Port Glasgow, Kingston Shipyard
Shipyard (19th Century)
Site Name Port Glasgow, Kingston Shipyard
Classification Shipyard (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Newark Sail Cloth Company; Greenock, Ardgowan Street, Kingston Yard
Canmore ID 68399
Site Number NS37SW 35
NGR NS 31447 74886
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/68399
- Council Inverclyde
- Parish Port Glasgow
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Inverclyde
- Former County Renfrewshire
NS37SW 35 313 749
Visible on 1:2500 vertical air photographs (OS 88/041/060)
Scott Lithgow's Kingston Shipyard closed in the mid-1990s. It was dominated by a large 225-ton-capacity 'Goliath' travelling crane (with a span of 350 feet and 240 feet high), erected by Sir William Arrol & Co in 1971 with the aim of permitting the construction of larger ships. It was finally demolished using explosives in 1997, but the contractors underestimated the strength of the construction, accidentally creating 'the largest tripod in Europe'. A second helping of explosives finally felled the crane a short time later.
Information from RCAHMS (MKO) 27 June 2002
Project (May 2016 - September 2017)
Running from May 2016 to September 2017 and part of the Canmore Mapping Programme, Yard by Yard was an area-focused, desk-based project that tested the Defining Scotland’s Places (DSP) methodology in an area for which the records in the NRHE showed considerable variation from one historic map source to another.
Following discussions with local heritage groups and with the ambition of collecting data useful to the communities’ ambition to develop a coastal heritage trail, the project aimed to map the extent of the shipyards and associated industry between Port Glasgow and Greenock. To achieve this aim, the project used historic mapping, ortho-rectified modern aerial photography and the HES aerial photograph collection to map the extents of, and upgrade the records of, the shipyards and associated features such as quays, docks, areas of land reclamation and associated industry.
Note (5 June 2017)
The ‘Kingston Works (Engineering & Shipbuilding)’ yard was first created by Murray & Company and used by them from 1866-1882 at Ardgowan Street (NS 31230 74903). In 1882 it was bought by Russell and Company and the business grew as they adopted a standardised design process which lead them to become the most productive shipyard in the world at that time. In 1891 the Russell and Company partnership dissolved and a former partner, Lithgow, took over the running of the yard, which is depicted on the 2nd edition of the OS 25-inch map (Renfrewshire 1897, sheet II.12). At this time it comprised a number of large sheds and was perhaps the largest shipyard in Port Glasgow. The Lithgow family expanded the yard, taking in neighbouring yards, including the Bay Yard (NS37SW 230) in 1911. Lithgow dominated the Clyde shipyards, becoming the biggest ship builder. In 1964 it bought the Inchgreen dry dock (see NS37NW 17) and in 1967 it merged with Scotts to form Scott Lithgow and further develop the yard. In 1972 the Glen and East Yards (see NS37SW 229 and 226) were merged to form one ‘super’ yard. Shipbuilding ceased in 1983 and the yard moved unsuccessfully into the construction of oil rigs. By 1988 the yard had closed. The land was redeveloped from 1996 onwards and is now occupied by housing. The only surviving visible remains of the dockyard are the former slipways, the dry dock with adjoining quay, and pier-heads.
Information from Historic Environment Scotland (AKK) 12 May 2017.
