Craig Ailey is a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

Cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

, originally named Italian Villa. The site above a craig (

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

) gives views over the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

and its junction with

Loch Long Loch Long is a body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Sea Loch extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end. It measures approximately in length, with a width of between . The loch also has an arm, Loch Goil, on its west ...

. It was designed in 1850 by

Alexander Thomson Alexander "Greek" Thomson (9 April 1817 – 22 March 1875) was an eminent Scottish architect and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building. Although his work was published in the architectural press of his day, it was l ...

(later known as "Greek Thomson"), and built around 1852 by his client the builder and developer John McElroy, who had feued land in the Cove and Kilcreggan area from the

8th Duke of Argyll George John Douglas Campbell, 8th and 1st Duke of Argyll (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900; styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847), was a Scottish polymath and Liberal statesman. He made a significant geological discovery in the 1850s when his ten ...

. Access to the house is by South Ailey Road. The house, on top of the craig above Craigrownie Cottage, can be seen from Shore Road.

Notes

References

* {{cite book , author=Blackie & Son , title=Villa and Cottage Architecture: Select Examples of Country and Suburban Residence Recently Erected. With a Full Descriptive Notice of Each Building ... , publisher=Blackie & Son. , year=1868 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdFDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1 , access-date=12 April 2022 Category A listed buildings in Argyll and Bute Houses completed in 1852 1850 in Scotland