In the Ayrshire Legatees, published monthly originally in Blackwoods Magazine between June 1820 and February 1821and in book form in June 1821, John Galt describes the Pringle family’s journey from Irvine to London to receive a legacy left by a relative. In Chapter 1, Letter II - Miss Rachel Pringle writes to her friend Miss Isabella Tod describing Greenock.
“The chambermaid of the inn where we lodge pointed out to me, on the opposite side of the street, a magnificent edifice erected for balls; but the subscribers have resolved not to allow any dancing till it is determined by the Court of Session to whom the seats and chairs belong, as they were brought from another house where the assemblies were formerly held.”
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| Tontine Hotel, Cathcart Street, Greenock |
The “inn where we lodge” was likely to have been Greenock’s
Tontine Hotel on Cathcart Street. Coaches
to Ayr and Glasgow arrived and departed daily from the Tontine or the White
Hart Inn in Cathcart Square, as this extract from Hutchison's Greenock
Directory of 1820 shows.
Built in 1801, the Tontine Hotel contained a large hall, twelve sitting rooms and thirty bedrooms. It was a popular stopping place for visitors to the town, and many local clubs and organisations held their meetings there. It was ideally situated in Cathcart Street, which was then the commercial centre of Greenock.
The "magnificent edifice erected for balls" probably refers to the Exchange Buildings (opened 1814) also the home of the Coffee Room. In 1821 a new Coffee Room was opened in Cathcart Square. There was a disagreement between some of the subscribers about the cost etc, and a court case followed - thus Rachel Pringle's reference to the Court of Session.
Thereafter there were two Coffee Rooms in Greenock!
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| Tontine Hotel, Cathcart Street. Photo - Greenock Burns Club |
The original Tontine Hotel was demolished and replaced by a new Post Office in 1899. That Post Office building still stands and is now the James Watt Pub (Wetherspoons). A new Tontine Hotel was opened in 1892 in Union Street, Greenock. Read more about the history of the Tontine Hotel here.
