Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/319

RENFREWSHIRE. 307 RENFBEWSHIBE. the N.W. to Drumduff in the S.E., and its greatest breadth 14 miles from Maich-bridge, near Kilbernie- loch, in a N.E. direction, to Erskine on the Clyde ; but its average breadth is only 9 J miles. Its circuit is about 80 miles, of which 55 are traced by the river and Frith of Clyde, including the ports of Renfrew, Erskine, Port Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, near Cloch Point, on which is a lighthouse, Innerkip, and Wemyss Bay. Its area is 234 square miles, or 150,000 acres, of which about 100,000 are cultivated, 20,000 uncultivated, and the remainder waste. In the earliest times of which we have any record, it was a seat of the Damnii, and after the conquest of the island by the Romans was included in the province ' of Valentin, of which Vanduaria, now Paisley, was one of the principal stations. It subse- quently was called Strathgryfe, from the river Gryfe, and formed part of the British kingdom of Strathdyde. In the 12th century it formed part of the shire of Lanark, and was called the barony of Renfrew, from the burgh where the Stuarts, or Stewards, had their principal seat. In 1404, about 33 years after the accession of the Stuart family to the Scottish throne, this district was made shire ground ; and the barony, with the other portions of his patrimonial inheritance, was given by Robert III. to his son and heir James, and since that time the eldest son of the reigning monarch has, besides his own titles, been styled Prince and Steward of Scotland and Baron of Renfrew. The western and southern parts of the county, lying contiguous to the hilly district of the N. of Ayrshire, are somewhat mountainous and rugged, but the highest summits do not attain an altitude of above 1,300 feet above the level of the sea ; while the eastern and northern parts of the county bordering on the Clyde are flat or gently undulating, forming one of the best cultivated lowland districts in Britain. The whole country is included in the basin of the Clyde, the estuary of which washes a large portion of the border, and has everywhere been rendered by man subordinate to the interests of trade and industry. The Cart, flowing into the Clyde between the parishes of Renfrew and Inch- innan, is the only other river in this country serviceable for navigation ; but the lesser rivers which fall into these as the Gryfe, Black Cart, White Cart, Locher Water, Calder, and the Levern are invaluable as giving mo- tion to mills and other machinery, and in supplying the innumerable hleachfields, dye-works, cotton factories, and other industrial establishments which line their banks. The principal natural lakes are Kilbirnie loch and Castle Semple loch (formed by the expansion of the waters of the Black Cart, and abounding in pike, eels, and water- fowl), lochs Long and Libo, in the parish of Neilston, and several small lakes in the parishes of Lochwinnock, Eaglesham, and llearns. There are like- wise two lochs formed by the Kipper Water (the princi- pal stream not belonging to the basin of the Cart), which are used as reservoirs for the supply of Greenock, besides other artificial lakes or reservoirs in the parishes of Paisley, Eaglesham, and Neilston, covering an aggre- gate area of 700 acres. These last are chiefly formed by the damming of small mountain streams. The only canal is about 6 miles of the Ardrossan, which enters the county from Glasgow, and passes Ralston and Paisley to Johnstone, where it stops. Springs are abundant in all parts of the parish, and there are mineral springs at Linwood and Eaglesham. The climate is moist but healthy, nearly resembling that of the lower part of tin: adjoining county of Lanark. The underlying rocks in the north-eastern part of the county belong to the carboniferous formation, which commences on the Lanarkshire brder, and extends N.W. and N.E. over an area of 10 miles in extreme breadth. The chief coal mines are at Quarrelton, near John- stone, where the seam is 50 feet thick in five beds ; at Hurlct and Househill, near Paisley, where the seam is 5 feet thick ; and at Renfrew, Polmadie, Pol- lockshaws, anil Neilston. Ironstone is found with the coal, and at Hurlet a bed of shale, overlying the coal, has, by combination with sulphuric acid, been converted