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Otter Ferry, Pier

Pier (18th Century)

Site Name Otter Ferry, Pier

Classification Pier (18th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Quay

Canmore ID 39997

Site Number NR98SW 37

NGR NR 93010 84516

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/39997

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Kilfinan
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Activities

Field Visit (August 1988)

This old ferry-terminal, formerly the principal means of communication between Mid Argyll and Cowal, is situated in a bay on the E shore of Loch Fyne, sheltered on the SW by the extensive sandbank known as An Oitir. John Campbell of Otter was instructed by the Commissioners of Supply to improve the service in 1769, when the hill road by Bealachandrain to Dunoon was re-aligned, and he reported in 1773 that the quay at East Otter had been completed (1*). The existing quay and house, however, probably date from about the end of the 18th century. A quay is also preserved at West Otter, on the W shore (NR 917866).

The rubble-built quay is of L-plan, each limb being about 24m long, with a 30m approach which on the SW is largely concealed by drifted sand and shingle. The inner quay is 5.lm wide and incorporates on the NE a flight of steps, accessible by water only at high tide. The angled return is 4.6m wide and incorporates a slipway 2.6m wide, with a flight of six steps at the lower end. There is no parapet, except for the 2m wall adjoining the slipway. The former ferry-house, situated immediately S of the quay at the W side of the road to Kilfinan and Dunoon, has a two-storeyed three-bay NW front with a central pediment containing a blind oculus. It is built of whitewashed rubble, with freestone quoins and window-surrounds now painted black. A round-headed entrance-doorway is contained in an added porch, but the interior has been altered to form two fiats and retains no early features. A ruinous outbuilding adjacent to the NE, which formerly had a single-pitch roof, retains a wide timber-lintelled opening directly aligned with the quay. This was presumably a boat-house, with a loft above.

RCAHMS 1992, visited August 1988

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