Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GREENOCK
thus the view up and down the Firth is open. For about
i mile inland the ground is flat and not much above
high-water level, and this portion is occupied by docks,
quays, business streets, and lines of villas for about 2
miles. Further inland, the ground begins to rise, in some
parts more steeply than others, but in every case adding
picturesqueness to the town as seen from the river.
Terraces of villa residences are planted here and there,
and generally the slopes are pleasantly variegated with
garden-plots and other concomitants of the suburban
districts of a large town. Charming as is the site of
Greenock, the view commanded by the town is much
more so. Associated in the public mind with all the
customary sraokiness and dirt of manufacturing centres,
Greenock is nevertheless striking for the airiness and
freshness of its surroundings. Looking across St
Laurence's Bay (so called from an ancient religioushouse)
the eye rests on the fringe of the magnificent scenery
of the Western Highlands. ' But a few miles off, across
the Firth of Clyde, ' remark the Messrs Chambers, ' the
untameable Highland territory stretclies away into
Alpine solitudes of the wildest character ; so that it is
possible to sit in a Greenock drawing-room amidst a
scene of refinement not surpassed, and of industry unex-
ampled in Scotland, with the cultivated lowlands at your
back, and let the imagination follow the eye into a blue
distance where things still exhibit nearly the same moral
aspect as they did a thousand years ago. It is said that
when Rob Boy haunted the opposite coasts of Dumbar-
tonshire, he found it very convenient to sail across and
make a selection from the goods displayed in the
Greenock fairs ; on which occasion the ellwands and
staves of civilisation would come into collision with the
broadswords and dirks of savage warfare in such a style
as might have served to show the extremely slight hold
which the law had as yet taken of certain parts of our
country.' Leaving out the more imaginative portions
of this picture it still shows how Greenock stands on
the threshold of the rather prosaic haunts of industry
and the freer but less remunerative wilds of the High-
lands. Pennant, who visited Greenock in the course of
one of his tours, gives the following graphic account of
the view from an eminence in the neighbourhood — ' The
magnificeuce of the prospect from the hill behind tlie
towns of Greenock and Port Glasgow, and even from
the quays of these towns, deserves notice. Immediately
before you is the river Clyde, having all the appearance
of a fresh-water lake (as the outlet to the sea is not
visible), with numbers of large and small vessels sailing
upon it. Next to this, the opposite coast of Dumbarton
and Argyllshire, abounding in gentlemen's seats, meets
the eye, and the prospect is terminated by the western
range of the Grampian Mountains at unequal distances,
and so ragged and craggy on the tops, that, by way of
contrast, they are called here by the emphatical name
of the Duke of Argyll's Bowling Green. Along the
skirts of the hills there are many eligible situations for
those who have a relish for the beauty and magnificence
of nature. Below them, the to\vns of Greenock and
Port Glasgow, with their convenient and crowded har-
bours. On the opposite side of the Firth are in view
the parishes of "West Kilpatrick, Dumbarton with its
rock and castle, Cardross, Row, and the peninsular
parish of Roseneath, on the SE of wdiich is a castle of the
Duke of Argyll with flourishing plantations. In ascend-
ing the Greenock hills, the prospect is still varied and
extending. From Corlic, the highest ground in the
parish, may be seen in a clear day, besides that of Ren-
frew, part of the counties of Bute, Arran, and Argyll,
with the western part of the Grampian Mountains, of
Perth, Stirling, Lanark, and Ayr.' The view, too, from
the top of Lyle Road overlooking Gourock Bay (opened
1 May 1880) embraces parts of the shires of Ayr, Argyll,
Bute, Dumbarton, Lanark, Perth, and Stirling.
