The James Watt College was a further education college in Greenock,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is now part of West College Scotland. There were also campuses in

Largs Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...

and

Kilwinning Kilwinning (, sco, Kilwinnin; gd, Cill D’Fhinnein) is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is on the River Garnock, north of Irvine, about southwest of Glasgow. It is known as "The Crossroads of Ayrshire". Kilwinning was also a Civil Pa ...

which now form part of Ayrshire College as the result of the merger with Kilmarnock College and Ayr College.

History, facilities

The James Watt Memorial College on the corner of William Street and Dalrymple Street was officially opened as the ''Watt Memorial Engineering and Navigation School'' on 1 June 1908. The building was constructed near the site of James Watt's birthplace (which was on the other side of William Street) and was built with funds donated by another famous Scot,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, who performed the opening ceremony, unveiling a statue of James Watt that stands prominently in the angle formed at the corner tower. H & D Barclay of

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designed the original red sandstone building in a heavily ornamented Scottish baronial style, The corner is marked by an L-plan tower, the wing to William Street being capped by a crow step gable while the north wing has a conical roofed tower above a balustrade. The Dalrymple Street facade faces north out onto the main

A8 road A8, A08, A 8 or A-8 may refer to: Electronics * ARM Cortex-A8, a processor used in mobile devices * Apple A8, a 64-bit system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. *AMD A8, an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit * Samsung Galaxy A8, various smartpho ...

to Glasgow and is capped by a steep sloping roof up to an iron balustrade which protects a flat roof originally used to allow navigation students to take observations of the sun. The west corner features a corbelled corner turret with a conical roof. A later extension in William Street to the south of the tower is in a plainer more modern style. The building is now in use by

Inverclyde Council Inverclyde Council is one of the 32 local authorities of Scotland. Created in 1995, its administrative centre is based in Greenock and its territory covers the area of Inverclyde in the west of Scotland, taking over from the local government distr ...

local authority education department as office accommodation. Over the years, the changing demands of commerce and industry highlighted the need for a new, purpose built College. The college relocated to its present Finnart Street site near Greenock West railway station in 1973, the eight-story main teaching block (by Boissevain and Osmond) dominating the area. The 1970s also witnessed a move away from traditional heavy industries into other areas of commerce and as a result, the college adapted to offer a different education focus. In the 1990s the college expanded to include campuses on the Greenock waterfront, at

in Ayrshire, and at the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre in

. The Ayrshire campuses were demerged to form part of the new Ayrshire College in 2013. The last (or next to last) principal was Sue Pinder OBE.

Heraldry

The blazon of arms for James Watt College is: ''Argent, an oak tree on a mount Vert with an open book Or in base; on a chief Azure, a three-masted ship under sail Proper between a fountain and a spiral Argent.'' The shield displays two special roundels, the fountain (''a roundel barry wavy argent and azure'') and the gurges (''a roundel double spiral argent and azure'').

References and images

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External links

Ayrshire College websiteWest College Scotland website
Educational institutions disestablished in 2013 Further education colleges in Scotland Buildings and structures in Greenock

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

People educated at James Watt College 2013 disestablishments in Scotland Education in Inverclyde Education in North Ayrshire 1908 establishments in Scotland Educational institutions established in 1908