Gare Loch

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Gare Loch
Gare Loch. Scotland Map (Firth of Clyde Detail) Gare Loch.png
Gare Loch.

The Gare Loch or Gareloch (Scottish Gaelic : An Gearr Loch) is an open sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland and bears a similar name to the village of Gairloch in the north west Highlands.

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The loch is well used for recreational boating, water sports and fishing. Harbour and grey seals are often seen in the Gare Loch along with pods of porpoise. Bottle Nose whales were photographed in September 2020.[ citation needed ] The loch also has been used since the early 20th century for naval training and as a base for the United Kingdom's submarine based nuclear weapons system. [1] [2]

Geography

A sea loch aligned north–south, Gare Loch is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long with an average width of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi). At its southern end it opens into the Firth of Clyde through the Rhu narrows. The village of Rosneath lies on the western shore just north of Rosneath Point and gives the name Rosneath Peninsula to the whole body of land separating the Gare Loch from Loch Long to the west. [3]

The town of Helensburgh lies on the eastern shore and is the largest settlement on the banks of the loch. Other towns and villages next to the loch include Rhu, Garelochhead, Shandon, Argyll, Clynder and Rosneath. [4]

Recreational and shipping use

At the north end of the loch the substantial village of Garelochhead includes adventure holiday facilities and has a station on the West Highland Line. [5] The Gare Loch offers good conditions for sightseeing, sailing and sea angling. [1]

The Greek sugar boat Captayannis was heading for the sheltered waters of the Loch but now lies wrecked in the Clyde. [6]

The base was used by the Royal Navy dating back to the First World War. On 29 January 1917 the steam-powered submarine HMS K13 sank in the loch during sea-trials. The submarine was carrying 80 passengers, made up of naval personnel as well as shipbuilders, when seawater entered the engine room causing flooding which killed 31. The remaining 48 men aboard were rescued in an effort which took over 57 hours. The submarine was later salvaged and re-entered service as HMS K22. As a result of sinking of K13, no other Royal Navy vessel has been named using the number 13. [7] [8]

However it was during the Second World War that the loch became the site of a major naval base as its depth made it suitable to accommodate a large variety of naval craft. [2] The loch was widely used by the United States military forces, alongside operations on nearby Holy Loch, during the war for naval landing preparations that would be deployed in North Africa and the Normandy landings. [3] In the 1950s, the Royal Navy used the loch to store decommissioned naval vessels. [3]

HMNB Clyde was established on the banks on the loch in 1964 as part of the United Kingdom's preparations for hosting the Polaris submarine based nuclear programme. [2] The site was chosen due to its deep water, suitable for submarine operations and ease of access to the North Atlantic. The site continues to operate a number of naval operations, mostly associated with the current nuclear Trident defence system and also to be the base of the Royal Navy's Astute-class submarines. [9]

Given the siting of the nuclear missile programme on the Loch, pressure groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Trident Ploughshares have maintained a permanent peace camp outside the gates of the naval facility since 1982. [10] [11]

The Royal Marines' Garelochhead training camp was established in the 1940s and is still in use today after a number of new facilities were installed in 2014. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argyll and Bute</span> Council area of Scotland

Argyll and Bute is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod. The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate. The current council leader is Robin Currie, a councillor for Kintyre and the Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunbartonshire</span> Historic county in Scotland

Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Perthshire to the north, Stirlingshire to the east, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire to the south, and Argyllshire to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helensburgh</span> Town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Helensburgh is a coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute council area following local government reorganisation in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faslane (bay)</span>

Faslane on Gare Loch is the name of a bay near the village of Garelochhead, and is now the main part of HM Naval Base Clyde in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, as well as being a Defence Logistics Organisation port, operated in dual site organisation with Great Harbour, Greenock, by Serco Denholm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Loch</span> Sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

The Holy Loch is a sea loch, a part of the Cowal peninsula coast of the Firth of Clyde, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loch Long</span> Sea-loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Loch Long is a body of water in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Sea Loch extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end. It measures approximately 20 miles in length, with a width of between one and two miles. The loch also has an arm, Loch Goil, on its western side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HMNB Clyde</span> Operating base in Scotland for the Royal Navy

His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde, primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy. It is the navy's headquarters in Scotland and is best known as the home of Britain's nuclear weapons, in the form of nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosneath</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Rosneath is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, 2 miles northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about 2.4 miles by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited on the southern shore of the peninsula, on the Firth of Clyde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tail of the Bank</span>

