- Location: Lyle Road, Greenock, PA16 7QU
- Opening times: 24 hours
- Entry: Free entry
- Access: Free parking at site.
Sometime in the early 1970s, or perhaps late ‘60s, my father bundled us all into our Hillman Imp and took off for Lyle Hill, a scenic viewpoint overlooking Greenock and the River Clyde. There was some commemorative Naval event on, and the river was filled with warships of all classes and sizes, with – if memory serves correctly – American and French vessels sailing alongside their British counterparts, and this was something my father wanted to see, and wanted us to see. Well, I am glad he did. It remains the only time I have ever seen a fleet of ships and it was awesome in the truest sense of the word.
It was also the only time I had ever visited Lyle Hill, so here I am, back again, some fifty-plus years later. The fleet is gone, of course, and I can now take photographs in colour, but it is a bright winter’s morning (appropriate, as Greenock derives from Grianaig, Gaelic for ‘a sunny place’), and the view still impresses.
Lyle Hill is named after Abram Lyle, the Greenock native who founded the Abram Lyle & Sons sugar refining company that eventually merged with Henry Tate’s rival company to become Tate & Lyle. He also served as provost of Greenock from 1876 – 1879, during a global economic crisis now known as the Long Depression. To provide work for the town’s unemployed, Lyle commissioned the building of a new road that would provide access to a viewpoint overlooking the Clyde. The road is now called Lyle Road and is the one traversed to reach the viewpoint on Lyle Hill.
The view looks across Caldwell Bay to Gourock and the Tail of the Bank, the point where the River Clyde becomes the Firth of Clyde. Across the river lie the Rosneath peninsula, the Gare Loch and Loch Long, Helensburgh, and the Cowal hills. On a clear day, Glasgow can be seen upriver to the east, and Arran to the west.
The most notable feature at the Lyle Hill viewpoint is the large, whitewashed monument in the shape of an anchor combined with the Cross of Lorraine. This is the Free French Memorial, the anchor specifically honours the sailors of the Free French navy who were stationed in Greenock and Gourock during the Second World War, and the Cross of Lorraine, which was the symbol of Free France during that conflict, remembers all who fought for her. It was paid for by the forces themselves and unveiled in January 1946.
There is also a beacon that was installed in 1977, where it was set ablaze like thousands of others across the country to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. It has since been used to celebrate the Queen’s Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilees, to commemorate the 50th and 75th anniversary of VE Day, and to greet the new millennium in 1999.
Destination or Diversion?
On a sunny day a stop at Lyle Hill is rewarding but amounts to no more than a diversion. Be warned that in poor weather the land, water, and sky all adopt similar hues of grey to present a rather depressing panorama, so a jaunt to Lyle Hill is best not saved for a rainy day.