Scottish Maritime Museum facts for kids
The Linthouse building
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| Established | 1991 | ||||||||||
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| Location | The Linthouse, Harbour Road, Irvine, Ayrshire KA12 8BT Scotland |
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The Scottish Maritime Museum is a cool place to learn about Scotland's amazing history with ships and shipbuilding. It's like a treasure chest of old boats and tools! This museum has two main locations in the west of Scotland: one in Irvine and another in Dumbarton. Both places show off Scotland's important role in building ships. The museum's collection is so special that it's officially recognized as important to the whole country.
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Irvine: The Linthouse Building
The museum's main building in Irvine is called the Linthouse. It's located right by Irvine Harbour. This building used to be a huge workshop for building engines. It was part of a shipyard called Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow. In 1991, the workshop was carefully taken apart and moved piece by piece to Irvine! It's a very old and important building, listed as a "Category A" historic site.
Inside the Linthouse, you can see many important ships. These include the MV Kyles and the MV Spartan. Both of these ships are listed on the UK's National Historic Ships register. The MV Kyles is super special because it was built in 1872 in Paisley. It's the oldest iron ship built on the River Clyde that is still floating in the UK today! The museum got the MV Kyles in 1984.
The museum also has a collection of old ship engines and big industrial tools. You can even visit a recreated worker's flat from the 1920s at Irvine Harbour. It shows what life was like for people who worked in the shipyards. The museum also has a great collection of artwork about the sea and ships. In 2020, people helped raise money to keep the MV Kyles floating and in good shape.
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Looking out to sea from the museum's docks, with the 'Big Idea' building in the distance -
The Scottish Maritime Museum with the old tugboat MV Garnock -
The ships on display at the museum's docks -
The Clyde Puffer MV Spartan on the slipway -
The historic Linthouse building is the main exhibition hall in Irvine
Dumbarton: The Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank
The other part of the museum is in Dumbarton. It's called the Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank. This place is all about how ships are designed and tested. It focuses on the work of a naval architect, who is someone who designs ships.
A shipbuilder named William Denny Jr. was inspired by a famous naval architect, William Froude. So, in 1883, Denny built this special tank for his shipyard. It was the very first commercial tank in the world used for testing ship models!
The tank was opened as a museum in 1983. It still has many of its original parts, including the huge 100-meter-long tank. The museum also tells the story of William Denny and Brothers. They were one of the most creative shipbuilding companies in the world before they closed in 1963.
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The 100-meter-long Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank is the main attraction in Dumbarton -
An early engine designed by Robert Napier, from the PS Leven (1823) -
Another marine engine on display at Dumbarton -
A memorial to William Froude on the building's front -
The Dumbarton building seen from the side
Who Runs the Museum?
The Scottish Maritime Museum is an independent museum. This means it's run by a special group called the Scottish Maritime Museum Trust. This trust is a charity, which means it's set up to do good things for the public. The trust started working in 1983. The first person to lead the trust was a shipbuilder named Ross Belch. He was in charge until 1998.
See also
