lay for many years in a fragmentary state, | baths, and a commodious hotel called the but was eventually completed. Horse Eglinton Arms. Its population in 1851 Island, about a mile to the north-west, affords some shelter, and contains a beacon tower; and an artificial breakwater extends to the north-east. The town consists of straight, spacious, well-built streets, crossing one another at right angles, with a handsome crescent to the east; and it contains a number of handsome villas, an occasional residence of Lord Eglinton called the Pavilion, a key post office, three banking offices, an elegant new parish church, three other places of worship, an edifice fitted up with

was 2071. An ancient hamlet of Ardrossan, with a church and a baronial castle, stood on a small, low, promontorial eminence, now called the Castle Hill. The castle was the scene of an exploit of Sir William Wallace, and was destroyed by Cromwell. An owner of it, some time before the Reformation, was popularly regarded as a warlock, and called "the Deil o' Ardrossan;" and a sculptured tombstone, within the site of the extinct church, is supposed to cover his remains.

622. ELDERSLIE is a straggling vil- | hero and 300 of his followers from a purlage, with about 1200 inhabitants, chiefly operatives, 2 miles west of Paisley. It was the birth-place of Sir William Wallace, and gave him his designation of the Knight of Elderslie. A plain old house in it claims to be that in which he was born, but bears unmistakable marks of having been built long after his death. A famous old tree, called Wallace's oak, fabled to have afforded shelter to the

suit of the English, was overthrown by a storm in 1856. The estate of Elderslie remained nearly five centuries in the possession of the Wallaces, but is now the property of Alexander Speirs, Esq., and gives its name to his mansion in the vicinity of Renfrew. Linwood, on the Black Cart, a mile north-north-west of Elderslie, is a modern, regularly planned, manufacturing village, with about 1400 inhabitants.

214

GLENIFFER BRAES-CASTLE SEMPLE.

623. GLENIFFER BRAES are a range | less than a mile in diameter, overlaid by of hills commencing 2 miles south-west a bed of sandstone 24 feet thick, and a of Paisley, and extending several miles cap of basalt 100 feet thick; and comto the south-west. Their highest points prises five seams of the aggregate thickhave altitudes of about 760 feet above ness of 90 feet. the level of the sea, and command magnificent views. They were favourite haunts of the poet Tannahill, and are commemorated in his songs. Gleniffer proper is a dark mural ravine at their north-west end, now included in a game preserve. Stanley Tower, also sung by Tannahill, is a ruined baronial keep, about 40 feet high, a little to the east of Gleniffer, and now within the margin of reservoirs formed in 1837 for supplying Paisley with water. The name of Gleniffer Braes is sometimes restricted to the parts of the hills adjoining the ravine; while that of Stanley Braes is given to the parts around the tower, and that of Fereneze Hills to the entire range.

624. JOHNSTONE stands on the right bank of the Black Cart, and at the west end of the Paisley Canal. It was founded in 1781, to be a seat of manufacture; and is built on a regular plan. It comprises a main street running east and west, several transverse streets, and two squares. It employs upwards of 2000 persons in cotton factories; has large foundries, machine manufactories, and other industrial establishments; and contains a post office under Glasgow, two banking offices, a mechanics' institution, and four places of worship. Its population in 1851 was 5872. Johnstone Castle, the seat of Ludovic Houston, Esq., an elegant modern mansion, stands about a mile to the south-east. Balaklava village, founded in 1856 for working extensive iron-stone mines, stands a short distance to the west.

625. QUARRELTON and Thorn are mining villages with jointly about 900 inhabitants, a mile south of Johnstone. A mass of coal around them, similar in quality to the coal of Newcastle, is perhaps the thickest ever found in the world. It lies in a basin-shaped cavity,

626. KILBARCHAN, an ancient town, now inhabited chiefly by hand-loom weavers, stands on a slope three-fourths encompassed by sheltering heights, 1} mile west of the Milliken Park Station. It produced, in the latter part of the 16th century, a famous piper, Habbie Simpson, who is mentioned in " Maggie Lauder," and commemorated in a wellknown poem by Robert Sempill of Beltrees. A steeple in the centre of the town, built in 1755, contains in a niche a statue of Habbie Simpson, placed there in 1822. Kilbarchan has a post office under Paisley, a public library, and four places of worship. Its population in 1851 was 2467. Milliken House, the seat of Sir Robert J. M. Napier, Bart., an elegant modern Grecian edifice, amid a picturesque park, is a mile to the east ; Ranfurly Castle, the ruined old baronial keep of the family of Knox, giving the title of Baron and Earl to their Irish branch, stands 12 mile to the north-west; and the mansions of Glentyan, Captain Stirling; Clippens, Hugh Ferrier, Esq.; and Craigends, Alexander Cunninghame, Esq., are in the neighbourhood.

627. CASTLE SEMPLE Loch lies in the bosom of a spacious valley, upward from the head of the Black Cart. It was originally 4 miles long, and upwards of a mile broad; but it has been greatly decreased by drainage, with the effect of recovering upwards of 400 acres of rich land from its bed. It still perennially covers about 200 acres, and periodically expands in times of flood. Its waters contain pike, perch, and other kinds of fish, and are frequented by swans, teals, and other kinds of water-fowl. Its bosom is gemmed with three small wooded islets; its shores spread away in verdure and wood; and the tracts beyond shelve upward,

LOCHWINNOCH-KILBIRNIE.

