out and about - 2024
21 July 2024 ............. Down by Irvine point
A trip down to Irvine point on a rather grey and colourless day - and after parking up and heading along the river side, one of the strange sights to be seen is a large glass frontage on a grass covered building - this is - or was - the Big Idea.
The Big Idea was a science centre where the public could go in and experience all kinds of interactive scientific equipment - they could press buttons and move levers and make things happen.
Although some sources say that its preferred designation was an Inventor Centre.
It opened in the year 2000 and for its first year it was very successfull, and attracted a lot of visitors - however it didn`t last - by 2003 the visitor numbers had dropped so low that it was no longer economically viable - and it closed - just three years after it opened.
When it was built the chidren of Ardeer Primary school buried a time capsule under the reception desk just inside the front entrance.
It is rather sad that the whole of the Big Idea is now a time capsule - the inside is exactly the same as it was when it closed for the last time - all the scientific equipment and displays are still there - the lecture theatre looks exactly same as it did 24 years ago - and the 24 year old computers are still sitting on the reception desk.
Every now and then there is some great plan announced that the Big Idea is going to be developed into something new - but it never happens.
The Big Idea is located on the southern end of the Ardeer Peninsula on the other side of the River Irvine - or maybe it is the other side of the River Garnock - the two rivers join just upstream.
But whatever the name of the river, the Big Idea was connected to Irvine Point by a telescopic footbridge that stretched in and out across the river - it is a long time since it moved, and the bridge is now just a rusty reminder of what it once was.
The bridge had the lofty title of "The Bridge of Scottish Invention".
Maybe one day it will move again, but the refurbishment costs would be high, most of the mechanism that drove the bridge in and out has long since dissappeared into various scrap yards - probably illegally.
Further downstream beside the river and you come to a white masonary tower - sometimes called the Pilot House - but probably more correctly referred to as the Automatic Tide Signalling Station -
It was built in 1906 by the then harbourmaster Martin Boyd, and housed an automated mechanism that measured the height of the tide in the estuary, and moved big balls hanging from a mast on top of the tower - this indicated to incoming shipping about how high the tide was, and so the depth of water in the estuary.
The series of windows up the sides of the tower showed lights that varied with the tide height, so mariners could still get the tide height information at night.
You can still see the remains of the wooden structure that housed the tide measuring equipment - it is opposite the tower right on the water`s edge.
The tower is a category B listed building - but it seems to be in a permament state of disrepair, surrounded by builders security fencing - there have been various plans announced over the years to restore and utilise it in some way, but like the Big Idea, nothing ever happens.
Further downstream now, and looking out over the estuary and away across to Arran with the cloud sitting over the mountain tops.
The lines of stones that stretch out into the estuary are man made - they were put there to try and speed up the water flow through the estuary in order to try and reduce the silting up of the estuary.
Irvine harbour didn`t have much going for it as a harbour - it is certainly not a deep water port - it is further up the river Irvine, and the silting up of the estuary was a major interuption to the harbour operations.
The harbour had its own dredger to try and keep the estuary open.
A bit further round to the right, and this is looking away up the beach towards Ardeer and Saltcoats.
Roughly midway along the beach lies the only legally defined naturist beach in Scotland - because of the estuary it can only be accessed from Ardeer point and if you are going to visit it you pass a huge mural of Robbie Burns painted on the concrete walling.
The whole area around Irvine point is frequently the subject of grandiose plans for its redevelopment - but like the Big Idea and the tower, nothing ever happens.
The latest masterplan was announced around the start of 2024 ............ ?
But whether or not some kind of redevelopment ever happens, Irvine point is a super viewpoint and one end of a super beach that runs all the way down to Troon.
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