Coulport, Cove, Kilcreggan

Coulport

Coulport is a village on east side of Loch Long, 5 miles north-north-west of Cove, Dumbartonshire. It was the place where the Kibble Crystal Palace, now in Glasgow's Botanic Garden, was originally erected. It once was the site of many residences of wealthy Glasgow merchants. There is a Royal Naval Base situated here. On the opposite side of the loch is Ardentinny which became famous through the words of a Harry Lauder song:

Ower the hill tae Ardentinny,
Just to see ma bonnie Jeanie.

Lauder got the inspiration for his song from that of the Scottish poet Robert Tannahill, a weaver from Paisley, who visited Ardentinny with some fellow weavers and there met a highland girl called Jeanie. When he returned home he wrote his famous song, The Lass o' Arranteenie. In it he described the girl

Sae sweet amidst her native hills
Obscurely blooms my Jeanie,
Mair fair and gay than rosy May,
The flower o' Arranteenie.

Ardentinny is picturesquely placed at the south end of Finart Bay on the west side of Loch Long. Its name means the Point or Headland of the Fire. A rough road leads to Shepherd's Point. Beyond this only forestry tracks continue up the side of Loch Long. The road behind Ardentinny climbs through Glen Finart.


Cove

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Cove is a small village on the east side of Loch Long, Dumbartonshire, near to its junction with the Firth of Clyde. It forms part of the police burgh of Cove and Kilcreggan and consists chiefly of villas and ornate cottages. For a good number of years it had a pier for steamers but this has now gone. Gone too are the shepherds who once roamed the hills of Loch Long in bygone days ... ruined sites of what were their cottages and shielings, their "larochs" are their only reminder.

There's deer upon the mountain,
There's sheep along the glen,
The forests hum with feather,
But where are now the men?
Here's but the lonely laroch
Where soft my footsteps fall
My folks are quite forgotten
And the nettle's over all.

Opposite Cove on the west side of Loch Long lies Blairmore and behind it rises Blairmore Hill (1402 ft).

Craigrownie is a small parish with a church, situated between Cove and Kilcreggan, on the Rosneath Peninsula.


Kilcreggan

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Kilcreggan is a small town on the south coast of the Rosneath Peninsula, Dumbartonshire. It stands opposite Gourock, 3 1/2 miles north-west of Greenock. Kilcreggan got its name from an ancient chapel, long since extinct, and has nearly all been built since 1840. It was a much esteemed summer resort and watering-place; consisting chiefly of villas and ornate cottages on a strip of coast upwards of a mile long. From Kilcreggan, a pedestrian ferry now takes you across the Clyde to Gourock - the journey takes about 12 minutes. Together with Craigrownie and Cove, curving round to Loch Long, it forms a police burgh. In days gone by the population in the summer months would probably be up to five times more than its normal due to the influx of tourists.

Moving round into the Gareloch, is the small hamlet called Clynder.

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The background tartan used for this page is the "Harvey" tartan