Inverclyde: Clyde Shipyards and the Long Road Back
Inverclyde tells the story of industrial Scotland in miniature. Greenock and Port Glasgow, the two main towns, built ships for the world. At its height, the lower Clyde launched more tonnage than any other river on earth. That era ended, and Inverclyde felt the loss harder than most. The population has been falling for decades — from around 100,000 in the 1980s to roughly 77,000 today. Health outcomes are poor. Male life expectancy in parts of Greenock is among the lowest in Scotland. The area has the dubious distinction of high deprivation rankings in nearly every national index.
Yet Inverclyde has qualities that statistics miss. The views from the Greenock esplanade across the Clyde to the hills of Argyll are spectacular. Gourock, further west, has a heated outdoor swimming pool — one of the few left in Scotland — and a CalMac ferry link to Dunoon. IBM's Greenock plant was once the company's largest manufacturing site outside the United States, employing over 6,000 people; the facility has shrunk dramatically but still operates. James Watt, whose improvements to the steam engine powered the Industrial Revolution, was born in Greenock in 1736. Newark Castle, at Port Glasgow, is an intact medieval tower house sitting incongruously beside the A8 dual carriageway. The area is twenty minutes from Glasgow by train, and many remaining residents commute.
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Inverclyde tells the story of industrial Scotland in miniature. Greenock and Port Glasgow, the two main towns, built ships for the world. At its height, the lower Clyde launched more tonnage than any other river on earth. That era ended, and Inverclyde felt the loss harder than most. The population has been falling for decades — from around 100,000 in the 1980s to roughly 77,000 today. Health outcomes are poor. Male life expectancy in parts of Greenock is among the lowest in Scotland. The area has the dubious distinction of high deprivation rankings in nearly every national index.
Yet Inverclyde has qualities that statistics miss. The views from the Greenock esplanade across the Clyde to the hills of Argyll are spectacular. Gourock, further west, has a heated outdoor swimming pool — one of the few left in Scotland — and a CalMac ferry link to Dunoon. IBM's Greenock plant was once the company's largest manufacturing site outside the United States, employing over 6,000 people; the facility has shrunk dramatically but still operates. James Watt, whose improvements to the steam engine powered the Industrial Revolution, was born in Greenock in 1736. Newark Castle, at Port Glasgow, is an intact medieval tower house sitting incongruously beside the A8 dual carriageway. The area is twenty minutes from Glasgow by train, and many remaining residents commute.
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