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According to the introductory notes given for this burial ground in Volume 1 of "Renfrewshire Monumental Inscriptions (pre-1855)" (edited by J F & S Mitchell for the Scottish Genealogy Society, 1992), a Church of Scotland chapel was built here in 1776 near an already-existing burial ground, and was rebuilt in 1832. The "chapel" was presumably a chapel-of-ease; Gourock had not yet been disjoined from Inverkip Parish. The burial ground itself appears to date from 1741; this date is carved on one of the gateposts at the entrance.

The following additional details are taken from Volume 3 of "Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ" (1920), which also gives the succession of ministers: "Gourock: A chapel was built here in 1776. It was rebuilt and opened on 27th May 1832. On 31st May 1834 it was given a chapel constitution. The parish was disjoined from Inverkip and Greenock West, 8th July 1857. Additions to the church were made in 1877."

The burial ground was converted into a garden of remembrance in 1970, and it remains so to this day. Based on surveys carried out in 1968 and 1969, the MI (Monumental Inscriptions) publication cited above includes nearly 400 numbered inscriptions. Far fewer stones now remain: an obelisk commemorates the Galbraith family, and a few mural stones are incorporated in the boundary wall, but most of the surviving memorials are headstones; these are now arranged just inside the eastern boundary.

The MI records, compiled when there were many more stones here, have several inscriptions for each of the years 1741, 1742 and 1743, and a continuous sequence of dates from then on. No earlier inscriptions are recorded, apart from one questionable example: #188, a stone with Adze and Dividers symbol, is said to be dated "17(1)9". The date is thus acknowledged as a doubtful reading, and, given the absence of any inscriptions from the intervening period 1720–1740, it is almost certainly wrong; it is likely that the earliest stones are from 1741.

Created: Sat, 15 Sep 2018, Updated: Sat, 15 Sep 2018