215

629. BEITH, a market town, stands on a high brae a mile east of Beith Station. It was only a small church hamlet in the 17th century; but had a population of 4012 in 1851. It contains a key post office, three banking offices, a reading-room, a public library, a handsome parish church with a tower, and a chief inn called the Commercial. Some vantage-grounds in its vicinity command a gorgeous prospect southward beyond Ailsa Craig, and northward to the Grampians. Three new villages stand

with rich garniture of village, mansion, | rimonial castle of Sir William Wallace, and culture, to picturesque ranges of is 43 miles to the east-south-east. flanking heights. Castle Semple estate, which gave name to the lake, belonged for centuries to the noble family of Sempill, and is now the property of James O. L. Harvey, Esq. Its original seat was Elliotson Tower, about a mile east of the foot of the lake; and is still standing, in a state of ruin. Its next seat was Castle Semple, an edifice of great size, on the west side of the lake, near the foot; but was demolished in 1735. The present seat is a neat modern edifice, on the site of Castle Semple, amid a splendid park. A structure in imitation of a Chinese at short distances to the south-east. pagoda, built about the middle of last | century, stands on a hill in the western part of the estate, and commands a fine view of the lake and the surrounding country. Fragments of a peel tower, and the ruin of a collegiate church, both erected by the Sempill family in the sixteenth century, stand near the lake.

Caldwell House, the seat of Wm. Mure, Esq., the descendant of a knight of the 14th century, is 4 miles to the east. Giffen Castle, an ancient seat of the Earls of Eglinton, stood on a conspicuous site, 2 miles to the east-south-east, an arresting feature to the eye over a large tract of country, but fell in 1838.

630. KILBIRNIE Loch extends 11 628. LOCHWINNOCH is a small town mile southward, with half a mile on Calder Water, near the west shore of in breadth; and is stored with pike, Castle Semple Loch. Calder Water rises perch, trout, and eel. Kilbirnie town, among high bills, in the western vicinity south of the lake, along Garnock Water, of Mistylaw, runs 7 miles east-south- had only three houses in 1742, only eighty eastward to Castle Semple Loch, and families in 1792, but 3399 inhabitants in makes a number of beautiful cascades. 1851. It subsists by manufactures; and Mistylaw has an altitude of 1240 feet contains a post office under Beith, a bankabove the level of the sea, and commands ing office, a subscription library, and an a grand view over the Frith of Clyde and inn called the Black Bull. The parish parts of twelve counties. The environs church, to the south of it, is a curious of Lochwinnoch display much beauty of old building of various dates, repaired wood and feature, and are celebrated by in 1855. Kilbirnie Castle, about a mile Wilson the American ornithologist. The to the west, is the roofless ruin of a town is partly old and dingy, but chiefly noble pile, partly of the 15th century, modern, neat, and regular. It has three inhabited by the Viscounts Garnock, factories, a post office under Paisley, a partly of the 17th century, inhabited banking office, a public library, and three by the Earl of Crawford. inns, the Black Bull, the Eagle, and the nock Castle, 2 miles to the north-northWheat Sheaf. Its population in 1851 was west, is the ruin of an ancient strong 2271. Barr Castle, a roofless, high, ob- baronial seat, fabled to have been the long tower of the 15th century, and Gart- residence of Hardyknute and the De land House, the seat of Major-General D. Morvilles, and now the property of the H. Macdowall, are in the southern vici- Earl of Glasgow. Ladyland, to the nity. Auchenbathie Castle, a ruined pat-north-north east, the seat of Captain R.

Glengar.

216

GARNOCK WATER-STEVENSTON.

W. Wilson, is an elegant mansion of 1816. Iron works, employing about 400 men, were commenced a few years ago at Glengarnock.

631. GARNOCK WATER rises on Mistylaw, and runs 20 miles southward to Irvine harbour. It is for some time a limpid pastoral stream; and it makes a fine cataract, called the Spout of Garnock; but it afterwards goes through a flat country, blackened with mining works, or laden with wood. Its waters used to be rich in salmon and various kinds of trouts, but have been much injured by factories and mining works. Its chief tributaries are the Rye and the Gaaf on the right, and the Dusk and the Lugton on the left.

pied by the Scottish army on the eve of the battle of Largs.

633. KILWINNING is an ancient place, on Garnock Water, amid low, rich, well-wooded environs. It consists chiefly of one old narrow street, some old lanes, and some 'modern rows of houses; and it contains a post office under Irvine, two banking offices, a reading-room, and a chief inn called the Eglinton Arms. Its population in 1851 was 3265. A Tyronensian abbey was founded here in 1140; and a small part of the church, comprising the south gable of the transept, a fine arch, a gateway, and some walls, is still standing, adjoined to a handsome tower, about 105 feet high, built in 1816. Kilwinning is noted for early intimate connection with Scottish freemasonry, and for the maintenance of the peculiar, ancient practice of archery, described in Sir Walter Scott's "Old Mortality." The seats of Monkcastle, Ashgrove, Mountgrenan, and Eglinton Castle, are in the neigh

632. DALRY stands on Garnock Water, adjacent to the influx of the Rye and the Gaaf. The country around it possesses much beauty, but underwent some change, a few years ago, by the erection of extensive mining establishments and iron works. The town itself now exists under a blaze of blast fur-bourhood. See 636. naces, and is a busy centre of mineral 634. STEVENSTON is a town with a traffic. It comprises a central area and post office under Glasgow, two places of five principal streets; and contains a worship, and about 3000 inhabitants, post office under Glasgow, two banking chiefly miners and weavers. A tract of offices, a public reading-room, and three about 4 square miles around it contains considerable inns. Its population in the mansions of Kerilaw, Ardeer, Sea1851 was 2706. The seats of Swind- bank, