Irvine Harbour
The harbours serving Irvine at Seagatefoot and Fullarton in North Ayrshire have had a long and complex history. Irvine's harbour was one of the most important ports in Scotland in the 16th century. Across from the main harbour at Fullarton on the River Irvine there was also terminal for the ICI-Nobel Explosives plant on the River Garnock. Much of the harbour went into decline in the 19th century when Glasgow, Greenock and Port Glasgow achieved higher prominence as sea ports. There was still some commercial sea traffic linked to local needs, though the harbour went into further terminal decline in the 20th century. The weir on the River Irvine forms the formal upper limit of the harbour.
Formerly owned by ICI, Irvine Harbour is now the property of North Ayrshire Council. NPL Estates pay an annual rental and act as the harbourmaster. NPL who also own the Big Idea site, the Bridge of Scottish Invention, locally known as the 'Sliding bridge', and other land on the Ardeer peninsular. Irvine Harbour is now officially closed as a commercial port. Until recently NPL provided a slipway for dinghies, as well as moorings and berths for pleasure craft. However, silting has taken place and the Scottish Maritime Museum's berths are not for public use.
History
The Roman port of 'Vindogara Sinus' has been associated with Irvine, however no authenticated Roman remains have been found to confirm or support this and the few Roman coins found are not sufficient to decide the issue either way. A Roman Camp site near Irvine was tentatively identified in 1760 and a site at Marressfoot has been suggested for the Roman port.Etymology
The name 'Irvine' may be of Celtic language origin, meaning 'green river' as in the Welsh river named Irfon. The name has many recorded variants, such as Ervin ; Irwyn ; Irewin ; Irrvin ; and Irwin. Another source also lists Yrewin ; Irvin ; Orewin, with a suggested meaning of 'west flowing river.'Seagatefoot Harbour
The medieval harbour at Irvine was at Seagatefoot near the old Seagate Castle. In 1184 records a castle of 'Hirun' is recorded which has been taken as referring to Irvine. The original wooden castle tower was built some time before 1184, rebuilt in stone in the 1360s and then remodelled and expanded by Hugh the 3rd Earl of Eglinton in around 1565. Seagate Castle overlooked and controlled the Seagate, Irvine's oldest street, once the main route between the town and the old harbour at Seagatefoot, which by 1606 was useless due to silting and had been abandoned.The castle of Irvine, built to control the harbour and town, lay within the lordship of Cunninghame, which had been granted by David I to Hugh de Morville, Lord High Constable of Scotland. In 1196 the lordship passed from the de Morville family, through failure of male heirs, and then descended through various families, among whom were the Balliols. Robert the Bruce granted the lordship to Robert the Steward who became King Robert II of Scotland.
In circa 1566 it is recorded that in riches and commodiousness of sey port... nocht mekle inferior to Air. In 1634 Sir William Brereton visited Irvine and his host, Mr James Blare told him that more than ten thousand people had emigrated through Irvine to Ireland in circa 1632–1633, mainly from around Aberdeen and Inverness. He described Irvine as Daintily situate, both upon a navigable arm of the sea, and in a dainty, pleasant, level, champaign country. The port at that time traded with Dublin and wines were imported from France. In the 1650s it is however described as a pretty small port but at present clogged and choked up with sand, which the western sea beats into it, so as it wrestles for life to maintain a small trade with France, Norway and Ireland with herring and other goods, brought on horseback from Glasgow for the purchasing of timber, wine, etc.
King James IV employed a French gardener to create a new garden at Stirling Castle and paid him 28 shillings in 1501 to collect vines from Irvine Harbour and to have them delivered safely to the castle.
