Cloch or Cloch Point () is a point on the east coast of 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 ...

Inverclyde Inverclyde (, , , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. There has been a lighthouse on the point since 1797 to warn ships of The Gantocks, a shipping hazard in the Firth. Later circa 1886, a navigation beacon was constructed on the Gantocks rocks.

Location

Cloch Point lies on the A770, north of

Inverkip Inverkip (; ) is a village and parish in the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, southwest of Greenock and north of Largs on the A78 trunk road. The village takes its name from ...

, three miles south-west of

Gourock Gourock ( ; ) is a town in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a resort town, seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its ma ...

, on the east shore of the

, directly opposite

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 ...

Lighthouse

The Cloch Lighthouse was designed by Thomas Smith and his son-in-law Robert Stevenson. The building was completed in 1797. There appear to be two generations of keepers' houses, the older now used as stores and the more recent having

crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...

s. The short circular-section tower has a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

led walkway and triangular windows. The foghorns were added between 1895 and 1897. Cloch lighthouse

The light was built by John Clarkson (engineer); Kermack and Gall built the tower, while Smith and Stevenson installed the oil lantern which was first lit on 11 August 1797. The light was replaced in 1829 with an

argand lamp The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequen ...

and silvered reflector. About 1900, it was lit with

acetylene Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...

. A radio beacon was installed about 1931. The dioptric and

catadioptric A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses ( dioptrics) and curved mirrors ( catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as searchlig ...

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 light on a pole outside the lantern room.

Location

Lighthouse

See also

References

Further reading