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Almost nothing now remains of Easter Greenock Castle on the Firth of Clyde to the east of Greenock.
The L-plan tower house was built at around the end of the 15th century, on land that was granted to Sir Alexander Schaw of Sauchie by James V in 1540.
The estate had been forfieted by Sir James Hamilton, who owned a large number of estates in the area.
Sir James, the 'Bastard of Finnart' had fallen into disfavour with James V and was executed in 1540, two years before the King's death.
When Schaw took over the lands there were already a fortified manor house on the estate which had stood there for quite some time.
The estate was passed down through the descendants of Schaw over the years with many extensions.
In the 1730's, the estate had passed to Lady Cathcart, who commissioned the architect James Watt to attach a large mansion to the existing property.
With two decades the family decided to move their seat further west to the Ardgowan estate near Inverkip.
The castle was then rented out for more than a century before it was acquired by the Caledonian Railway.
The company demolished the castle in 1886 to make way for a railway line and the construction of a station near Wellpark.
The only parts of the old estate that can still be seen today are a well and the base of a set of gates, both dating back to the early part of the 17th century.

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