into alum-slate, and here extensive alum-works have VOL. III. recently been established. In many places, especially towards the south-western rim of the coal-field, igneous rocks, chiefly trap and granite, overlie the carboniferous strata ; and near Quarrelton is a superincumbent mass of compact greenstone, 100 feet thick. Towards the N.W. it is entirely separated from the Ayrshire coal- field by the trap-rock district, which rises into the lofty peaks of Stack Hill, Mistylaw, Dunrod, and Garvock Hills. A strip of Old Red sandstone, with limestone, ex- tends along the northern coast from Port Glasgow to beyond Gourock ; but is a mere band, except near Inner- kip, where it extends over a breadth of about 5 miles. The igneous rocks in the western part of the county cover an extensive area, extending from Clogh Point to the eastern border of the parish of Eaglesham, and appear to have been protruded through the sedimentary rocks, which are much dislocated, and in some places semi-crystallised. The hills in this part of the country are mostly basalts or porphyry, capped with greenstone, which latter traverses the porphyry in innumerable dykes. An amygdoloidal porphyry, forming an elevated table-land of about 9 square miles, in the parishes of Abbey-of- Paisley and Lochwinnock, abounds in zeolites and other minerals. Good freestone for building, lime- stone for burning into lime, and sandstones, are exten- sively quarried at Kilbarchan, Pollockshaws, Eastwood, Neilston, and other places. The coal and ironstone mines also give employment to many persons ; and car- bonate of copper is found in the red sandstone for- mation, and in the greenstone at Kaimc, but is not at present worked. The land in the fertile districts towards the N. and N.E. is well cultivated, and is nearly all meadow and gardens for the supply of the markets of Paisley, Glasgow, and Greenock. The hilly districts on the W. and S. are chiefly devoted to pasture and sheep- walks. The uncultivated districts are principally among the moory hills of trap-rock in the N.W. part of the county, and along the whole S.W. border is where the soil is cold and poor, producing only heath or coarse herbage, interspersed with extensive bogs and mosses. In these bogs turf is cut, out of which peat is made. The woodlands were returned in 1855 as covering an aggre- gate extent of 3, 860 acres. The soil along the banks of the Clyde and Cart is a rich argillaceous alluvium, of the nature of carse land ; but the greater part of the level district, at a distance from the river bank, is a dilu- vium or mixed transported soil, mingled with vegetable mould, and overlying beds of gravel, clay, or loam. Nearly the whole of this land is arable, and even the worst soils have of recent years been much improved. Dairy farming is extensively practised, and on the hills large flocks of black-faced sheep are reared. The farms, which are not much subdivided, vary in size from 50 to 300 acres ; the number of farmers in 1855 paying a yearly rent of 10 and upwards being 1,249, while only 50 paid under 10. The valued rental of the county, according to the old Scottish valuation of 1C74, was 5,764 ; but the real rental in 1856 was 318,280. The farm buildings are generally substantial, the fences are of stone, and great attention has been paid to drainage. Some estates are large and entailed, but there are many small freeholds, the total number of proprietors of all kinds on the new valuation rolls being 2,610. The prin- cipal crops are oats, wheat, barley, here, beans and peas, turnips, potatoes, clover, and artificial grasses. The manufactures are more extensive and diversified than those of any other county in Scotland except Lanark- shire, these two counties comprising the grand manufac- turing district of the W. of Scotland. The staple manufactures of Renfrewshire are cotton and silk, which together employ above 20,000 hands ; also woollens, shawls, muslins, linen, flax, canvas, and ropes. The chief seats of these manufactures are at Paisley, Greenock, Johnstone, Renfrew, Pollockshaws, Lochwin- nock, Eaglesham, Kilbarchan, and Neilston, and other places in the valley of the Levern ; besides some iron and brass works at Paisley and Johnstono. A brisk commerce is carried on at Port Glasgow, Greenwk, Paisley, and Renfrew, the Clyde and the Cart affording