From St Blane's Hotel, we walked to
Kilchattan's old pier. In the 18th century Kilchattan was the centre of a thriving tile making industry which lasted for nearly 80 years. It closing in 1919. The Marquis of Bute opened the works to make tiles for lining the bottom of field drains. When the industry collapsed its place was taken by mass tourism. The Glaswegian tourists would come down the Clyde on one of the many steamers. That industry collapsed after WW2 with the arrival of cheap air fares and package holidays to Spain.
Nowadays this corner of Bute is a quiet retreat for a few discerning tourists.
We left the Victorian villas of Kilchattan behind and set off...
across the expanse of Kilchattan Bay. A fine breeze got up and blew away David's cobwebs (he had had late night on the town, the night before). We were now off to see if we could find the
Marquis of Bute's house.
