port-glasgow old street names

[orkrad]

 Thanks Rafter. Interesting site.

Orkrad

[andarah]

A few of you seem to really know your Port Glasgow information!

Do any of you about the harbour masters?  My ancestor was James Stewart and was a harbour master in the early/mid 1800s.  All I know is that he was a pilot in Port Glasgow in 1811 and his daughter's death cert says he was a harbour master - he must have moved up after 1811.

[mikymc]

Dardanelles Close , Port Glasgow
RAB thanks so much posting so much information and fotos from old Port Glasgow, I also downloaded your book. Such a wealth of information! My Irish ancestors also lived in Dardanelles Close, The McCormick, Mc Sloy, Carey, McGlynn families were all my ancestors, many of them were married in St John the Baptist church there in Port Glasgow. I contacted Father McMahon to see if any McCormicks are still in the parish but hadnt heard from him in over a year. Do you know of families with these names today? I have to think I still have relatives alive in Port Glasgow today. I want to visit Port Glasgow in 2011 and visit the local cemetery where I hope I can find my ancestors. Is there a specific cemetery where members of St Johns were buried? Thanks again!

[elaine447]

Hi milkymc
first there are still a lot of McCormicks in the Inverclyde area
if you are looking to contact some of them the best way to do this
would be to put a bit in the Greenock telegraph with some of the details that
you know about your ancestors,
asking for anyone connected to your family to contact you

secondly
your family would probably be buried in the Port Glasgow Cemetery
if they still lived in the area
to find out you could contact
Inverclyde burial department (if you google you will get their email address)
if you know exactly when they died they should be able to tell you
which cemetery they were buried in
Good Luck
Elaine

[mikymc]

Elaine thanks so much! What an excellent idea !

[kaney]

miky my ancestors were mc cormicks ,my grandfather was hugh mc cormick and his wife matillda ,they lived in the old toll house on the glasgow road,he was the head of the cleansing dept i have photographs of the house ,also a photo of his grave that i have just recently found. and a census done at the time ,if you send me your e mail i will forward them on to you

[hughvs]

Dardanelles Close, Hunter's Close and Dockhead Close all were in the area bounded by Customhouse Lane, Ropework Lane and Barr's Braefoot. They are not named on the 1855 or 1897 maps, probably too narrow.  See the preambles to Books 6 and 7 of the 1891 census.  The jury's still out on Dardanelles and Dockhead, but Hunter's Close ran off Ropework Lane.

[hughvs]

Further to my last .... Hunter's Close probably didn't come off Ropework Lane, only off Dockhead Street.  The opening was where John Wood Street joins present day Fore Street, about in the middle of JW street.  In the town, the present openings named Customhouse Lane are not too far away from where the ends of the actual lane were.  Dockhead Close ran off Dockhead Street parallel to Customhouse Lane, from about where the Post Office is.  It turned at right angles and opened into Customhouse Lane about halfway along.  Dardanelles Close went off Dockhead Street a few yards further along from Dockhead Close, near where the corner of John Wood Street is,  and zig-zagged back a good way.  John Wood Street covers most of it and Hunter's Close.  Wood Lane, if anyone's looking for it, came off Customhouse Lane just along from the Dockhead Close opening, and ran to King Street.

[Br1gau]

Hi,

I had a look for the book mentioned in post #12 but the website seems to be under repair.

My Port Glasgow interest is the Milliken family, the West Quay and the buildings that once stood there.  The artist's impression below is dated 1768 and shows the quay before the new customs house was built, reputedly in 1754 to replace the one at the foot of Customhouse Lane, or C'lector's Close as it was also known.  It seems probable that the artist, R Paul, completed his painting from an earlier sketch, or is it just artistic licence?  It certainly looks as if the building at the left (on Scarlow corner) was partly demolished to provide a space for a new building.  There is also a record that Hugh Milliken sold a house to Josiah Corthine, officer of customs, in 1751 and also an area of ground on which to burn "damnified tobacco."  The house to the right was occupied by three Milliken sisters until about 1845.