Historic Inverclyde

  • Home
  • Historic Inverclyde
Website

Historic Inverclyde Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Historic Inverclyde, Community Service, .

20/10/2026

A bit of a "blast from the past", former Clydeside Leyland Leopard travelling along Union St in Grenock... I believe this one is owned by a local enthusiast.

The Esplanade during the 19th century. Not a boy racer in sight :-)
03/09/2026

The Esplanade during the 19th century. Not a boy racer in sight :-)

Another view of the older section of the Old Largs road making its way along the loch bed. In this picture we are lookin...
29/06/2026

Another view of the older section of the Old Largs road making its way along the loch bed. In this picture we are looking along the line of it as it runs south west to north east.

Following on from a previous post where we uploaded a map showing the route of the former Old Largs Road, here is a dron...
27/06/2026

Following on from a previous post where we uploaded a map showing the route of the former Old Largs Road, here is a drone photograph showing the old road cutting across the bed of the loch. It is unclear when or even if this will be visible again.

A side-by-side comparison showing the route of the Old Largs Rd before and after the expansion of Loch Thom in the 1870s...
22/06/2026

A side-by-side comparison showing the route of the Old Largs Rd before and after the expansion of Loch Thom in the 1870s. I have added dots to highlight the same section of road in both images.

That section of road is normally lost beneath the water of Loch Thom, except during periods of very low water. The entire old road was walkable in 2021 due to extremely low water levels, as major work was being carried out on the loch.

This is the bust of Robert Thom that currently resides within the Cut Visitor Centre. What makes this unique is that it ...
30/05/2026

This is the bust of Robert Thom that currently resides within the Cut Visitor Centre. What makes this unique is that it is thought to be the only representation of the man. There are no paintings or images of him that are known to exist. The bust is carved from marble, and it is believed the sculptor was Patric Park.

These photos show all that remains of the Cardwell Bay Seaplane Base. The seaplane base was not a major wartime base, bu...
18/05/2026

These photos show all that remains of the Cardwell Bay Seaplane Base. The seaplane base was not a major wartime base, but was used for carrying out maintenance and rearming of flying boats.

During WWII, it was used by Catalina Flying boats that were operating over the River Clyde. They were involved in Anti-mine operations as well as es**rt roles related to the convoys heading into the North Atlantic.

The Flying boat slip was designed to allow flying boats to be towed out of the water and into the area of Battery Park. There were maintenance sheds and hangars located within Battery Park.

Bently’s Folly is a little-known landmark within Gourock. There is very little in the way of recorded historical facts a...
12/05/2026

Bently’s Folly is a little-known landmark within Gourock. There is very little in the way of recorded historical facts about the folly or who (or what) Bentley was. The term “folly” can be used to describe an area that has been transformed, landscaped or built upon to improve its appearance. In this case, Bentley’s folly appears to take on the appearance of a fortified defensive structure, even though it is purely for decoration.

Some believe the term folly is actually used to describe an unwise or foolish move because the construction of the structure caused its developer to go bankrupt. In the book “Days at the Coast”, it refers to the person responsible for the folly spending his final days in the “Poorhouse”.

Following on from a previous post where we mentioned the possibility of tank traps on the beach below Cloch Battery, som...
09/05/2026

Following on from a previous post where we mentioned the possibility of tank traps on the beach below Cloch Battery, some of you suggested they might have been anchor points for the "Cloch Boom" defence. The anchor point for the East side of the boom is still present and is located below the lighthouse. Photos show the anchor point for the Boom.

During World War II, Tower Hill was the location of Barhill Heavy Anti-Aircraft battery. The exact location of the batte...
05/05/2026

During World War II, Tower Hill was the location of Barhill Heavy Anti-Aircraft battery. The exact location of the battery has long been a matter of dispute. Some records have it located at the summit of Tower Hill, but clearly, this is not the case because the tower itself already occupies that location.

Some records mention it as being SW of the tower, and this makes a bit more sense because it would have been within the fields of Midtown Farm, the farm that gave its name to Midton.

There is also a report of the Batteries' “tear” shaped access road being visible on some aerial imagery, but details of this were very sparse, and I have been unable to locate this image.

The access road was usually, but not always tear-drop shaped. This was to allow vehicles to drive in and out without having to turn. The teardrop would pass inside the ring of gun pits and could be used to restock the am******on shelves within each gun emplacement.

LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) can provide quite a lot of clues about historical sites, and this proved to be one such case. The latest LIDAR imagery available through the National Library of Scotland (NLS) is Phase 6, and it provides imagery in much higher resolution than previous versions.

The real star of the show in this case was the oldest version of LIDAR data that is available through the NLS.

The area with the tear drop access road turns out to be directly below what is now an astroturf sports field that is part of St Columbas High School. Phase 1 Lidar appears to predate the construction of the pitch, so we can clearly see the access road occupying the site.

This tells us that the battery was actually almost due south of the tower.

The battery was destroyed well before the pitch was constructed. Before the current pitch was built, it was a flat grassy area. The site had almost certainly been completely demolished and buried post-war. Through time, nature claimed it all back, and there was nothing to be seen on the surface.

The access road does come very close to the edge of the pitch, and newer lidar did show some potential finds in the bushy area. I was hoping to perhaps find a few bricks or even some rubble, but alas, nothing to report.

This was simply a bit of investigating to see if there was anything to be found. Although we did not find anything physical, we did find evidence to confirm the battery's location.

This will all be submitted to Historic Environment Scotland to assist them with keeping their records accurate.

The images used in this post are the PH1 Lidar image showing the tear-shaped access road at Barhill Battery. The other 2 are for demonstration purposes and show the same road layout in use at different anti-aircraft batteries.

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Historic Inverclyde posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization?

Share