Of the origin of Greenock nothing definite is known,
though it might be safe to conjecture that tlie village
grew up round the religious establishment which gave
its name to the bay. 'There were three chapels in the
neighbourhood, that of St Laurence, which stood at the
220
GREENOCK
W corner of Virginia Street, and of which traces were
extant till 1760 ; a second at Chapelton at the extremity
of the eastern boundary of the East parish ; and a third,
dedicated to St Blane, a little below Kilblain. The
castle of Easter Greenock stood about 1 mile E of the
present town ; and that of Wester Greenock on the site
of the Mansion-House on an eminence above the
Assembly Rooms. This was the residence of the family
of Shaw of Greenock, with whom the fortunes of the
town were for a long time bound up. John Shaw of
Greenock received permission from James VI. in 1589
to erect a church in Greenock, and the records of the
Scottish Parliaments show that it was built in 1592.
The parish was disjoined from Innerkip and erected
into a separate charge in 1594, and was legally con-
stituted a parish in 1636. (See Gp.eenock parish.) The
same John Shaw obtained a charter from Charles I. in .
1635 (the king acting for his son Baron Renfrew, a title
still held by the Prince of Wales), conferring upon
Greenock the rights and privileges of a burgh of barony,
including permission to hold a weekly market on Friday
and two fairs annually. This charter was confirmed by
the Scottish Parliament in 1641. A baron bailie was
appointed, and regular courts were instituted im-
mediately on the granting of the charter. The laird
was not content with these endeavours, and further
benefited the young burgh by building a dry stone pier
for the accommodation of the passage boats for Ireland
and of the fishermen. The next notice of the town is
in a report by Thomas Tucker, a customs official, deputed
in 1656 by Cromwell's government to examine into the
revenues of the Clyde ports. He speaks of Greenock,
whose inhabitants are ' all seamen or fishermen trading
for Ireland or the Isles in open boats, at wdiich place
there is a mole or pier where vessels might ride or
shelter in stress of weather.' In 1670 a French traveller,
M. Jorevein de Rocheford, visited ' Krinock,' which he
says is ' the town where the Scots post and packet boat
starts for Ireland. Its port is good, sheltered by the
mountains which surround it, and by a great mole by
the sides of which are ranged the barks and other vessels
for the conveniency of loading and unloading more
easily.' The charter of Greenock expressly denied per-
mission to engage in foreign trade, which was the ex-
clusive privilege of royal burghs. So jealous were the
latter of this right that John Spreule, representative of
Renfrew in Parliament, made a stipulation before its
confirmation, that ' the charter to Greenock was to be
in no ways prejudicial to our antient privileges con-
tained in our infeftment as accords of law.' Shaw of
Greenock endeavoured to remove this restriction, and
in spite of the opposition of the royal burghs, he was
successful in 1670, owing chiefl}', it is said, to the ser-
vices rendered by his son to the King at the battle of
Worcester. This second charter, granting the privilege
of buying and selling wine, wax, salt, brandy, pitch,
tar, and other goods and merchandise, was not conlrrmed
by Parliament till 1681, but the knight acted on it
before this, and in consequence a Greenock ship with
foreign produce on board was seized by agents of the
royal burghs and conveyed to Newark, the place now
called Port Glasgow. Roused at this, about a hundred
inhabitants of Greenock, under the command of Sir John
Shaw, Laird of Greenock, and Mr Bannatyne of Kelly,
rowed to Newark to recapture their vessel. A number
of armed men were on board, and after a tough struggle,
in which several of both parties were wounded, the
Greenock men had to retire discomfited. A complaint
concerning the whole matter was made to the Lords of
Secret Council by the royal burghs of Glasgow, Dum-
barton, and Renfrew, and, though the charter of 1670
saved Greenock from any penalties, the town was forced
to pay an ' unfree trade cess ' to the royal bm-ghs for
permission to retain the foreign trade. A commissioner
was appointed to fix the sum of this cess, and eight
shillings Scots was named, the amount to increase with
the number and size of the vessels engaged in the trade.
This assessment in 1879 was about £75 ; it is now abol-
ished. The evidence taken by the commissioner gives an