The Tail of the Bank is the name given to the anchorage in the upper Firth of Clyde immediately North of Greenock, between Inverclyde and Argyll and Bute. This area of the Firth gets its name from the deep water immediately to the west of the sandbank which marks the entrance to the navigable channel up the Estuary of the River Clyde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garelochhead railway station</span> Railway station in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Garelochhead railway station is a railway station serving the village of Garelochhead, on the Gare Loch, in Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line and is a boundary station for SPT. It is sited 8 miles 76 chains (14.4 km) from Craigendoran Junction, near Helensburgh, between Arrochar and Tarbet and Helensburgh Upper. ScotRail manage the station and operate most services, with others provided by Caledonian Sleeper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garelochhead</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Garelochhead is a small town on the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is the nearest town to the HMNB Clyde naval base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhu</span> Village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Rhu is a village and historic parish on the east shore of the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

The West Loch Lomond Cycle Path is a cycle path that runs from Arrochar and Tarbet railway station, at the upper end of Loch Lomond in Scotland, to Balloch railway station, at the bottom of the loch. It was officially opened on 20 June 2006 by Tavish Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RNAD Coulport</span> UK nuclear warhead storage depot in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport, shortened to RNAD Coulport, on Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland, is the storage and loading facility for the nuclear warheads of the United Kingdom's Trident programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shandon, Argyll</span> Village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Shandon is an affluent settlement of houses forming a village on the open sea loch of the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Shandon overlooks the Rosneath Peninsula to the west and is bordered by Glen Fruin to the east, which is the site of the Battle of Glen Fruin, one of the last clan battles in Scotland, fought on 7 February 1603, in which an estimated 300 warriors on foot from the MacGregor Clan claimed victory over an estimated 600–800 men from the Colquhoun Clan on horse-back.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faslane Castle, Shandon Castle, and St Michael's Chapel</span>

Faslane Castle and Shandon Castle were two mediaeval Scottish castles which once stood between the village of Garelochhead and the town of Helensburgh, near the shores of the Gareloch, in Argyll and Bute. In the 19th century, the castles were thought to have dated back to the Middle Ages. At that time period, they were situated in within the mormaerdom of Lennox, which was controlled by the mormaers of Lennox. Today nothing remains of Faslane Castle; though in the 19th century certain ruins of Shandon Castle were said to have still existed. Near the site of Faslane Castle sits the ruinous St Michael's Chapel, which has also been thought to date to the Middle Ages.

Clynder is a place on the western shore of the Gare Loch, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnart Oil Terminal</span> Deep-water marine terminal on Loch Long

Finnart Oil Terminal, also known as Finnart Ocean Terminal or Chap Point, is an oil depot on the eastern shore of Loch Long, Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland, about 2 miles (3.2 km) to the north of Garelochhead on the A814 road to Arrochar. It has piers extending a short distance into the loch, providing a deep water berth for oil tankers up to 324,000 tonnes. Two pipelines connect the terminal across the width of Scotland to the Grangemouth Refinery on the Firth of Forth on the east coast, and extensive oil storage tanks have been built into the hillside on both sides of the main road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosneath Peninsula</span> Human settlement in Scotland

The Rosneath Peninsula is a peninsula in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. Formerly in the historic county of Dunbartonshire, it is formed on its eastern shore from the confluence of the Firth of Clyde with the Gare Loch, and of the Clyde with Loch Long to the west.

References

  1. 1 2 "Garelochhead Visitor Guide - Accommodation, Things To Do & More". www.visitscotland.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Brocklehurst, Steven (10 May 2018). "50 years of nuclear submarines on the Clyde". BBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Gare Loch from The Gazetteer for Scotland". www.scottish-places.info. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  4. ↑ Loch Lomond South, Dumbarton & Helensburgh, Drymen & Cove : showing part of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park and West Highland Way., Ordnance Survey, 2006, ISBN   978-0-319-23874-5, OCLC   720547611
  5. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Garelochhead Station including signal box, subway, gates and railings (LB19490)" . Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  6. ↑ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  7. ↑ "Royal Navy submariners mark centenary of K13 sinking". Naval Today. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  8. ↑ Alderson, Reevel (29 January 2017). "Ceremony remembers Faslane sub disaster". BBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  9. ↑ "Royal Navy's HMS Talent arrives at new Clyde naval base home". Naval Technology. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  10. ↑ Faslane Peace Camp (1984). Faslane : diary of a peace camp. Edinburgh: Polygon. ISBN   0-904919-87-0. OCLC   12621463.
  11. ↑ Vinthagen, Stellan; Kenrick, Justin & Mason, Kelvin (2012). Tackling Trident : academics in action through 'Academic conference blockades'. [Place of publication not identified]: Irene Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4717-5104-2. OCLC   806368892.
  12. ↑ "Plans to develop MoD training camp facilities". Helensburgh Advertiser. Retrieved 4 March 2020.

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