208 BISHOPTON-KILMALCOLM. and has a post office under Paisley, and | rock, separating the shores of the Clyde from the lowlands of Gryfedale, and pierced by the long tunnel of the railway. Bishopton House, on the hill side, was once a country retreat of the Archbishop of Glasgow, and is now occupied by Robert A. Kidston, Esq. Bishopton village, near the station, has a post office under Paisley, an inn, and about 350 inhabitants. See 594. about 800 inhabitants. An ancient village and a fine old baronial castle stood on a neighbouring spot, but were nearly all demolished in 1780. The chancel of an ancient church, forming part of a modern one, contains an altar-tomb of the Houston family. An ancient cross stands adjacent, comprising a graduated platform, an octagonal pillar 9 feet high, and a surmounting dial and globe. Houston House, to the east of the village, is a seat of A. A. Speirs, Esq. Bridge of Weir, on Gryfe Water, 13 mile to the south-west, is a modern manufacturing village, with a post office under Paisley, and about 850 inhabitants. Gryfe Castle, a little west of Bridge of Weir, is the seat of Robert Freeland, Esq. Blackstone, near the railway, a mile south-east of Houston Station, belongs to T. Speirs, Esq., and is occupied by his factor. Barrochan House, a little west of the station, is the seat of the Misses Fleming. Barrochan Cross, in its vicinity, is a very ancient sculptured stone, on an unhewn pedestal, supposed to be commemorative of some battle now unknown to history. 604. BISHOPTON estate belonged anciently to the family of Brisbane, and is now the property of Lord Blantyre. Bishopton Hills are a ridge of trap 605. KILMALCOLM is a village 4 miles south-east of Port-Glasgow, and 43 northwest of Houston. It took its name from an ancient church dedicated to King Malcolm III.; contains a post office under Port-Glasgow, and about 200 inhabitants; consists of old thatched houses, with several little hostelries and three places of worship; and presents a more curious, old-world, sequestered aspect than any other village in the west. The parish church is a handsome edifice, with a tower, erected in 1832; and the aisle of a previous church and the tomb of the Earls of Glencairn are contiguous. Duchall House, a seat of Sir M. Shaw Stewart, Bart., and Carruth, the seat of Henry M'Dowall, Esq., are 13 mile and 24 miles to the south. Duchall Place, the romantic ruin of an ancient castle, long the seat of the noble family of Lyle, is 2 miles to the south-west. ners, called Gourock Castle, the residence of Captain Frere, R. N., crowns the cliff behind the street-line of Kempock Point, and forms a conspicuous feature. Four places of worship, Estab Episcopalian, stand at various points on the braes, and contribute materially to picturesque effect. The entire town is neat, clean, and attractive. The views from it are diversified and pleasing; and the country behind it, though hilly, affords delightful walks. Gourock was a watering resort in times long prior to 606. FORT MATILDA is a small mo- | edifice, with round turrets at the cordern fortification, on a point of land projecting from the base of Binnan's Hill, midway between Greenock and Gourock. It was formed for the defence of the Clyde, and fully commands the navigable channel; and it was recently recon-lished, Free, United Presbyterian, and structed, and mounts seven large guns. Binnan's Hill rises behind it with precipitous crest, and commands a fine view of the Clyde from Dumbarton to Dunoon. 607. GOUROCK Bay opens about 2 miles west-north-west of Greenock, has a semicircular outline upon a chord of nearly a mile, and faces the north. Its bosom is free from rock or shoal, and the introduction of steam; it became a offers a fine retreat for yachts; its mar-highly favourite one immediately after; gins are clean, gravelly, and well graduated for bathing; and its west side, near the outer extremity, has a good stone pier and jetty, constructed in 1840, for the accommodation of steamers and small sailing vessels. The town of Gourock curves round the greater part of the bay to Kempock Point, and extends thence about threefourths of a mile to the south-west. The part of it on the bay is Gourock proper, and the part beyond Kempock is Ashton. and it continues to be frequented more or less throughout the year, and is always crowded during summer. Its