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Name and dates

Description

This timber steamer pier is now completely derelict. It was to the west of the Bowling Harbour wall outside the harbour itself. It was both a passenger and goods pier.

The pier was served with sidings running from the west end of Bowling station, the extreme end of the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway running from Balloch Pier. Initially reached via a turnplate a curved siding was later laid in.

Nearby the pier was Frisky Hall, an inn which no longer exists, once famed for its large glazed windows overlooking the Clyde.

When the North British Railway took over the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway (owner of the line at Bowling from 1862) in 1865 it started a ferry service from Frisky Wharf to Greenock. This was a prelude to proper entry into operating Clyde steamers the following year.

To the immediate west was the Bowling Shipyard. This yard enlarged, taking over the site of Frisky Hall. The west end of Bowling Harbour was used to store vessels awaiting attention at the yard.

The quay was served by sidings which ran out along the timber portion to just shy of the end. Coal wagons could often be seen here, with puffers calling at the pier head.

Late in the use of the pier the shipyard used it as a berth for the RFA Kilgarth, awaiting use in South Georgia which never arose. She was scrapped at the yard. The fishing vessel Destiny, which sank of Gourock with loss of life in 1989, was recovered from the seabed and placed on the pier.

Local

Frisky Hall

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