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Excerpt from Chapter 10
Having arrived by steamer at Cove or Kilcreggan piers what awaited the traveller in the thriving burgh?
Forty years after the main building bonanza it had become a mature suburb, blissfully remote from the bustle of the city and with the promise of potential for greater expansion.
In 1881, after many of the shore feus were taken up, the Duke “made an excellent road on the high ground" named after the Duke - Argyll Road. Later reports tell us that the promise of extra feus was not fulfilled but this does not distract from the success of the feuing venture and mutual benefit to the residents and the Duke’s finances. Thus the burgh thrived and blossomed.
(The proposed Fortifications (adjacent) had created quite a stir in the burgh. In September 1885 a short article reported plans to arm the fort with 5 guns together with the objections being forwarded to the Duke of Argyll with regard to the likely nuisances of gunnery practice).
Summer Trade
Many of the new permanent residences were owned by Glasgow merchants and businessmen now able to commute to the city centre throughout the year in less than an hour. For those with sufficient means a Glasgow town house would provide the winter residence and in spring the family would move out to Cove or Kilcreggan, preceded by the servants and baggage, to enjoy the summer months away from the city.
The Burgh was thus heavily engaged in a huge summer trade. Summer homes and house letting for “The season" or shorter periods was a principal feature. Throughout the summer, The Helensburgh and Gareloch Times regularly published comprehensive "visitors lists" of families (in alphabetical order) staying at the "fashionable watering holes" to facilitate postal services and social calling. One such list for Cove and Kilcreggan in 1890 (See Appendix VI) shows visitors staying at no fewer than 150 houses with most of the residences on the Shore Road represented. Many included in the list could have been private as opposed to paying guests but the example illustrates the numbers involved.
Summer trade was like an annual wave of incomers and at its crest were the wealthy aristocratic tenants of the 8th Duke. The tenancy of Smith of Jordanhill in the remnants of the old castle had come to an end in 1823 when he succeeded to his family estates but leasing the palazzo, still partially unfinished, had become a source of income bolstering the Duke's beleaguered finances.
Summer Leisure Pursuits
The first Flower Show was held in 1872 and became a popular annual event. Gardeners from the larger residences entered exhibits along with amateurs in the Open Class and there was also a class reserved for amateurs. The flowers were exhibited in the school and vegetables in the adjoining shed. By 1880 the event had become so popular that the new President talked of acquiring special premises.
(By August 1890 it was held in a large marquee at Silver Bay). Mr Robert McLellan of Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow headed a team of five judges and the categories have changed little over the last 120 years. The extensive list of prize winners (numbering over 150) was comprehensively reported in The H & G Times with Mr J Currie, gardener to Peter Donaldson, Woodbine, receiving first honours. The "music as usual" was provided by a pianist engaged for the day.
From the earliest days of Cove and Kilcreggan, sailing was high on the list of pursuits and the regatta became a regular annual event from 1882 under the auspices of the newly formed Clyde Sailing Club with its headquarters at Kilcreggan.
On September 8, 1880 the Clyde Canoe Club (still operating) held its regatta at Kilcreggan and in 1882 the Helensburgh and Gareloch Times also reported the opening cruise of the Lugsail Club. On a smaller scale the Model Yacht Club was formed in 1870 using Millbrae Pond for its annual regatta.
Another summer pursuit gaining popularity was cycling. The Cove and Kilcreggan Bicycle and Tricycle Club was formed in 1882 with two worthy locals, John Ferguson as Captain and Mr Wm. McCracken as Secretary and Treasurer. As the paper comments, "with two such energetic men as leaders it should prove a success".
The sale of bicycles was yet another sideline of Cove sub postmaster and shop-keeping entrepreneur Robert Harvey. Always quick to promote improvements to local amenities he saw their advantages to the local Postal Service where deliveries by foot, if at all, had been the norm. W.C. Maughan described the workings of the postal service before steamers took on the duties with a direct link from Greenock, a year round service from 1881:
Excursionists
Not all the summer visitors were lucky enough to reside in Cove and Kilcreggan throughout the season. Many could only afford to escape their city surroundings for a day. These were “the excursionists” and they arrived at the piers in numbers which are now difficult to imagine.
Many would inevitably congregate at McAllister's field, to the east of the pier, which was "let" to excursion parties by the piermaster, Angus McAllister . It was the accepted picnic area and open ground for general recreation. Here they could "spend their time in games, sports, boating, &c".
The Winter Months
With yachts laid up, outdoor activities included the occasional opportunity to don the ice skates but, as the decade progressed, football became the most popular outdoor sport of the winter months.
Football
The Scottish Football Association had been formed in 1872 with a Scottish Cup for the league winners. Dumbarton and The Vale of Leven Football Clubs were prominent in the league but the place in football history really goes to Renton, who won the league in 1888 and then went on to beat the English Cup winners West Bromwich Albion. Amidst great local pride a signboard went up at the pavilion of their grounds, Tontine Park, proclaiming "Renton F.C. - Football Champions of the World." Renton won the Charity Cup for the third year running in 1888. When it was presented in the City Chambers, the Lord Provost extolled the benefits of the game and announced that £8000 had been secured for various charities through its agencies. Competition was intense and when Renton lost 2 - 1 to Vale of Leven in February 1888, they protested on four separate counts including the competency of the umpires. With such a heady mix there was everything to play for. Many local teams were formed with Kilcreggan fielding both a first and a second eleven and practice games spilling over into the summer months.
Indoor Entertainment
For the vast majority of permanent residents the winter social programme moved indoors. Left to their own devices, they created a wide range of entertainments to fill the long, dark evenings with many talks, recitals and musical soirées performed by a host of enthusiastic volunteers. Venues for these gatherings included the UP Church, the schoolroom and the Temperance Hotel, but the undoubted centre of entertainments was:
The Cove Library Hall and Reading Room
The earliest reference to the Reading Room yet discovered is as a venue of the residents’ meeting of November 1865 during the adoption of The Police Act. Later reports locate it in the vicinity of South Ailey Road and another reference describes it as “adjoining a cottage with steps up”. The 1881 Census places it between Urybank and
Cragowlet which is confirmed by living memory accounts. An unkind report from theHelensburgh and Gareloch Times, written at the time of building its spacious and superior replacement, described it as a “cramped little shanty”, but until 1893 it was a popular social facility. In 1880 the library reported that “the record for the last year shows that books have been exchanged 2000 times” and the following articles give some idea of its widespread usage.
