Gryffe Reservoirs

The Gryffe Reservoirs were constructed following an Act of Parliament in 1866 to improve the drinking water supply for the town of Greenock and its environs, the impetus for this was a typhus epidemic in 1864 that had resulted in the deaths of thousands of people in Greenock. The water is conveyed to Greenock in a tunnel, the route of which is marked with air shafts, which ends at the Whinhill Water Treatment Works. The reservoirs were originally run by the Greenock Water Trust but are now owned and managed by Scottish Water.

The larger reservoir, Gryffe No. 1, is adjacent to Loch Thom with Gryffe No. 2 connecting immediately to the east. Together, they are occasionally known as Loch Gryffe. Both reservoirs are impounded by earthwork dams, No.1 has a surface area of 63.9 ha and No.2's area is 28.8 ha. The reservoirs are fed from a stream rising on Creuch Hill. Their outflow, the Gryffe Water flows east into the valley of Strath Gryffe, joins with the Green Water to form the River Gryffe near Kilmacolm.