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.
Greenock Academy
The Greenock Academy was opened as a fee paying secondary and primary establishment in September 1855 in "Nelson Street", Greenock. The school lay at this central Greenock location for almost a century of its lifetime before the building was demolished and moved to a modern building in "Madeira Street" of Greenock's west end, on the site of the old Balclutha mansion. The "Nelson Street" site is now occupied by the Finnart Campus of James Watt College.