RENFREWSHIRE 



however, is in fomc incalui-e iiiteriupted by levcial hitches, 

 at one of which tlic niafs of coal is iuildeiily thrown up 

 about fifty fft-t, at another above thirty. 'J'liefc liitches 

 interrupt not only the dircAion, but the degree of tlie dip. 

 On one fide at" the northern hitch, it is about one foot in 

 three ; on the other (Ide, only one in fix. Some years ago, 

 this bed of coal having taken lire, the pillars gave way and 

 the ground funk, leaving. the furface in a very rugged ilatc. 

 The difhculties thus produced, however, have been fur- 

 mounted, and this nuneral treafure reflored to all its utility. 

 The otlier coal-mines in tlie county of Renfrew, are thofe 

 of Hawkfhead, Cathcart, and Kilbarchan. The firft has 

 been wrought above 200 years. In the fame neighbour- 

 hood, lime is quarried in great quantities, alfo in Cathcart 

 parifh. Iron-llone accompanies all the coal llrata, but is 

 more particularly abundant along tlie (hores of tlie Clyde. 



On the agricitlture of Renfrcwfhire, it will be unneceffary 

 to offer many remarks. Almofl every portion of the county 

 is inclofcd and cultivated, but grafs lands are far more pre- 

 dominant than arable fields. This ariles from the great 

 demand whicli exills for the produfts of the dairy, tlie gar- 

 den, and the fold, in confequenee of the vicinity of trading 

 and manufafturing towns, and the vail importation of grain 

 which takes place from other parts of the country, or from 

 abroad. Here the farmers are more fenlible than to objed 

 to a free commerce in that article ; becaufe they do not 

 envy the inhabitants of lefs populous dilbicts, who find no 

 better employment for their lands than that of fcourging 

 them by endlefs crops of grain. One would imagine that 

 the praftice in tliis dillrift alone ought to decide the prin- 

 ciple of the corn laws. Here, free importation, fo far from 

 injuring the farmer, augments the value of the foil in every 

 refpeft, fimply by increafing the ratio of population. 



The lands here differ according to their vicinity to the 

 Clyde, or in the lower part of the county, according to 

 their proximity to the waters of the Cart. In the parifhes 

 of Eaft-Wood and the abbey of Paifley, the lands are beau- 

 tifully interfpcrfed witli fmall rifing hills, although the foil 

 i« generally of a thin clay. Here the farmers keep one 

 half of their grour.ds in grafs, which they confider as the 

 moil important crop. Iii'the upper diflrift of the county, 

 which comprehends -the parifhes of Mearns, Englefham, 

 Neililon, Lochwinnoch, Kilbarchan, Erfkine, and Kilmal- 

 colm, the lands are peculiarly adapted for palhiring fheep, 

 but none of them are fo flocked, excepting fomc mclofures 

 about gentlemen's feats, and a few parks in Neilfton parifli. 

 The parifh of Mearns is perhaps unequalled in Scotland for 

 numerous fmall hills. The farmers here make large quan- 

 tities of butter. The cows are fmall, of a brown and white 

 colour, and arc chiefly of tlie Ayrfhire breed. Twelve of 

 them afford, during the fummer months, about fixty Eng- 

 lifh gallons of milk daily. Towards the northern part of the 

 county, in Kilmalcolm parifh, the enclofures are generally 

 formed of ilones piled up to the height of four feet. The 

 rotation of crops is three fucceflive crops of oats, and fix 

 years of pafturage. Farm fervants are ufually unmarried, 

 and live in the farmers' houfes. The horfes are of the beft 

 kind, and draw, in a fingle horfe cart, from 17 cwt. to a 

 ton. Farm<; throughout the whole couifty are on a fmall 

 fcale ; few of them exceed feventy acres. 



Renfrewfhire contains one borough-town, Renfrew, and 

 three large manufafturing and commercial towns ; viz. 

 Paifley, Greenock, and Port-Glafgow, all of which are 

 noticed under their refpeftive names. Here are llkewife 

 feveral populous and thriving villages, fuch as Pollock- 

 (havvs, Bridge of Johnlton, and Lochwinnoch, which arc 

 chiefly inhabited by weavers, who derive employment from 



the manufaftories of Glafgow and Paifley. The principal 

 manufactured products are thread, filk-gauze, and different 

 kinds of cotton goods. 



