Overview of Inverkip

This small village is situated at the mouth of the River Kip as it enters the Firth of Clyde 6 miles (9.5 km) southwest of Greenock in the old county of Renfrewshire. Its lands were granted to the monks of Paisley Abbey in the 12th Century and they held these until the Reformation; the village was also a centre for fishing, smuggling and, in the 17th century, severe witch-hunts. It became a seaside resort with the arrival of the railway in the 1860s and is today a yachting centre. Notable buildings include Inverkip Castle (on the Ardgowan estate), home of the Shaw Stewart family, and Ardgowan House (1748).