Report - Decontamination Buildings - Gourock 20/12/07

[The Fox]

At the bottom of Darroch Park, beside Larkfield Road in Gourock are 3 brick built, concrete rendered buildings, an air raid shelter and the remains of a second. At the begining of WW2 the Government decided to build decontamination centres in case of gas attack. In WW1 these had only been experienced on the battle field from shelling but the fear was that long range bombers could drop gas bombs on the civil population. These buildings are one such site.

The gas victims would have stripped, showered and been issued with new clothing (by the Red Cross) and the old clothing burned.

Government records indicate that a centre was to be provided for every 100,00 of the population. I only know of one other site in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire. Has anyone else come across any more of these buildings anywhere else?

I know this is not a particularly exciting explore but the buildings may be of some historical importance and it is planned to demolish them to make way for a car park.

 

[The Fox]

Re: Decontamination Buildings - Gourock

On one visit the Chavs had forced open a door on the top building and I was able to get these shots of the inside. It had been used as a bothy by the park employees and the others as storage.
You might think given all the chav activity that Gourock was a bit of a dump but you could not be further from the truth.

 

[The Fox]

Re: Decontamination Buildings - Gourock

These are some pics of the Kilmacolm Decontamination Centre. It has been redeveloped as offices and workshops for small businesses. I should perhaps tell you that Kilmacolm is and has been well known for being the home of many millionaires, many of whom in WW2 owned the likes of shipyards and engineering works and is in the centre of an agricultural area. I assume that money talked in those days as it does now and they warranted a larger building. Who was the smaller building for?