Portavadie

(Redirected from Polphail)

Portavadie

Portavadie is small settlement on the western side of the Cowal peninsula, and lies on the eastern shore of Loch Fyne. Once a small fishing village, it came to be a popular holiday destination for many visitors from Hamilton, Motherwell and Glasgow. Road access from the east is along a single track road which leads from the B8000 road connecting Tighnabruaich and Kilfinan. A ferry terminal with slipway provides access for the Cowal and Kintyre ferry which connects with Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula to the west.

The derelict village of Polphail lies nearby, built to accommodate workers at a planned oil platform construction yard at Portavadie, the yard was never completed, and the village was never occupied.

One story from the time describes Portavadie as home to the world�s largest man-made hole, on the Salon (explanation of the name Salon would be welcome), said to have been dug at a cost of �14 million or �4 million, for oil rig construction orders which never materialised. The figure given may be a typo, or simply result from different accounting practices used to produce alternative reports, as multi-agency involvement is said to have produced alternative costing that ranged from �7 million to �11 million. Whatever the actual figure, it appears to have been a very expensive hole.

Failed oil platform construction yard

The area became a victim of the collapse of the oil boom which Scotland enjoyed during the 1970s. Easy access to deep water offshore led to its selection as a site for the construction of concrete North Sea oil rig platforms. The failure of the site has been attributed to a number of reasons, most common being that the authorities only realised after completion that the treacherous tides on Loch Fyne meant that it would be too risky to float the massive platforms out to sea once they had been completed. However, it seems that the basic concept of construction at Portavadie was flawed from the outset, with the columns being made in three sections rather than one. This required the three parts to be joined and reinforced, making them heavy, complex, and therefore expensive compared to conventional single piece designs, and no platform operators were interest on both cost and safety grounds.

The go-ahead for the yard at Portavadie - by Sea Platform Constructors (Scotland) - was announced in January 1975, together with two further yards at Macringan's Point, Campbeltown (to be operated by Mowlem-Taylor Offshore), and at Hunterston on the Clyde estuary, for the Andoc group.^[1]

The area was described by some who worked there at the time to have been reminiscent of the type of sudden wealth the villagers enjoyed in the 1983 film, Local Hero.

Despite promises to reinstate the site to its original condition, the area was abandoned and left to decay.

The site was eventually sold, and the sheltered hole was used for a fish farm about 1988. The ferry terminal used the same area for its slipway, and this was relocated a short distance away, to the northwest.

Hansard question regarding building cost

Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total cost to Her Majesty's Exchequer for the building of (a) the platform yard at Hunterston, Ayrshire, and (b) other platform yards in Scotland in the periods 1975 to 1978 and 1978 to date.

Mr. Moynihan : I have been asked to reply.

Under the Offshore Petroleum Development (Scotland) Act 1975 expenditure was incurred on Portavadie and Hunterston. The trading account for the year ended 31 March 1986 indicated expenditure of �29.2 million, of which �22.8 million was incurred between 1975 and 1978. A breakdown between the two yards is not readily available. Any financial support for other platform yards in Scotland is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

- House of Commons Hansard, May 16, 1991.^[2]

Marina development

Marina
� Johnny Durnan

Developments at Portavadie have taken place since the proposals made in 2006. The harbour has been modified and, as of 2007, hosts a marina with over 200 berths available. A hotel is under construction nearby.

Marina facilities
� Gordon Brown

The picture of the marina facilities building which opened in 2009 is of interest, as it shows the edge of the hole referred to above.

Ferry Terminal mapping error

Current online mapping (as seen below) displays an error in the location of the Ferry Terminal. The route shown into the sheltered harbour area of the former dry dock has been used as the site of a fish farm and marina

Updated mapping options provided by Multimap (see Aerial links below) in 2007 allows us to highlight the anomaly. Zoom out and select the Hybrid view offered on the map, and this will show that the actual terminal is located not in the sheltered harbour (and fish farm) as shown below, but a short distance to the north west, in the more exposed bay. Further detail can be revealed on the Multimap Ordnance Survey map view when the Zoom is set (using the slider on the top right) between levels 12 and 15). Hover over the Map button toward the top left, and a small map will pop up. Click on this to switch between road map and OS map views. The OS map view shows the correct location of the terminal.

Derybruich House

Derybruich House, just to the north, is understood to have been in the one family since 1933, but there appear to be no historic references to the building. All that has been found so far is Derybruich Cottage, in a photograph.^[3]