Various remains of anti(juily are Hill vifible in this county. 

 At Paifley was a celebrated abbey for monks of the order 

 ot Clugni, the ruins of which are much admired. Here in 

 alio an old chapel, in tlie early pointed Ityle, which is noted 

 as the burial place of Margery Bruce, and feveral of the 

 earls of Abercorn. In the parifh of Kilbarchan, near 

 Caftle-Semple, is one of thofe monflroua maffes of wliin- 

 ilone, believed to be a druidical altar. It is twelve feet in 

 height, and fixty-feven feet in circumference ; and is known 

 by the name of Clochodrigflone, a corruption of the Gaelic, 

 Cloch-a-Drugh, the Druid's flone. It is compofed of 

 the fame fort of wliinllone of which the neighbouring hills 

 are formed, and has probably been hewn from an elevated 

 rock to the eaflward, on which is a farm-houfe, called alfo 

 Clochodrig ; but by what mechanifm it was conveyed can- 

 not, in the preieiit application of the mechanical arts, be 

 eafily determined. It reils upon a narrow bafe ; but the 

 lower part of it has been covered with ftones gathered from 

 tlie land. At fome dillance are feveral large grey floncs, 

 fuppofed to have '^een jiart of a facred circle lurrounding 

 the altar. The parifh of Cathcart is noted for being the 

 fcene of the battle of Langiide, the lall conteftcd by the 

 unfortunate queen Mary, to regain Iicr authority. The 

 place where the action was fov.ght is an eminence rifing 

 rapidly on the north and well fides, and defcending very 

 gradually on the fouth and well fides. On the fummit is 

 an elliptical intrenchment, commonly called queen Mary's 

 camp ; but which is undoubtedly of much higher antiquity, 

 and probably of Roman origin. On an lull, oppofite to 

 Langfide, is the old caflle of Cathcart, near which queen 

 Mary flood during the battle, and witneffed the difcomfi- 

 ture of her friends, and the annihilation of her hopes. On 

 the other fide of this range of hills is another ancient 

 caflle, now in ruins, which belonged to the anceflors of the 

 great reformer Knox ; and at a fhort dillance from it, on 

 an elevated rock, may be feen one of thofe green artificial 

 hills, ufually called moats. It is of a fquare form, the 

 fides facing the four cardinal points ; the weflward refls on 

 the precipitous edge of the ileep rock ; and the remaining 

 fides are defended by a deep trench, cut out of the folid 

 Hone. Each fide of this mount meafures fixty feet in length 

 at the bafe, and nineteen at the fummit ; and is twenty-one 

 feet high. The top appears to have been a hollow fquare, 

 furrounded by a parapet, with en entrance on the eaflern 

 fide. No fewer than five other artificial mounts can be feen 

 from the one defcribed ; alfo a Roman encampment near 

 Paifley, diflant about five miles. On the top of Barhill 

 are the remains of a rude encampment, which occupies the 

 fummit of a precipice, formed of a perpendicular rock of 

 a bafaltic appearance, which defends it on the north ; and 

 on the fouth it has a parapet of loofe floncs. The tradi- 

 tion in the neighbourhood is, that it was an encampment of 

 the celebrated fir William Wallace. The pinnacle of rock 

 is Ihewn where they fay Wallace fat while he enticed the 

 Enghfh forces into a bog at the bottom of the rock, where 

 they were all deftroyed ; but no hiflorian confirms this 

 llatement. In an ifland of Caltle-Semple loch is ftill to 

 be feen the Pail or Peel, an old caflle, to which the lairds of 

 Semple were accuftomed to retreat in times of unufual dan- 

 ger. In the lake, canoes hollowed out of fingle trees, like 

 thofe of the Indians, have been occafionally difcovered. 

 Lower down the country the ruins of the caflle of Newark 

 chiefly claim attention. It Hands on the eailern point of the 

 bay, on which the town and harbour of Port-Glafgow is 

 I fituatcd. 



