Greenock

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Map sources for Greenock at grid reference NS275764

Greenock (Grianaig in Scottish Gaelic) is a large burgh and a burgh of barony in the district of Inverclyde in western Scotland. Its population was recorded as being 45,467 in the 2001 census, a decrease from about 78,000 in 1966. It lies on the south bank of the River Clyde in what was the traditional county of Renfrewshire.

1 History
2 Employment
3 Famous residents
4 Areas of Greenock
5 External links
6 Further Reading

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History

The history of the town's name is uncertain. It is generally accepted, however, that the town is named after the Gaelic word for 'sun', grian, either as grian-aig (sunny bay) or grian-cnoc (sunny hill). Some fancifully suppose the town's name comes from the words "Green Oak" (as in the folk song The Green Oak Tree). As local legend would have it the Scottish freedom fighter Sir William Wallace allegedly hid in one of these "Green Oak" trees whilst being pursued by English forces. Image:Scotland Greenock.jpg Greenock was founded as a fishing village sometime prior to 1592 when it split from the Inverkip parish. After the Act of Union 1707, Greenock's facilities made it the main port on the West Coast and it prospered due to trade with the Americas, importing sugar from the Caribbean. By the mid 19th century Greenock's importance and wealth was manifested in the construction of the Municipal Buildings, whose Italianate Victoria Tower, completed in 1886, stands 245 feet tall. Further evidence can be seen in the large villas of Greenock's west end, one time home to the shipowners and investors. The three-quarter mile sweep of the Esplanade with its views across the Clyde to Kilcreggan almost convinces the visitor that no heavy industry could have been anywhere nearby

Greenock suffered badly during the Second World War. In April 1940 the French Destroyer Maillé Brézé blew up off Greenock with heavy loss of life following an accident involving her own torpedoes. Although this disaster occurred before the Free French Naval Forces were established, many people tend to regard the Cross of Lorraine on Lyle Hill as a memorial to the loss of the Maillé Brézé as well as to the later losses of the Free French naval vessels which sailed from the town.

On the nights of 6th May and 7th May 1941 around 300 Luftwaffe aircraft attacked the town in the Greenock Blitz

Greenock thrived in the post-war years but as the heavy industries declined in the 1970s and 1980s unemployment became a major problem, and it has only been in the last ten years with reinvestment and the redevelopment of large sections of the town that the local economy has started to revive. Tourism has also appeared as an unexpected bonus with the development of the Clydeport Container Terminal as an Ocean Terminal for cruise ships crossing the Atlantic.

Greenock reached its population peak in 1921 (81,123) and was once the sixth largest town in Scotland.

The town has a daily evening newspaper, The Greenock Telegraph[1], a football team, Greenock Morton F.C. [2], and is also home to Greenock Cricket Club[3], winners of the SNCL Premier Division in 2002 and holders of the Coronel Scottish Cup. It has featured recently as the backdrop to two successful films: Sweet Sixteen [4] and Dear Frankie [5].

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Employment

Historically, the town relied on shipbuilding, sugar refining and wool manufacturing for employment.

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Shipbuilding

In the early 17th Century, the first pier was built in Greenock. Shipbuilding was already an important employer by this time. The first proper harbour was constructed in 1710 and the first well-known shipbuilders Scott's was established the following year. It was the oldest shipbuilding business in the world and gained numerous contracts with the Royal Navy from 1806 building ships such as the Prince of Wales.

Scott's was nationalised in 1969 and merged with Lithgow's (founded 1874, later the largest privately owned yard in the world) the same year becoming Scott Lithgow. Other yards included Cartsburn, Cartsdyke, and Klondyke - all of which closed during the 1970s and 1980s due to post-war competition from South Korea and Japan.

The former site of the Scott's yard is now occupied by a T-Mobile call centre.

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Sugar

John Walker began one of the earliest sugar refineries in Greenock in 1850 followed by Abram Lyle in 1865. Another 12 refineries were active at one point. The most famous of these (and successful in terms of being the only survivor until August 1997) was Tate & Lyle. It was formed from a merger in 1921 between Abram Lyle, who had expanded into Plaistow, and Henry Tate, who had set up a sugar refinery in Liverpool and had also expanded into London.

By the end of the 19th century, around 400 ships a year were transporting sugar from Caribbean holdings to Greenock for processing in the 14 sugar refineries. Tobacco from the Americas also arrived here.

When Tate and Lyle finally closed its Greenock refinery in 1997 it brought to an end the town's 150-year old connections with sugar manufacture.

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Electronics

Since IBM arrived in the town in 1951, electronics and light manufacturing have, until recently, been the mainstay of local employment. National Semiconductor has also run a silicon wafer manufacturing plant in the town since 1970.

However, with manufacturing moving to Eastern Europe and Asia, work has shifted to the service sector, especially call centres. T-Mobile and IBM both have major call centre operations in Greenock, while the Royal Bank of Scotland has a facility dealing with all the groups' UK mortgage calls.

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Famous residents

Greenock's most famous son is the engineer James Watt. He is remembered in the name of the local college, at the library instituted in his memory and near the place of his birth in William Street, commemorated by a statue.

Other famous Greenockians include: the composer Hamish MacCunn, musician John McGeoch, poets Denis Devlin, W. S. Graham and Jean Adams, merchant Matthew Algie, actor Richard Wilson, comedian Charles Murray and pirate Captain Kidd were born in the town.

The novelist John Galt lived in the town, and based some of his work, most notably Annals of the Parish (1821), on Greenock and surrounding towns. He is buried in the Inverkip Street Cemetery.

Mary Campbell, Robert Burns's Highland Mary, is buried in Greenock Cemetery where there is a monument to her memory.

Its most infamous resident is Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence officer and former head of Libyan Arab Airlines, who was convicted on January 31, 2001 of murder after causing a bomb to be placed on board Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988 with the loss of 270 lives. Megrahi was moved in February 2005 from solitary confinement in Barlinne Prison in Glasgow to Greenock Prison, where he is expected to serve the rest of his 27-year sentence.

Its most bizarre resident was covered in a article by The Daily Telegraph in recent years called "The Catman". He is a man of about 60 years who lives in the wild like an animal, travelling barefooted on his hind legs. He has been seen by many and his diet is made up of wild animals he has caught. However the local population occasionally leave food out for him. He has been taken in by social services before for mental illness but he was deemed uncurable and was released.

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