communications, by passing steamers and by omnibus to Greenock, are exceed. ingly numerous. It has a post office | under Greenock, a circulating library, and two chief inns-the Commercial and the George. Its population in March 1851 was 2194. The lands of Gourock belonged anciently to the Earls of Douglas; passed, A portion of Gourock proper is a in 1455, to the Stewarts of Castlemilk; detached group of villas and ornate cot- and are now the property of Duncan tages on the sweep of the bay nearest Darroch, Esq. The mansion stands in Greenock; another portion consists of the southern vicinity of the town, on short streets and separate houses on the the site of an ancient castle; and is a face of a brae along the west; and the plain edifice of 1747, with large modern rest is chiefly a terrace-line, with plain additions. An ancient fishing hamlet houses and numerous shops, confront- stood on the bay near Kempock Point, ing the beach. The greater part of Ash- and long gave better promise than Greenton is an array of villas or neat spacious ock of becoming a great port. An expeditwo-storey houses, along a narrow belt tion to the Western Islands was fitted of low ground overhung by steep braes. out at it by James IV.; and an extenSome houses stand higher, and take a sive establishment for the curing of red strange appearance from the annexation herrings, the earliest in Britain, was set of gardens and garden walls running up adjacent to it in the 17th century. A boldly up the steep. A quadrangular rude upright stone, popularly called 210 LEVEN CASTLE-SKELMORLIE. "Granny Kempock," still standing be- | profusion of wood, about half a mile from hind a house near Kempock Point, was believed for ages to possess a talismanic power over the winds and the waves; and a young woman, named Mary Lamont, was judicially burnt at the stake in 1662, for an alleged conspiracy with the devil to throw the stone into the sea. Two notable catastrophes occurred in the seaway adjacent to Kempock Point in the early years of steam navigation-the sinking of the Catherine of Iona and the Comet, by steam-boat collision, with the loss of respectively 42 and 60 persons. 608. LEVEN CASTLE is a ruined baronial fortalice, behind an elegant modern mansion, near the shore, 2 miles south-west of Kempock Point. It belonged, till 1547, to a family of the name of Morton; but passed then to Lord Sempill, and afterwards to the Shaw Stewarts. It comprises two strong quadrangular towers, placed at a right angle to each other, and luxuriantly overgrown with ivy; the walls very thick and strong, about 30 feet high, and terminating in a graceful, well-preserved cornice. The mansion in front of it is the seat of Mrs. Crooks. Cloch Lighthouse, a mile further south-west, is a round tower, 76 feet high, built in 1797. 609. ARDGOWAN, the seat of Sir Michael R. Shaw Stewart, Bart., stands on the coast, amid nobly-wooded grounds, about half a mile north of Innerkip, and is a stately edifice, built about the beginning of the present century. A ruined old square tower stands near it, formerly the residence of Sir Michael's ancestors, and supposed to have been a renovation of the ancient castle of Innerkip. The English held this fortalice, as an important strength, in the time of Robert Bruce; and Sir Philip de Mowbray, after his discomfiture by Sir James Douglas, fled to it, by way of Kilmarnock and Ardrossan, " 'syne throw the Largis him allane, till Ennerkyp." 610. INNERKIP village stands in the mouth of the vale of Kip Water, amid a the Frith. It contains a post office under Greenock, a good inn, a handsome modern church, some neat modern residences, and an ancient burying-ground, with a splendid mausoleum of the Shaw Stewart family. Its population is about 500. The Largs and Millport steamers communicate with it by row-boat. A number of women were burnt at Innerkip in 1662 for alleged witchcraft. Kip Water rises within 1 mile of Greenock, and has a south-westerly course of 5 miles, along a bosky, picturesque glen. It contains good store of trout, but is rigidly preserved. Dunrod barony, along the middle part of its left side, belonged to Sir James Lindsay, the companion of Robert Bruce, and was held by his descendants till the 17th century. brook through the barony, called Dunrod Burn, is spanned by a curious and very ancient bridge, said to be Roman. A 611. WEMYSS