Inverkip

Inverkip (ˌɪnvərˈkɪp; Inbhir Chip) 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 the River Kip and is served by Inverkip railway station. In 1170 Baldwin de Bigres, Sheriff of Lanark, granted a stretch of land to the monks of Paisley Abbey. This land was described as "The pennyland between the rivulets Kip and Daff". Pennyland is an old Scots word of Norse origin which is used to describe a small piece of land, the rent for which is one penny per year. The area granted to the monks in 1170 equates to much of the north section of today's village, from the bridge over the Daff on Main Street, near Inverkip Hotel to the old bridge over the River Kip at Bridgend Cottages. Extending to the coast at the old bridge at Kip Marina and probably as far inland as the railway line. Inverkip was made a burgh of barony before the Act of Union in 1707, with the parish containing all of Gourock, Wemyss Bay, Skelmorlie and part of Greenock. By 1188, the monks had built a church on the site of the present old graveyard, at what is now the junction of Langhouse Road and Millhouse Road. This small church (known as Auld Kirk) served the entire Christian population between Kilmacolm and Largs for around 400 years. The existing (derelict) mausoleum of the Shaw-Stewarts stands on the site of the original church and incorporates some of its structure. The Christians of Greenock presented a petition to the Crown for a Church of their own. This resulted in the opening of the Old West Kirk in Greenock in 1859 and brought to an end the regular six mile each way treks by Sunday worshipers from Greenock to Inverkip. A journey which must have been very demanding, given the terrain and the absence of proper roads during that period.