The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by J. D. Ewart Ltd. of Glasgow. The image is a glossy real photograph, and the card has a divided back.
The Skelmorlie Hydro Hotel
Alas, the hotel in Ayrshire is no more.
The largsandmillportnews.com ran the following story about it in March 2021:
Skelmorlie Couple's Magic Memories
of Much Loved Hydro Hotel.
By Calum Corral, Senior Reporter.
A former receptionist has shared her 'magical memories' of a long lost hotel in Skelmorlie which boasted a sprung dance floor, grand swimming pool and stunning panoramic views of the Clyde.
Mary Margaret Law, 70, says that her 'heart was broken' when the Skelmorlie Hydro was knocked down in the 1990's.
It was an innovation for its time when it was built by Dr Ronald Currie in the Victorian era, with Turkish and salt water baths and an elevator which shuttled people from Shore Road to the hotel up the cliff face.
Mary has even kept original paperwork from the hotel in 1971 - the year of decimalisation - which shows the hotel prices of the period with a double room costing the princely sum of £3.10 per night during the peak period in summer.
Margaret, who still lives in the village, loved the hotel so much that she and well-known Burns performer Jimmy held their wedding reception there.
She said:
"It had a lovely sprung dance floor in the conservatory
area which was fantastic to perform up on, and was
very popular with all the local groups.
I worked the summer season there - I loved the place.
It was a fantastic place, and it was irreplaceable really.
When the hotel came down, it had been running for a
few years as an old folks' facility.
The elevator which provided access from the Shore
Road was quite an innovation when it was launched
decades before, but it was on its last legs, and kept
getting stuck.
It was another of these places which should never
have been knocked down, it was magnificent to look
at and admire. It had three levels and was very popular
with coach parties - it could take two full busloads at
a time."
Mary believes that the building itself should have been preserved and converted into flats for generations to come to enjoy. She added:
"There should have been a campaign to save it.
I remember the large bay windows which fully
capitalised on the spectacular views of the bay
looking over to the Isles of Bute and Cumbrae
and Arran.
It was also used as a place for people to recuperate
after illness, and for health reasons and it had its own
resident doctor - it was quite a place. It broke my heart
when it was demolished."
In recent weeks, Ron Muir, a Largs tourism champion, bemoaned the loss of many local hotels in the area - and Mary agrees:
"The ironic thing is that with the pandemic we
could go full circle and people won't be going
abroad as much any longer. Instead they will be
looking to go on 'staycations,' but sadly hotels
like the Skelmorlie Hydro and others are long
gone."
The business was owned and run by the Scottish Highlands Hotel Group, whose portfolio included the lavish Marine Hotel in Troon.
Dr. Ronald Currie, who was responsible for building the Hydro, was a member of the great professor Joseph Lister's first surgical class in Glasgow in 1860. He lived in Skelmorlie until his death in 1923.
Built in 1868, the Hydropathic Hotel as it was first called was an immediate tourist draw, and created a major stir in 1875 when Turkish and salt water baths were installed. The pumping of salt water at that time was considered a ground-breaking innovation.
The Skelmorlie Measured Mile
Before the introduction of GPS systems, measured nautical miles were used to measure the speed of new ships under sea trials before being handed over by the shipyard to the owner.
In the early part of the 20th. century, the Royal Navy used a measured nautical mile in the Firth of Clyde off Skelmorlie, known as the 'Skelmorlie Mile', as the range for speed trials of new warships.
The mile was also used for merchant shipping trials well into the 1980's.
A nautical measured mile is marked by two pairs of posts on the shore. The ship, already at top speed and on the requisite bearing, sails from one pair of posts to the next. A stopwatch is started when the first two posts are aligned, and then stopped when the next two posts are aligned.
Each post has a 'V' or inverted 'V' shaped marker on it which forms an 'X' with its partner post when they are exactly aligned. In order to accurately measure performance, ships had to make several runs in both directions to compensate for variations in wind and tide.
The 'Skelmorlie Mile' is a Category B Listed Structure. It was established in 1866 by the Clyde shipbuilding firm of Robert Napier & Sons. It was surveyed by two different land surveyors, and was checked by Admiralty staff.
It consists of two pairs of tall, white painted poles, each pair set 1 nautical mile (1,852 metres) from each other. The poles are set on concrete bases, with iron stays, and have sight markers at the upper level.
One northern post is by the bus shelter at the foot of the Hydro Steps, near the turning point on Shore Road. The other northern post is mounted halfway up a cliff behind the bus shelter, and has fallen into severe disrepair, the top half having snapped and fallen to the side.
The southern pair of posts are at the south end of Skelmorlie, immediately south of Skelmorlie Castle. One of these is on the rocky shore, near the A78 road, and the other is in a field between the A78 and Meigle.
