River Gryfe

(River Gryffe)

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Gryfe or Gryffe Water, a stream issuing from Gryfe Reservoir (2 miles x ¼ mile; 530 feet) of the Greenock Waterworks, and winding 16 miles east-south-eastward, till it falls into the Black Cart at Walkinshaw House, 2 miles NNW of Paisley. It intersects or bounds the parishes of Greenock, Kilmalcolm, Houston, Kilbarchan, Erskine, Inchinnan, and Renfrew; traverses first bleak heathy uplands, and then the broad Renfrewshire plain; is fed by at least a dozen little affluents; and contains trout, with a few grayling, its waters being preserved. Anciently it gave the name of Strathgryfe either to its own proper basin or to all the territory now forming Renfrewshire. Gryffe Castle, near its left bank, ½ mile NNW of Bridge of Weir, is a seat of George Freeland Barbour, Esq. of Bonskeid (b. 1810), who holds 385 acres in Renfrewshire and 2700 in Perthshire, valued at £865 and £1086 per annum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer