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LANARKSHIRE LANCASHIRE. 



beauties, its numerous country seats, its waterfalls, 

 romantic dells, orchards, hanging woods, and culti- 

 vated fields. 



The principal river of the county, and in point of 

 commercial importance the first in Scotland, is the 

 Clyde; which, traversing the whole length of 

 Lanarkshire, gives it the name of Clydesdale. It 

 collects its supplies from no less than 1200 square 

 miles of surface, including the areas described by its 

 tributary streams. Its farthest source is situated 

 near Queensberry-hill, at the southern extremity of 

 the county, at the head of a rivulet called the Crook- 

 burn, flowing into the river Daer. and which, after a 

 course of several miles, is joined by a stream called 

 Little Clyde ; this last has its rise near the mountain 

 of Clydeslaw, in the vicinity of which the rivers 

 Tweed and Annan have also their sources. The 

 general direction of the river is towards the north- 

 west. In its course, by a noble sweep, it winds 

 around the base of the mountain of 'I into ; then 

 leaving the hilly district of the county, and entering 

 the more cultivated division, at no great distance 

 from the southern extremity of the vale of Clyde, 

 it forms the celebrated waterfalls of Bonnington, 

 Corra, Dundaff, and Stonebyres, in the vicinity of 

 the town of Lanark. Continuing to flow through 

 this fine vale, it passes Hamilton, Rutherglen, and 

 the city of Glasgow, a few miles above which it first 

 receives the influence of the tide ; and then gliding 

 onwards with a smooth and gentle current, passing 

 Renfrew, Dumbarton, and Port-Glasgow, it forms 

 the Frith of Clyde, nearly opposite to Greenock. 



The earlier history of Lanarkshire will be found 

 comprehended in the article Glasgow, to which the 

 reader is referred. It formed a portion of the 

 Roman province of Valentia, and afterwards of the 

 British,kingdom of Strath-Clyde, until that kingdom, 

 in the ninth century, became incorporated with those 

 of the Scots and Picts. The county of Lanark for- 

 merly included what is now called Renfrewshire; 

 but in the reign of Robert III. that portion of it was 

 disjoined from Lanark, and formed into a separate 

 jurisdiction, in favour of his eldest son James, prince 

 and steward of Scotland, by a charter of erection, 

 dated at Perth, 10th December, 1404. At that time 

 Lanark was distinguished by two divisions or wards, 

 called the Over ward and the Nether ward of Clydes- 

 dale; the burgh of Lanark being the chief town and 

 seat of justice of the former division, and the burgh 

 of Rutherglen of the latter. These divisions con- 

 tinued till the last century, when they were formed 

 into three wards, namely, the upper ward, with 

 Lanark for its chief town and seat of justice ; the 

 middle ward, with Hamilton, and the lower ward, 

 with Glasgow. For each of these wards there is a 

 sheriff-substitute appointed by the sheriff-depute of 

 the shire. 



Lanarkshire contains excellent freestone, lime- 

 stone, ironstone, coal, and granite. The most 

 valuable freestone is found in the lower part of the 

 district, with which the buildings in the city of 

 Glasgow, and the adjacent country, are constructed. 

 Limestone is to be met with in many places, but 

 principally in those parts of the country lying to the 

 northward of the Tinto hills. In almost all the 

 limestone rocks, are to be met with shells and other 

 fossils, which are sometimes very numerous, and of 

 many different species. Ironstone is very abundant 

 in some situations. It lies in regular strata above 

 the limestone and coal ; in others in contact with 

 sandstone ; and in others again, it is to be met with 

 in the form of balls, which are of an excellent quality, 

 yielding upwards of 50 per cent, of iron. The iron- 

 stone found here, is entirely used in the different 

 furnaces in the county, particularly at those of Clyde, 



Calder, Clcland, and Shotts. The richest mines arc 

 those of ("alderwood and Crossbasket, in the parish 

 of Kilbride, and which have been long wrought to 

 great advantage. The most valuable metallic ores 

 are, however, situated in the southern part of the 

 county, where lead has been wrought for more than 

 two centuries. The principal mines are at Leadhills. 

 The veins of lead vary in width from a few inches to 

 fifteen feet. Silver is extracted from the lead, in 

 the proportion of six to twelve ounces in the ton. 

 In the same district of the county, gold is often 

 found amongst the mountains in veins of quartz, or 

 washed down into the sands of rivulets. Gold was 

 first discovered here in the reign of James III. by 

 one Cornelius Devossec, a lapidary of London ; and 

 a considerable quantity of those pieces called unicorns, 

 coined from it. In the reign of James V. 300 men 

 are said to have been employed searching for this 

 precious metal for several summers, and to have col- 

 lected gold to the amount of =100,000 sterling. 

 Lapis lazuli, and antimony, have also been found in 

 small quantities. A more valuable mineral than 

 either of these, is, however, found here in abundance, 

 viz. coal. It has been calculated, that the coal 

 stretches through this county in one solid mass, over 

 nearly 110 square miles, or 55,000 acres ; and taking 

 all the strata of coal into account, the thickness can- 

 not be less than five yards. 



In Lanarkshire a great variety of soils exist, but 

 the moorish and mountainous predominate. Even 

 many of the more genial soils are cold from their 

 substrata, and damp from the climate. The hus- 

 bandry of the county is chiefly distinguished for its 

 orchards and its breed of horses. The Clydesdale 

 orchards lie chiefly between the lowest fall of the 

 river and the mouth of the South Calder. Most of 

 them are planted on steep hanging banks, and 

 nothing can exceed in beauty and luxuriance tvris 

 portion of the county. They consist chiefly of 

 apple, pear, and plum trees, and are valued at 

 about 2000 annually. The draught horses of 

 Clydesdale have been long held in high estimation, 

 and are considered superior to any in England. 

 They first began to be improved by crosses from 

 Flanders about 1760. Dealers from all parts of the 

 country come to the Glasgow and Rutherglen fairs 

 to purchase them. 



At an early period, the inhabitants appear to have 

 been much engaged in the buying and selling of 

 wool, and the manufacture of coarse woollen cloths. 

 In the early half of the last century, a great deal of 

 fine linen and checks was made, and large quantities 

 of yarn spun by the hand. This led to the establish- 

 ment of manufactures of lawns and cambrics, which 

 have been succeeded by cotton goods. The extent 

 to which the cotton manufacture is now carried on in 

 Lanarkshire may be seen by a reference to the article 

 Glasgow. Population of Lanarkshire in 1755,81,781 ; 

 in 1791, 126,354; in 1801, 150,690; in 1811, 192,097; 

 in 1821, 244,766: inl831,316,819;in!841, 426,972. 



LANCASHIRE, the county palatine of Lancaster, 

 is bounded on the north by Cumberland and West- 

 moreland, on the east by Yorkshire, on the south by 

 Cheshire and the river Mersey, and on the west by 

 the Irish Sea. Its extreme length is seventy-four 

 miles, and its breadth varies from fifteen to forty- 

 four miles. Its surface, according to the trigono- 

 metrical survey, contains 1831 square miles, or 

 1,171,840 statute acres, of which 370,000 are in a 

 state of tillage, 450,000 in pasturage, and nearly 

 400,000 in moors, mosses, and woodlands. The 

 county is divided into the six hundreds of Lonsdale, 

 Amounderness, Blackburn, Ley land, Salford, and 

 West Derby. It lies in the ecclesiastical province 

 of York, and in the diocese of Chester, which was 



