The only town on the island is Millport, which did not exist until 1700. Garrison House was built at Millport in 1745 to house the Captain and offices of the Revenue sailing ship the Royal George. Their job was to stop smugglers from bringing contraband into the River Clyde. Garrison House was altered in the 19th century and battlements were added. In 1908-9 the Marquess of Bute hired Scottish architect Robert Weir Schultz remodel Garrison House and to design a new sunken garden in front it. He designed a garden in the Arts and Crafts style. He contributed to the development of Arts and Crafts gardens in the UK and worked on several of the properties belonging to the Marquess of Bute. In 2001 Garrison House was badly damaged by a fire and became derelict. The local community raised enough money to restore it and the sunken garden. It now houses a museum, café, library, GP surgery, local council offices and community rooms for hire.
The brightly painted Crocodile Rock on the beach at Millport was first painted by a local resident in 1914..
The Cathedral of the Isles and its adjacent residential buildings, were built in Millport from the 1850s until 1886. It was founded by George Frederick Boyle, who later became the 6th Earl of Glasgow. It was originally planned to be a theological college for the Scottish Episcopal Church. The architect was William Butterfield. The church was consecrated as the Cathedral of the Isles in 1876.
Most of Great Cumbrae is composed of Upper Old Red Sandstone, apart from the south west corner and the area around Millport, which is Calciferous Sandstone. The Great Cumbrae fault line runs the length of the island from Kames Bay in the south of the island to White Bay in the north. Three sets of igneous dykes of different ages have been exposed at various points on the island:
Only a crocodile could eat a house!
Millport's rocky beach
Lion Rock
Sandy beach on the west coast of Great Cumbrae
Calmac ferry approaching Great Cumbrae
Tomont End Monument
This memorial commemorates the drowning of Charles Cayley and William Jewell in May 1844. They were both Midshipmen on HMS Shearwater and died when their boat capsized near this point. Tomont End is the most northerly point on Great Cumbrae.
"Indian" Rock, NW coast of Great Cumbrae
West coast of Great Cumbrae
Millport
Wild garlic in flower around the Cathedral of the Isles
Cathedral of the Isles, Millport
Inside the Cathedral of the Isles
Inside the Cathedral of the Isles
Memorial at Cathedral of the Isles
Wild garlic lines the path up to the Cathedral of the Isles
Bluebells in the woods near the Cathedral
Kames Bay, Millport
Kames Bay, Millport
Millport
Crocodile rock eating a small human!
Crocodile Rock, Millport
Garrison House, Millport
Sunken Garden at The Garrison, Millport
War Memorial, Millport
The Wedge - a very narrow house, Millport
Millport Harbour
Lion Rock, near Keppel Pier on the south east coast
Lion Rock is so called because it looks like a prowling lion. Its official title is Houllon Keipel Dyke. Igneous rock from the Tertiary geological period has intruded into the Upper Old Red Sandstone. Lion Rock is 10 metres high and 50 metres long. It has a legend associated with it: some elves wanted to build a stone bridge from here to Black Rock on the mainland opposite. Some goblins started to build their own bridge slightly further south. When the goblins realised that the elves were winning the race to complete a bridge, they kicked down the elves' bridge. This apparently explains why there are large gaps in Lion Rock.
War Memorial
This is a memorial to those members of the British and allied armed forces who have no known grave.
Glaid Stone Trig Point
Plaque on a rock at the Glaid Stone
No comments:
Post a Comment