Update: 01-03-2025
Cloch Point (Scottish Gaelic: stone) is a point on the coast of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Cloch Point lies on the A770, north of Inverkip, fife kilometer south west of Gourock, on the east shore of the Firth of Clyde, directly opposite Dunoon. There has been a lighthouse since 1797 to warn vessels off The Gantocks. The Gantocks is a small group of rocks lying off Dunoon.
The Cloch Point lighthouse is one of the three lighthouses built to protect the difficult waters at the head of the Firth of Clyde, the other two being on Little Cumbrae and at Toward Point, Cowal.
Increased traffic on the Clyde in the later 18th century led to demands from Glasgow shipowners for more lights on the river; consequently, in 1795 Cloch Point was chosen as 'unquestionably the most proper situation' and the light was first shown on 11th August 1797.
A Greenock river pilot, Allan McLean, was selected as the first keeper at a salary of £ 30 per year and, besides his duties as a keeper, he was allowed to continue to act as a pilot, so long as this did not interfere with his other duties.The Cloch lighthouse was designed by Thomas Smith and his son-in-law Robert Stevenson and built by John Clarkson. Kermack and Gall built the tower. Building the lighthouse was completed in 1797. Cloch lighthouse was improved in 1825 and 1903 and, by means of a wireless innovation by C. & D. A. Stevenson
There are two generations of keepers' houses, the older houses are no longer used and have fallen into ruins. The more recent buildings have crow-stepped gables. After the automation in 1974 the buildings are no longer used as houses for the lighthouse keepers. The short circular-section tower has a corbelled walkway and triangular windows.
The engine building’s flat roof was replaced with a metal truss-tied hipped roof in 1960 alterations; the house connection and terrace building were probably removed around this time (certainly after the 1948 OS Map). Remains of the terrace building exist in the sea-wall construction and the tower's render coat.
Most lighthouses in Scotland have a black painted dome. It is notable that the lighthouse at Cloch Point consists of a copper dome which gives the colour of this dome a green appearance.Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson installed also the oil lantern which was first lit on 11 August 1797. The light was 'completely renewed' in 1829 when an Argand burners and silvered reflector were installed. The light was experimentally lit with Acetylene about 1900.
A Radar beacon was installed about 1931. The Clyde Lighthouses Trust were the first authority to establish ‘talking beacons’. Cloch Lighthouse formed one of these, along with Cumbrae, to the south. An automatic radio broadcast gave the name of the fog station. A signal, synchronised with the fog signal blasts, enabled the listener to estimate the distance between his position and the fog station. This invention was quickly adopted by the US Lighthouse Service and installed at over 100 stations.
The dioptric and catadioptric lenses floated in baths of mercury, and were rotated by a clockwork mechanism powered by falling weights. As well as tending the light, the keepers had to wind the mechanism by hand every two to three hours.
Today, the light is fully automated and unmanned. The main light has been replaced by a minor light on a pole outside the lantern room.The foghorns were added between 1895 and 1897. A steam fog-whistle was built on the north-west terrace in 1874 at the lighthouse base, and in July 1895 replaced by a compressed air fog-horn on the seaward side of the tower powered by oil engines in a story-and-half brick engine room linked to the northsite of the tower and had a flat roof.
The Clyde Port Authority sold the three keeper's houses in 1986, when Gourock-born Duncan Telfer bought the North house, followed by the adjacent northern land comprising the outbuildings, boat house & jetty in 1996. Photos up to c.1970s show roofs on all the outbuildings in some disrepair. Mr Telfer re-roofed the boat house and preserved the remaining walls.
In 2001, the redundant engine room was convertef into domestic use and re-linked it to the main house to a design agreed with the Council, HS & NTS. Today, the tower’s light has been replaced by a fully automated and unmanned light mounted on a pole outside the lantern room.
In the 19th century the distance between Cloch and Little Cumbrae lighthouses was used for speed trials. The practice of ‘Running the Lights’ became an event on the Clyde for any new steamer, and a fast ship could run the Cloch distance of approximately 16 miles in 48 minutes (17.4 knots).
The largest ships at the time were under sail only. Having easily cleared the Cumbrae Light, the inward-bound navigator would naturally look for a mark ahead, and the Cloch Light would be obscured from his vision for various reasons. The light at Toward Point gave the navigator a bearing for around nine miles up the Firth until Cloch was in clear view. The vessel could then safely turn to starboard by the beacon towards the anchorage off Greenock.
