Ardyne Point is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

on the Cowal peninsula in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

, Scotland. It lies to the south of the town of

Dunoon Dunoon (; ) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well as forming part of the cou ...

and to the west of the village of

Toward Toward () is a village near Dunoon, west of Scotland, in the south of the Cowal Peninsula. During World War II, the Toward area was a training centre called HMS ''Brontosaurus'' also known as the No 2 Combined Training Centre (CTC), based at ...

. Offshore of the point, the waters of the

Kyles of Bute The Kyles of Bute () form a narrow sea channel that separates the northern end of the Isle of Bute from the Cowal, Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute, on the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The surrounding hillsides are roughly wooded, and overlook ...

, to the west, and

Loch Striven Loch Striven () is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The loch meets the Firth of Clyde and the Kyles of Bute just north of the Isle of Bute, and forms a narrow inlet about long extending north into the Cowal Peninsula. The hamlet of ...

, to the north, meet the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre, Kintyre Peninsula. The ...

, to the south and east. The point faces across this meet towards the

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute (; or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent island of the larger County of ...

. An

oil rig An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: * Drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construc ...

construction yard operated at Ardyne Point from 1974 to 1978. Run by

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educ ...

, it constructed three concrete gravity platforms for use in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. The largest of these was the ''Cormorant Alpha'' platform for the

Cormorant oilfield The Cormorant oilfield is located north east of Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland. It was discovered in September 1972 at a depth of . The oil reservoir is located at a depth of . Production started in December 1979 from the Cormorant Alpha platform ...

situated some north-east of

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, where it is still in use. Since the 1960s, the Loch Striven Oil Fuel Depot has operated at Knockdow, some north of Ardyne Point. Operated by the

Oil and Pipelines Agency The Oil and Pipelines Agency (OPA) is a statutory corporation of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the United Kingdom. Its current role is to operate six coastal Oil Fuel Depots on behalf of the MoD. The OPA was also previously responsible for th ...

, it receives

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

and

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are either petroleum-based or blends of petroleum and synthetic fuels, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground applications, such as heating and road transport, and they contain add ...

by coastal tanker, and provides supplies to

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

vessels.

References

Headlands of Scotland Cowal {{Argyll-geo-stub