30 RENFREWSHIRE EXCURSIONS. 



on one of the Rosses of Hawkhead, and remained in the posses- 

 sion of that family till i860, when it became the property by 

 purchase of Spiers of Elderslie, in whose family it continues. 

 Originally from its insular situation called Inch, the name which 

 reflected the physical history of the locality, had to give place to 

 that of Mr. Spiers's other property of Elderslie, near Johnstone. 

 The rich alluvial soil of the district — consisting of the washings of 

 the varied rocks of Clydesdale — presents conditions highly favour- 

 able for the growth of our ordinary deciduous trees, and it is 

 therefore not surprising that the party which visited Elderslie 

 should have been much struck on entering the park (at a lodge 

 on the Govan Road) at the noble prospect that it presented. 

 Many of the trees which stud the park are of large dimensions. 

 An ash with a fine bole by the side of the approach measured 13 

 feet 4J inches in girth at the narrowest part. Of three large 

 willows (probably Salix fragilis) in the park the one nearest the 

 lodge measured 16 feet 6 inches, another north-west of above 18 

 feet, a third east of above 1 6 feet 1 inch ; a fine birch near above 

 5 feet 10^ inches; a beech south-east of house n feet \\ inches, 

 another beech south of west corner of house 13 feet 2\ inches ; a 

 willow north-west of house 16 feet. In the matter of height and 

 spread these were all well-developed trees. Prof. King, who was 

 present, recalling that the Wallace Oak, which stood near the 

 west end of the village of Elderslie, and which, when it was blown 

 down in 1856, Mr. Spiers caused to be removed to his estate of 

 Elderslie, near Renfrew, inquiries were instituted, with the result 

 that those present had the privilege of viewing all that now 

 remains of that historic tree. This consists of its fast-decaying 

 trunk, which, in spite of the protection afforded to it (it is lodged 

 in the loft of an outhouse), will soon be only a memory. In 

 Ramsay's Views in Re?ifreu)shire (Edinburgh, 1839) there is an 

 engraving of this tree as a tail-piece to the chapter of that work 

 which is devoted to the Wallace Oak, and it is figured in Strutt's 

 work. 



Blythswood was next visited. This estate (which has been in 

 the possession of the Campbell family since 1654) was, until the 

 erection of the present mansion house in 182 1, called Renfield. 

 The park is pleasantly situated, and has as its western and north- 

 ern boundaries the Cart and Clyde respectively. The gardens 



