A village on the Firth of Clyde in the old county of Renfrewshire, Wemyss Bay lies 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Greenock and 31 miles (50 km) west of Glasgow. The village was originally part of the Kelly estate owned from the 15th Century until 1792 by the Bannatyne family and thereafter by the Wallaces and then James 'Paraffin' Young (1811-83). Kelly House, which burnt down in 1913, was the third house on a site which is now occupied by a caravan park. In the late-19th century, the railway helped establish the village as a holiday resort. Part of Trollope's novel Barchester Towers was written at Castle Wemyss, a 19th-century mansion.
Just to the south is the fine Wemyss Bay station (1903), the terminus of the Greenock and Wemyss Bay railway line which opened in 1865. The station is linked to a ferry terminal which provides services to Rothesay.
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