Gourock

History

The name Gourock comes from a Gaelic word for "rounded hill", in reference to the hill above the town. As far back as 1494 it is recorded that James IV sailed from the shore at Gourock to quell the rebellious Highland clans. Two hundred years later William and Mary granted a Charter in favour of Stewart of Castlemilk which raised Gourock to a Burgh of Barony. In 1784 the lands of Gourock were purchased by Duncan Darroch, a former merchant in Jamaica. He built Gourock House near the site of the castle in what the family eventually gifted to the town as Darroch Park, later renamed by the council as Gourock Park.

From a small fishing village in the traditional county of Renfrewshire, Gourock grew into a community involved in herring curing, copper mining, ropemaking, quarrying and latterly yacht-building and repairing. Within sight of Gourock, in the early hours of Friday 21 October 1825, PS Comet (II) was run into by the steamer Ayr, some 62 people losing their lives.

When the competing railway companies extended their lines to provide fast connections to Clyde steamer services the Pierhead was built as a railway terminus. Nowadays a passenger ferry serves Kilcreggan and electric trains provide a service to Glasgow from Gourock railway station at the pierhead. The David MacBrayne Ltd headquarters is at the pier, a passenger ferry service to Dunoon is run by their Argyll Ferries subsidiary. A car ferry service is run by Western Ferries from McInroy's Point on the west side of the town to Hunter's Quay to the north of Dunoon.

Like many Scottish seaside towns, Gourock's tourist heyday was in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Evidence of this part of its past is gradually disappearing - The Bay Hotel and Cragburn Pavilion and The Ashton, three local landmarks, disappeared towards the end of the last century. At the same time, Gourock has continued to expand along the coastline, with new estates above the medieval Castle Levan which has been restored and is in use as a bed and breakfast. Further development is taking place, though a short stretch of green belt still separates the town from the Cloch lighthouse which looks out over the firth to Innellan in Argyll.

Places of interest

Gourock has one of the three remaining public outdoor swimming pools in Scotland. Gourock Outdoor Pool was built in 1909 and reconstructed in 1969, it was once tidal and had a sandy floor, but is now a modern, heated facility, with cleaned sea water used in the saltwater pool. The pool was closed at the end of the 2010 summer season for a major improvement project, now completed. The existing changing accommodation was demolished and replaced with a more modern leisure centre, incorporating an enlarged gymnasium and lift access from the street level down to the new changing accommodation and the upgraded pool.

The megalithic Kempock Stone, popularly known as "Granny Kempock Stone", stands on a cliff behind Kempock Street, the main shopping street. The superstition was that for sailors going on a long voyage or a couple about to be married, walking seven times around the stone would ensure good fortune. A flight of steps winds up from the street past the stone to Castle Mansions and St John's Church, whose crown steeple forms a landmark dominating Gourock. Kempock Street itself has a good variety of traditional shops including baker's and greengrocer's shops.

Gourock also has a golf course, which stretches from behind Trumpethill to Levan estates.

Yacht club

Gourock has a large Yacht Club named the Royal Gourock Yacht Club which was known as Gourock Sailing Club when it was founded in 1894.

Clan Darroch

Clan Darroch's links with Gourock began in the later half of the 18th century with Duncan Darroch, 1st of Gourock, who had returned to Scotland after making a fortune in the West Indies. There is a story that as a lad, before leaving for Jamaica, he climbed into the garden of Gourock House to get apples from the orchard, and when chased out by the gardener said he would return to buy the estate with its orchard. He acquired the Barony of Gourock from the Stewarts of Castlemilk in 1784. He was also granted arms by the Court of the Lord Lyon and designated Chief of McIireich.

The present head of the Scottish clan Darroch is titled Claire Darroch-Thompson, 8th of Gourock, Lady of the Barony of Gourock, following the death of her father, the late Duncan Darroch of Gourock on 1 February 2011.

Industry

Gourock's principal industry, apart from tourism and fishing, was small craft repair and chandlery. An eponymous ropework opened in the town but later moved to Port Glasgow. More recently Amazon.com opened a distribution centre at Faulds Park, an industrial estate to the south of the town. The Amazon building was originally occupied by Mimtec who manufactured PC products in high volumes for IBM.

Geography

Areas of the town include Ashton, Cardwell Bay, Levan, McInroy's Point, Midton and Trumpethill.

Ashton

The promenade at Ashton forms part of the Inverclyde Coastal Path.

McInroy's Point

McInroy's Point is a small peninsula in the west of the town. In the early 1970s, a pier was constructed here to form the departure point for Western Ferries services to Hunters Quay, near Dunoon on the Cowal peninsula. This provided a second ferry crossing of the Firth of Clyde operating in competition to the state owned Caledonian MacBrayne car ferry, which since 2011 has been replaced by the Argyll Ferries passenger service, leaving Western Ferries as the only car ferry service from Gourock to Dunoon.

This Western Ferries service provides a faster crossing that is aimed primarily at vehicular transport. It operates between the edges of the towns, and therefore it provides motoring tourists with a rapid gateway to the Scottish Highlands.

McInroy's Point is also popular, particularly during the summer months, with local fishermen.

Midton

Early Midton was started in 1944 and consisted of 11 pre-fabricated houses (pre-fabs) built on part of the "Tower Hill" The houses were made of asbestos with flat roofs. These houses were Winston Churchill's solution to the post war housing shortage. The houses were designed to last for only 10 years, but in fact they stood well into the 1960s. Their main features were that they were fully fitted with Electric Cooker, refrigerator, Coal fire, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, and front and rear garden space. The rent at that time was 10 shillings per week equal to 50 pence in today's money. There was no bus service into the town of Gourock approx 1 mile away. With no shops and the roads still under development all provisions had to be physically carried from the town to Midton. The local farm in the area (Holburns' Drumshantie Farm) could provide milk. The cows from the farm grazed on Tower Hill and were known to get into the resident's gardens causing havoc. However, manure supplies were plentiful and free from the farm.

Midton is a highly sought after area for new families due to the local schools: Moorfoot Primary School, St Ninians Primary School, Clydeview Academy and St Columba's High School, Gourock.

Trumpethill

Trumpethill is situated between Midton and Levan and lies to the north of Gourock Golf Club, which stretches all the way behind to the back of Levan. The area has Moorfoot Primary School, one of three primary schools in Gourock.

Notable residents