Pier Cottage, Kilmun Pier

Kilmun Pier and Associated Buildings

Kilmun Pier was built around 1828 by marine engineer and entrepreneur David Napier to serve a new Glasgow to Inveraray route via Loch Eck. It was the first of several piers constructed on Loch Long and represents an early example of a Clyde pier, of which nearly 100 had been built by the late 19th century. The pier complex survives as a group of structures of historical significance: a masonry main pier with a later timber projection, timber buildings erected on the pier itself, and a pair of parallel stone buildings positioned at the shore end.

The original pier, built around 1828, consists of a main stone section faced with squared rubble blocks, featuring ashlar kerbs and a cobbled surface. The two parallel stone rubble buildings at the shore end, gabled to the road and piend-roofed towards the loch side with splayed inner corners to permit pier access, appear to originate from this first phase. Historical records suggest these buildings were constructed in stages: an 1839 map indicates they were initially shorter structures. During the mid-19th century they were extended further onto the pier, first as single-storey additions and later raised to greater height. The south-east building retains a blocked-up arched doorway and may have served as a smithy, while the north-west building features a large squared window and is thought to have functioned as a waiting room. By 1863, the Ordnance Survey map records several service buildings along the road to the south-east, in what is now the car park area.

Later in the 19th century, the pier was extended with a timber platform to accommodate larger steamers. The 20th century saw the construction of two timber buildings on the timber section and a large modern flat-roofed masonry building containing public toilets. The north-west stone building served as a Post Office during the 20th century.

Materials comprise a stone pier with timber jetty, rubble buildings with sandstone dressings and slate roofs, predominantly timber sash and case windows, timber pier buildings, and a cement-rendered toilet block.

David Napier (1790–1869), the celebrated marine engineer and pioneer of deep-sea steam navigation, purchased land along the Holy Loch and Loch Long shore from General Campbell of Monzie in 1828. On this site he built a hotel, the pier, and several villas, including the Tea Caddies (also listed). Napier disposed of most of his Scottish interests around 1837. By the time of the first Ordnance Survey, the pier was recorded as property of Campbell of Monzie.

The pier ceased traffic operations in 1971 and currently serves as an overnight mooring facility for Western Ferries. In 2003, consent was granted for conversion of the former Post Office to residential use.

The group listing includes a K6 telephone kiosk.