When was Greenock, Scotland founded?
Greenock
The coast of Greenock formed a broad bay with three smaller indentations: the Bay of Quick was known as a safe anchorage as far back as 1164. To its east, a sandy bay ran eastwards from the Old Kirk and the West Burn as far as Wester Greenock castle. The fishing village of Greenock developed along this bay, and around 1635 Sir John Schaw had a jetty built into the bay which became known as Sir John's Bay. In that year he obtained a Charter raising Greenock to a Burgh of Barony with rights to a weekly market. Further east, Saint Laurence Bay curved round past the Crawfurd Barony of Easter Greenock to Garvel (or Gravel) Point. When a pier (or dyke) was built making the bay an important harbour, the fishing village of Cartsburn gained the alternative name of Crawfurdsdyke. In 1642 it was made into the Burgh of Barony of Crawfurdsdyke, and part of the ill-fated Darien Scheme set out from this pier in 1697. This town was later renamed Cartsdyke.[7]
Braeside, Greenock
During drainage work in 1955 a cow horn was found, about 4 feet (1.2 m) below ground level. It contained around sixty Scottish coins dating from 1543 to around 1570, implying that the hoard was buried in the mid-1570s. The earlier coins date from the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and testoons and other coins are from the reign of James VI of Scotland. The horn disintegrated, and while some of the coins were given to children and have not been traced, 20 coins were placed in the collection of the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh, and 30 went to the McLean Museum in Greenock.