Qualla: Gourock https://qualla.com/gourock en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Gourock https://qualla.com/gourock Gourock: Introduction https://qualla.com/gourock/ Photo credit LornaMCampbell, CC BY-SA 4.0. Walk up Kempock Street and a statue waits at the north end: a girl on a suitcase with a bucket and spade. She is called Wee Annie. The sculptor was Angela Hunter. The commission came from Riverside Inverclyde in 2011. Annie looks out over the pier where Clyde steamers, in their thousands, once carried Glasgow holidaymakers 'doon the watter' - down the river - to start their summer holidays. The name of this town comes from a Gaelic word for 'pimple,' a reference to the hill that rises above the houses. It has been a fishing village, a seaside resort, a railway terminus, a ferry port, a copper-mining settlement, a ropework, and a yacht-building yard. Most of those past lives still leave traces on the streets.

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Image: LornaMCampbell | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/gcuw-gourock-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gourock: A King Sails, a Royal Charter Follows https://qualla.com/gourock/ Photo credit User:Dave souza, CC BY-SA 2.5. Gourock first appears in the historical record in 1494, when King James IV of Scotland sailed from the shore here to suppress rebellious Highland clans. Two hundred years later, in the late 17th century, William and Mary granted a Charter in favour of Stewart of Castlemilk that r...

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Image: User:Dave souza | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/gcuw-gourock-a-king-sails-a-royal-charter-follows.mp3 0:06 2 full Gourock: From Herring to Railway https://qualla.com/gourock/ Photo credit User:Dave souza, CC BY-SA 2.5. Through the 18th and 19th centuries Gourock grew from a fishing village into a working coastal town. The industries shifted: herring curing, copper mining, ropemaking, quarrying, and eventually yacht-building and repair. In the early hours of 21 October 1825, within sight of the ...

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Image: User:Dave souza | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/gcuw-gourock-from-herring-to-railway.mp3 0:06 3 full Gourock: An Outdoor Pool Filled with Sea Water https://qualla.com/gourock/ Photo credit User:Dave souza, CC BY-SA 2.5. Gourock has one of the three remaining public outdoor swimming pools in Scotland. The Gourock Outdoor Pool was built in 1909, reconstructed in 1969, and was once tidal with a sandy floor. Today it is a modern heated facility, filled with cleaned sea water rather than chlorinated ...

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Image: User:Dave souza | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/gcuw-gourock-an-outdoor-pool-filled-with-sea-water.mp3 0:06 4 full Gourock: Granny Kempock Stone https://qualla.com/gourock/ Photo credit Rosser1954, CC BY-SA 4.0. Behind Kempock Street, on a cliff, stands the megalithic Kempock Stone - locally known as 'Granny Kempock.' The superstition was that sailors going on a long voyage, and couples about to be married, would walk seven times around the stone to ensure good fortune. A flight of steps...

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Image: Rosser1954 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/gcuw-gourock-granny-kempock-stone.mp3 0:06 5 full Gourock: Castle Levan, the Cloch, and Amazon https://qualla.com/gourock/ Photo credit Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 2.0. Gourock's coastline keeps adding new chapters. Above the medieval Castle Levan, restored and now in use as a bed and breakfast, new estates have spread along the shore. Further along, a short stretch of green belt still separates the town from the Cloch lighthouse, which looks ac...

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Image: Thomas Nugent | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/w/gourock-wp/gcuw-gourock-castle-levan-the-cloch-and-amazon.mp3 0:06 6 full