Fullarton Harbour
In 1665 a totally new harbour for Irvine was begun at Fullarton, flanking the estuary on its left bank some distance from Seagatefoot, provided with a masonry quay, some of the stones having been pulled out of the river bed. By 1723 Irvine was described as a tolerable seaport with upon the key, a good face of business especially the coal trade to Dublin. Trade exceeded that of Ayr harbour, however even smaller ships could be stuck in the harbour for months. by 1793 the harbour was well established, with storehouses, coal-sheds, etc. Irvine's harbour at Fullarton functioned as the chief port for Glasgow until the early 18th century when Port Glasgow developed, then a century later the River Clyde was deepened to take ships directly to Glasgow. Exports from Fullarton included coal, tar, lime, and chemicals, whilst imports included hemp, iron, wood from Finland and Russia, soda ash from Belgium and a special sand for the Portland Glass Factory. Industries included shipbuilding, engineering, foundries, sawmills and chemicals.Fullarton was originally a village lying outwith the Royal Burgh of Irvine, latterly it became a burgh in its own right in the Parish of Dundonald until the Irvine Burgh Act 1881 expanded Irvine's boundaries to engulf it. As stated, from the late 17th century coal exports from local pits became an important export and by 1793 over 24,000 tons were shipped out annually with 51 vessels engaged in the trade. It is recorded that at first the coals 'were carried away in small boats and when these arrived in port, a large horn fixed to a post at the quay by an iron chain was blown, summoning the 'colliers' who loaded their small horses and brought the coal to the harbour, most of it going to Ireland and by 1839 the total annual figure had risen to 44,000 tons.
The two short canals at the Misk Pit were connected to the estuary via lock gates and special lighters were built that were loaded directly into their holds and then they made their way down to the harbour where they were unloaded into larger vessels. The Ballast Bank, known as 'Wee Ireland' was formed from sand unloaded from empty ships that had been loaded with it as ballast. Alex McKinlay, harbourmaster in the 1860s, built his house named 'Emerald Bank' next to where the tide once flowed across
the road into and out of the Sluices Loch, of a significant size, which lay between the main road and the Gottries. The house name commemorates that the Sluices, drained 1839–42, was filled up with sand-ballast from Ireland. The ships discharging the ballast would have taken away cargoes of coal. Two dredgers were required to prevent the harbour silting up and these were named the 'Irvine' and the 'Stanley.' A depth of sixteen to seventeen feet in the main channel was required. The Irvine Bar, that is prone to shifting, was always the greatest difficulty and some ships had to be partly unloaded to give them a draft that allowed them to pass over it, with a depth of 13 ft at high spring tides. Dredging ceased in the 1960s when Nobel stopped importing raw materials and Irvine became a 'tidal harbour'.
In 1976 there were three rail-mounted cranes at the quay, two had been built by Alexander Chaplin & Co, Glasgow, and one by Smith Rodley. A considerable number of railway freight sidings at one time ran down to the harbour quays and the nearby chemical works in the time of the Glasgow and South Western Railway and later the London, Midland and Scottish railway. The harbour is no longer connected with the national rail network.
In 1832 a plan of Irvine shows the presence of a shipbuilding yard, and features such as the small lochan known as 'The Sluices', lime kiln, lime mill, a single pier, and a flagstaff. Rubble jetties ran seaward either side of the harbour entrance running into Irvine Bay. The Ship Inn is the oldest Public house in Irvine, built in 1596 and has held a drinks licence as an inn since 1754. The former Harbour Master's Office is a single storeyed early 19th-century cottage, currently classified as 'at risk', which may have begun life as a farmhouse or a fisherman's dwelling. The 'Preen Hull' was a sand-hill near the Irvine Bar from which many toilet-pins were recovered over the years, as well as an elegant pewter brooch and a number of other articles made of brass or iron. 'Preen' is Scots for a metal pin.
In 2013 the Irvine Burns Club and partners established an 'Irvine Harbourside Heritage Trail' honouring eleven significant individuals closely associated with the harbour. Richard Brown was one of those honoured with a plaque in recognition of his influence upon Robert Burns.
The Nobel Harbour
The main shipping in the 20th century was light coastal traffic and vessels destined for the Nobel Explosives facility. This facility had its own quay, which, although disused since the 1990s, is still visible from Irvine Harbour. This quay was connected by rail with the rest of the works and had its own travelling crane.In 1870 Nobel Industries Limited had been founded by Alfred Nobel for the manufacture of the dynamite. Ardeer was chosen for the company's first factory because of its isolation and desolation. Blasting gelatine, gelignite, ballistite, guncotton, and cordite were also produced here. At its peak, the factory was employing nearly 13,000 men and women. The firm merged in 1926 with Brunner, Mond & Company, the United Alkali Company, and the British Dyestuffs Corporation, forming Imperial Chemical Industries, then one of Britain's largest firms. Nobel Industries continued as the ICI Nobel division of the company, however in 2002 Nobel Enterprises was sold to Inabata.