Around the Clyde: Gourock: Cloch Lighthouse

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Cloch Lighthouse

"Just south of Gourock, beyond McInroy's Point, is the Cloch Lighthouse, designed by Robert Stevenson and Thomas Smith. The tower is 80 feet high...The Cloch has a fixed white light, visible for 14 miles, which is paired with the Gantocks Light at Dunoon to warn approaching shipping that they are entering the River Clyde." (from "The River Clyde" by Innes Macleod and Margaret Gilroy)

It is amazing to me that, in all the hundreds of times I went by car past the Cloch Lighthouse in either direction, I never stopped to take a photo of it! All I have are these, taken from so much further away, in October 2007. I hope to remedy this the next time I'm in the area.

The Cloch Lighthouse as seen from Dunoon, and (below) from the ferry
The Cloch Caravan Park is perched on the ridges of the hill behind.
(I've stayed there twice but still have to say it spoils the view!!)

The lighthouse was built as far back as 1797

Here's a link to better photos which others have taken:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=cloch%20lighthouse&w=all

This is a postcard which I've had in a scrapbook since 1972

View across the water from a caravan on a hill behind the Cloch Lighthouse, 1996

SONG OF THE CLYDE

"I sing of a river I'm happy beside
The song that I sing is a song of the Clyde
Of all Scottish rivers it’s dearest to me
It flows from Leadhills all the way to the sea
It borders the orchards of Lanark so fair
Meanders through meadows with sheep grazing there
But from Glasgow to Greenock, in towns on each side
The hammers’ ding-dong is the song of the Clyde

(Chorus)
Oh the river Clyde, the wonderful Clyde
The name of it thrills me and fills me with pride
And I'm satisfied whate'er may betide
The sweetest of songs is the song of the Clyde

Imagine we’ve left Craigendoran behind
And wind-happy yachts by Kilcreggan we find
At Kirn and Dunoon and Innellan we stay
Then Scotland’s Madeira that’s Rothesay, they say
Or maybe by Fairlie and Largs we will go
Or over to Millport that thrills people so
Maybe journey to Arran it can't be denied
Those scenes all belong to the song of the Clyde

When sun sets on dockland, there’s beauty to see
The cry of a seabird is music to me
The blast of a horn loudly echoes, and then
A stillness descends on the water again
'Tis here that the sea-going liners are born
But unlike the salmon, they seldom return
Can you wonder the Scots o’er the ocean so wide
Should constantly long for the song of the Clyde?"

The first song I learnt to sing from memory! I don't know who wrote it though I've heard it sung by many well known singers. Here is a link to it sung by Kenneth McKellar (over a great video)!