufficient depth of water at all states of the tide. Glasgow Herald, April 5, 1858 “Extension of feuing at the coast.—Notwithstanding the mercantile depression, feuing and house building seem to be going on briskly at several of the watering places on the Clyde. The new pier erected at Ardnadam, Holy Loch, has led to some feus being taken off in its neighbourhood, and in a brief period there will, no doubt, be a continuous line of villas from Sandbank to the Lazaretto Point. At Hunter’s Quay a new terrace above the road has been laid off this year, and there are at present eight pretty cottages in various...

Collision off Greenock

on May 2, 2019

On Hogmanay, 1904, a collision occurred between the steamers Kathleen and Stromboli off Garvel Point, Greenock. Two engineers in the Kathleen were lost in the accident. This article provides some postcards of the incident and a day-to-day account of the ensuing salvage operations and recovery of the bodies of the engineers from the pages of the Greenock Telegraph. “Disastrous collision at Greenock.—Steamers sunk off Garvel Point.—Two engineers drowned.—Narrow escapes.—The closing hours of 1904 were marred by a lamentable collision which occurred on Saturday night in the river off Garvel Point. The colliding steamers were the Kathleen (Captain Dawson) 1,017 tons register, inward from Bilbao with 2,300 tons of iron ore, and the Stromboli (Captain Drummond), 1,011 tons, outward from Glasgow for Mediterranean ports with a general cargo. During the week the weather on the Clyde has been...

Glenfinart

on Apr 26, 2019

The steam coaster Glenfinart was built by Messrs Burrell & Son in 1892 at their Hamilton Hill yard on the Glasgow extension of the Forth and Clyde Canal. As befits a puffer, for that is what she was, her dimensions conformed to the necessities of the locks on the canal, 65.6 ft length by 17.4 ft breadth and 6 ft depth, 52.47 tons gross and 31.46 net. She was constructed of steel and had a compound, direct-acting vertical engine supplied by Messrs Walker, Henderson & Co., Ltd., Glasgow, that was rated at 10 h.p., driving her single screw. Glenfinart around 1900 at Blairmore with Caledonia Her first owner was Robert Muir of Ardentinny, one of a family of fishermen who were about to embark on an adventure in the coasting trade. The name of the vessel was an appropriate one as Glenfinart House and the associated estate were adjacent to Ardentinny on the shores of Loch Long....