BAY is an encurvature about 2 miles across, at the mouth of Kelly Burn, 23 miles south of Innerkip. Its shore is a narrow flat belt of old raised sea-beach, backed by fissured sandstone cliffs, and opening inward to the romantic, wooded, hill-flanked ravine of Kelly Burn. About thirty new villas stand round the bay, and bear its name; most of them showing ambitious features of architecture; the most prominent one, a rare and striking specimen of the old Scottish baronial style. The place has a post office under Greenock, and a substantial steamboat jetty. Kelly House, in the vicinity, the seat of James Scott, Esq., is a plaín edifice of 1793. Kelly Burn, whose braes are celebrated in a fantastic old song, altered by Burns, has a run of about 4 miles, and forms part of the boundary between Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. 612. SKELMORLIE is a wateringplace, and an estate 1 mile south of Wemyss Bay. The watering-place is quite new, has a good timber jetty, and contains a few elegant villas. The estate KNOCK CASTLE-KELBURN. 211 belonged successively to several branches | feet above the level of the sea. The lands, to the extent of about 20,000 acres, were anciently a lordship belonging to successively Sir Richard de Morville, the Lords of Galloway, and the Lord High Stewards of Scotland; and were eventually divided among the vassals of the Stewarts. They contain many rich close scenes, and command a brilliant outward view. The town dates from old times, but has a modern appearance. A good quay, constructed in 1834, at a cost of £4275, extends in front; a spacious esplanade, used as a public lounge, lies between the quay and the town; a neat terrace line of street fronts the esplanade; a good main street strikes inward at right angles from the terrace; and numerous neat villas and ornate cottages stand on the outskirts or extend along the shore. The parish church, built in 1812, and enlarged in 1831, is a handsome edifice, surmounted by a remarkably beautiful steeple. An aisle of the former church, fitted up in 1636 as a mausoleum by Sir Robert Montgomery of Skelmorlie, is a striking object, with Corinthian pillars and fanciful decorations. The town is a summer resort of families for seabathing, and affords all facilities for their comfort; and it contains a post office under Greenock, two banking offices, a public reading-room, and two chief inns, the Brisbane Arms and the White Hart. Its population in March 1851 was 2824. A great battle was fought in its southern vicinity, in 1263, between Haco of Norway and Alexander III. of Scotland. This battle is the subject of the ancient ballad of “ Hardyknute:" and memorials of it exist in a sculptured stone at Curlinghall, adjacent to the battle-field, in a bridle-bit preserved in the Scottish Antiquaries' Museum, and in a number of local names. of the Montgomery family, and is now the property of the Earl of Eglinton. The mansion on it is partly a structure of the 16th and 17th centuries, partly a large addition of 1858, and occupies a conspicuous site, amid thick old woods, about a quarter of a mile from the shore. 613. KNOCK CASTLE, on the coast, about 1 mile south of Skelmorlie, comprises two buildings detached from each other; the one a new, magnificent, castellated edifice, in the old Scottish style; the other an ancient baronial fortalice, recently renovated. A hill adjacent to it, rising to the altitude of 717 feet above the level of the sea, was used in ancient times as a beacon-post, and commands an extensive and gorgeous view. The estate of Knock belonged for several ages to the Frazers of Lovat, and is now the property of George Elder, Esq. Brisbane House, a seat of the late General Sir Thomas Makdougall, Bart., stands in Brisbane Glen, behind the ridge, nearly midway between Knock Castle and Largs. 614. BIG CUMBRAY island commences opposite Largs, extends 3 miles southward, with a breadth of 2 miles, and is separated from the mainland by a sound 1 mile wide. It comprises a low, flat beach, steep flanking banks, and a hilly interior, rising to an altitude of about 450 feet above the level of the sea. Its predominant rock is old red sandstone, intersected, and partly altered, by great dikes of trap. Many of the dikes project, in a denuded manner, beyond the sandstone; and two remarkable ones in the south-east look like vast walls, and have been alleged by old elfish legend to be the remains of deeds of devilcraft for bridging the sound. The chief interest of the island lies round Millport. See 619. 