The earliest public notice of Greenock as a town is to be found in the Act of the Scottish Parliament passed on 5th June, 1641, ratifying the Crown Charter granted by Charles I in 1635, in favour of John Schaw, then Laird of Greenock, and Helen Houstoun, spouses, "erecting the lands of Wester Grenok Schaw with the village or toun of Grenok, into a Burgh of Barony.'" During the forty years which elapsed between the date of the Charter and the death of the Laird, only one feu of land for building appears to have been granted, and at least one notable tack or lease - that to the Royal Fishing Company for the unusual period of 722 years, equivalent to a feu; but there is no record which tells of the extent of the population at or about the date of the Charter.
