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Inverkip

Inverkip
Inverkip Main Street.JPG
Inverkip's Main Street
Scotland
Scotland
Inverkip
Inverkip shown within Inverclyde
OS grid reference NS 20675 71938
Council area
Lieutenancy area
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town GREENOCK
Postcode district PA16
Dialling code 01475
EU Parliament Scotland
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
55°54′25″N 4°52′13″W / 55.907032°N 4.8703390°W / 55.907032; -4.8703390Coordinates: 55°54′25″N 4°52′13″W / 55.907032°N 4.8703390°W / 55.907032; -4.8703390


Inverkip (Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Chip) is a village and parish falling within the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Greenock on the A78 trunk road. The village is served by Inverkip railway station, on the Inverclyde 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. Inverkip Parish Church dates from 1804 and is near the site of an earlier (twelfth century) kirk. The graveyard contains the tomb of the chemist Dr. James "Parrafin" Young who was nicknamed 'Paraffin' because of his pioneering work in oil technology. He lived at nearby Kelly House, which burnt down in 1913, the report laying blame with the suffragettes.

The parish of Inverkip's chief claim to fame (or notoriety) was in relation to witches in the mid 17th century. A local verse recalls
"In Auld Kirk the witches ride thick
And in Dunrod they dwell;
But the greatest loon amang them a'
Is Auld Dunrod himsel'."

'Auld Dunrod' was the last of the Lindsay family of Dunrod Castle. As the result of a dissolute life he lost all his possessions and fell into the black arts. Local reputation had it that he was in league with the devil, and he died in mysterious circumstances in a barn belonging to one of his former tenant farmers. Nothing now remains of the castle which stood at the foot of Dunrod Hill.


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