New Year Nostalgia

Happy Hogmanay to you!  For many of us, this is a time for nostalgia and thoughts of years past.  Take a look at how Greenock looked before the 1970s "modernisation"!  (Some of which ironically, is to be "redeveloped" next year!!!!)  It shows that Greenock once had a great selection of shops and how busy West Blackhall Street used to be!

Please enjoy!

Crow Mount, Greenock

Crow Mount or “the Mount” as it was called was a wooded area of Greenock.  

Photo - Greenock Burns Club

Described in “Views and Reminiscences of Old Greenock” (1891) as stretching - “westwards from Bank Street to Ann Street and running northwards from Dempster Street to Roxburgh Street”.  When this photograph was taken “largely a plantation with a few gardens, and here and there a cottage or residence of some well-known citizen”.                

Map 1861

It is described as “in its way, a miniature forest, with trees of luxuriant growth, which attracted crows, and made it a breeding place and a centre for this well known species of bird, the chorus of whose peculiar cawing became a familiar feature of the neighbourhood”. 

Map 1915

While over the years the area became built up, it was still remembered in the names of buildings which once stood in the area – Mount Park Free Church (Trafalgar Street) which opened in 1874 and the Mount School.

Stained glass nativity

Merry Christmas!

This beautiful stained glass nativity scene can be found in Westburn Parish Church, Nelson Street, Greenock.

The artist was Douglas Strachan.  See more of the window in a previous post here.

Christmas gifts in Greenock

Just like today, back in the 1890s many shops took advantage of advertising their wares over the Christmas and New Year period.  Perhaps one of the biggest shops in Greenock was J G Rowan & Co who had premises at Hamilton Street.

Their Christmas advertising listed some of the many items that could be purchased as gifts.

For gentlemen there were "plush and handsewn smoking caps" or perhaps "silk and elastic braces" both "in fancy boxes".

For the woman in your life suggested gifts were - “plush and gilt photo frames, plaques, hand-painted views” or “satin lined work baskets or jewel cases”.  

Photo - Greenock Burns Club

The photo above shows the premises in Hamilton Street before the Municipal Buildings were constructed.  You can just see the roof of the town hall building to the left. Rowan's building, now known as Cathcart House is next to the carriage way entrance to the Municipal Buildings in Cathcart Square.  (Some people might remember Smith's Warehouse which used to be in this building and was a wonderful place for children at Christmas.  That's where we went to see the toys and decide what we wanted for Christmas!)

Unusual location for stained glass

Can you guess where in Greenock you would find this beautiful stained glass panel?

It is not easy to see now because it is situated in the upper portion of Greenock's shopping centre - the Oak Mall.  This part of the Mall, at the upper eastern entrance is now closed off, but if you stand at the bottom of the stairs in the dilapidated lower east section of the Mall and look up you can just about see it.

Plans are underway (and have been for a considerable time) to completely redevelop this section of the Oak Mall and the surrounding area.  I hope that when these plans finally come to pass this panel will be saved and found a suitable place in the refurbished shopping centre.  You can read about the redevelopment plans on Inverclyde Council's website.

Oak Mall, Greenock from Clyde Square

I could not find any information about the stained glass panel, but to me it looks like a shoal of herring which would give it a good Greenock connection.