615. LARGS is a small town on the coast-verge of a fertile, ornate, semicircular plain, overhung, at the distance of a mile, by a sweep of brae and hill, rising to altitudes of from 700 to 1691 616. KELBURN is a seat of the Earl of Glasgow, half a mile from the shore, 1 mile south-south-east of Largs. The estate connected with it has been in possession of the Earl's family since the time of Alexander III. The park in- | ships. Its shores are first a narrow belt cludes finely timbered braes, and a dark, wooded, wild ravine, graced by two deep waterfalls, and overhung at the head by an abrupt, lofty hill. The Earl takes from Kelburn the titles of Baron and Viscount. 617. FAIRLIE village, with a number of neat villas, and about 550 inhabitants, stands 3 miles south of Largs. A grim, old, square tower, long the seat of a family of the name of Fairlie, stands on the brae above the village. Southannan estate, a little to the south, belonging for centuries to the Lords Sempill, but now the property of the Earl of Eglinton, is traversed by a romantic streamlet, and contains the ruins of an elegant mansion of the time of James VI. of low, flat ground, and next a sweep of gentle brae; and they command, froin their higher points, a noble view. The Parish Church, on the lap of the brae, near the west end of the town, is a neat modern edifice with a fine square tower. The Episcopalian Church and College, in a picturesque depression on the brow of the brae, is a large, elegant, recent structure, in the Gothic style, with a pyramidal spire. The Garrison, the residence of the Dowager Countess of Glasgow and the Hon. Mr. Boyle, adjacent to the Episcopalian Church, is a handsome modern edifice. The town has a post office under Greenock, a public library, and two inns, the Millport and the Cumbray. Its winter population is about 1000. 618. LITTLE CUMBRAY lies fully a mile south-west of Big Cumbray, mea- 620. PORTINCROSS is a sea cliff, sures about 3 miles in circuit, and rises about a mile long and 300 feet high, on to an altitude of 420 feet above the level Fairlie Head, 3 miles south by east of of the sea. It abounds with rabbits, Millport. A ruined small fortalice of and is used chiefly for pasture. An old the 13th century, said to have been a disused light-house, the earliest but one halting-place of the Scottish kings when ever built in Scotland, stands on the top on their way to the Western Isles, and of it, and commands a magnificent view. still tolerably entire, stands at the base Another light-house, now in use, built in of the cliff. One of the ships of the 1826, stands at the south-west extremity. Spanish Armada was stranded in the A ruined, roofless, strong, ancient tower, neighbourhood. The village of West situated on the east side, is believed to Kilbride, an ancient but poor place, with have been erected as a watch-post against three places of worship, and about 1100 inthe Scandinavian rovers, gave refuge in habitants, is 24 miles east of Portincross; times of trouble to the friends of the Montfode Castle, an old baronial ruin, is family of Montgomery, and suffered siege 14 mile south-east of West Kilbride; and and capture by Oliver Cromwell. A Knockgeorgan, a hill 708 feet high, Culdee cell stood near the tower, and crowned by vestiges of a Scandinavian was succeeded by a Romish chapel. fortification, and commanding a very extensive and most magnificent view, is 2 miles north-east of Montfode. 621. ARDROSSAN was founded in 1806, by the Earl of Eglinton, to be an 619. MILLPORT is a small town and watering-place on the south end of Big Cumbray. It curves round a pleasant bay, in the form of a crescent, and consists chiefly of neat, two-storey, white-outport to Glasgow. It soon was arrested washed houses. The bay is flanked by headlands, running out like horns, and covered quite across the mouth by Little Cumbray; and it has a good bathing beach, a good stone quay, good anchoring ground, and good shelter for yachts and by the deepening of the Clyde above Dumbarton; but it struggled into the condition of a favourite watering-place, and an extensive coasting port. An artificial harbour, commenced at it, absorbed upwards of £100,000, and then |