West Burn, Greenock

Swan at West Burn culvert; former Westburn shipyard now Ocean Terminal and Waterfront Cinema, distant hill behind Overton reservoir and waterworks

The West Burn, Greenock, is is among the most historicallY significant of the many streams and rivers that flow down through Greenock to the estuary of the River Clyde and the deeper Firth of Clyde. Its source in adjacent moorland hills as the Hole Burn runs down a steep ravine called the Hole Glen to the Kip Valley, where it becomes the West Burn, once the boundary with the barony of Finnart.

Fishing boats sheltered in the river mouth. In 1591, after chapels in the area were closed, the Old West Kirk was built on its west bank. A small village became a town, with a weekly market and a jetty for fishermen from 1635. Herring busses took international exports and, following Cartsdyke and Port Glasgow, quays enclosed Greenock harbour in 1710. Shipbuilding in the town started in 1711, with Scotts' building busses in their Westburn yard. Water mills powered the town's industry, its first sugarhouse openied in 1765 near Scott's. Reservoirs were built, culminating in the Loch Thom aqueduct scheme including sluices controlling the proportion of flow down the Hole Burn. Caird & Company expanded the Westburn shipyard which was sold to Harland & Wolff in 1916, but closed in 1935. After wartime use as RAF Greenock it was disused until Waterfront redevelopment.

Location

The coast is closely hemmed by an uneven ridge of hills fronting high moorland. The burn follows a pass known as the Kip Valley which has its high point near Branchton. Beyond there, the Spango Valley runs southwest down to Inverkip. The west side of the pass is bounded by Earn Hill and Bow Hill, to its southeast the main group of hills extends from Dunrod Hill near Inverkip to Corlic Hill south of Port Glasgow.

Numerous streams flow down from the hills. The Hole Burn, which originates on the flank of Scroggy Bank to the north of Dunrod, runs down the steep sided Hole Glen past the former Hole Farm, joining the West Burn at Barr's Cottage. With Bow Hill to its north, the river flows past a former monastic cell at Kilblain, and at its mouth formed a small harbour. The coast here is sheltered by the Tail of the Bank shoal.

Scroggy Bank, Hole Burn

Greenock cut at Hole Glen

Hole farm site at Cowdenknowes, Kip Valley, Rankin Park

Barr's Cottage, Inverkip Road

Lady Alice Park, Brachelston, West Station, Westburn Church

Notes

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References

  • Brown, Archibald (1905), The Early Annals of Greenock, Greenock Telegraph printing works, archived from the original on 19 November 2014 (Inverclyde Council website)
  • Monteith, Joy (2004), Old Greenock, Catrine, Ayrshire: Stenlake Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84033-314-5, archived from the original on 18 February 2015, retrieved 22 October 2013
  • Smith, R.M. (1921), The History of Greenock (PDF), Greenock: Orr, Pollock & Co, archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2026, retrieved 12 August 2026 (Inverclyde Council website @ Inverclyde Libraries, McLean Museum and Inverclyde Archives)
  • Wood, John (1828), Descriptive account of the principal towns in Scotland: to accompany Wood's town atlas, Edinburgh, pp. 171–177 (Plan of the Town of Greenock from actual survey. – Maps of Scotland, 1825, National Library of Scotland website)
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