Welcome to the homepage for the Semple Stories Lochwinnoch’s Glories Project. This project ran from 2019-2020 and was funded by Greater Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Leader and Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Project has a Facebook page

Walks

You can explore Lochwinnoch on foot with the following the project’s self-led guided walks, learning about key points of interest along the way:

Walk 1 – The Calder Weave

Walk 2 – The New Town

Walk 3 – The Old Town and Park

Activities and Games

There are also Downloadable Activities for Schools and Families around Lochwinnoch village:
Use a camera to complete the Lochwinnoch Then and Now for schools or download, print and tick off the Scavenger Hunt as you wander the streets around the village.

The Project produced a series of downloadable games for children. These are historical games suggested and recounted by Lochwinnoch residents with information on how they were played in the past but also contain modern day updates. The downloads will be of interest to parents looking for things to do and reminiscent for big kids:

Curling Game Ends

Curling Game Length

Ice Free Curling notes

Marbles

Peevers

Wrang Soo By the Lug

Bullets

You might also find this guide What would you like to know – Conducting an interview useful if you would like to start your own investigation into the past within your family. There are so many resources online for maps on the National Library of Scotland’s website. See this guide for a tutorial – National Library of Scotland Digital Maps Tutorial.

Semple Stories on Site

Find out more about the Semple Estate through to more recent memories on the historical interpretation boards at Castle Semple. There is also a U-Turn Round with oral histories from former worker Harry Pratt (photographed above) at Muirshiel’s old barytes mine. Solar interpretation posts are at Castle Semple Loch, Parkhill and Downies Mound in Parkhill Wood.

Harry Pratt kindly shared a lot of his thoughts on the mine with us and these audio recordings can be heard below.

1. 1. What-is-Barytes ?

1. 1. What barytes was used for

1. 1. How-I-got-my-start

1. 1. I-was-always-sleeping-in

1. 1. We-were-producing-the-best-barytes

1. 1. Tour-round-the-mine

1. 1. They-used-to-blow-the-quarry

1. 1. The-wider-the-more-dangerous

1. 1. The-roof-came-down

1. 1. The-bridge-to-the-mine

1. 1. Setting-the-fuses

1. 1. I-drove-the-shafts

1. 1. Winter-at-the-mine

1. 1. Air-powered-tools

1. 1. Pure-Barytes-is-white

Semple Stories, Lochwinnoch’s Glories is equally funded by the Greater Renfrew and Inverclyde LEADER and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.