- River Gryfe
The River Gryfe or River Gryffe is a
river and tributary of the Black Cart Water, running through the counties ofRenfrewshire andInverclyde inScotland ,UK . It gives its name to the surrounding area ofGryffe Valley , also known as the former lordship ofStrathgryfe .Flow
The river emerges to the south west of the village of
Kilmacolm on the edge of the Duchal Woods. It is fed from a number of streams or burns on the moors above the village including the Burnbank Water, Blacketty Water and the Mill Burn. Its main tributary is the Gryffe Water (or Gryfe Water) which flows through the village and begins at theGryffe Reservoir besideLoch Thom .It flows for approximately 16
mile s to join the Black Cart nearGlasgow International Airport beside theM8 motorway ; passing through the villages ofBridge of Weir ,Crosslee and Houston inRenfrewshire and immediately to the north east ofQuarrier's Village ,Inverclyde .The Gryfe was formerly used to supply water for powering
water mill s at Kilmacolm; and atCrosslee , the latter fed via a lade (millstream) which left the River Gryfe near Bridge of Weir.The river also supplied process water to
ROF Bishopton ; the water was taken near where the Linwood Moss road joins the Houston Road. The Dargavel Burn, which rises north of Kilmacolm, joins the River Gryfe near the site of the former Houston (Georgetown) railway station after flowing in a south-east direction through ROF Bishopton.Name
The name 'Gryff' is recorded in the Military Survey of Scotland 1747-1755, compiled by
William Roy , a predecessor to theOrdnance Survey maps ofGreat Britain . However it seems that 'Gryfe' was the established usage until more recent times.The 'Gryffe' name is becoming the predominant usage in the area, seen for example in new signposts showing the name of the river and the names of organisations such as the
Gryffe Valley Rotary Club andGryffe High School inHouston, Renfrewshire .External links
* [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst3376.html River Gryfe] at the "Gazetteer of Scotland".
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