Scottish Maritime Museum (Irvine)

North Ayrshire | Irvine | Museum | ★★★

[The Linthouse Engine Shop]

Scotland's "cathedral of engineering" forms the centrepiece to Irvine's attractive Harbourside, within easy walking distance of the town centre. This vast (unheated) building, the glass-roofed Linthouse Engine Shop, was salvaged from a Govan shipyard in 1991. Today it's home to an extensive array of boats, historic exhibits and modern displays about Scotland's maritime history. There's even more to the site however: the museum owns several vessels afloat on the nearby River Irvine, adjacent to its shop and café, and a restored shipyard worker's tenement flat. The whole area is extensive and impressive, even before you add in the museum's sister site at Dumbarton.

[Irvine Harbourside buildings]

Location & info

📌 Scottish Maritime Museum (Irvine) ★★★
Irvine Harbourside, 10-min walk southwest of Irvine town centre, G.R.: NS 314383 ///vast.raves.sums
Open daily - check website for tour times | £8.50 adult / free for accompanied children



[Irvine beach, a short walk downstream from the museum]

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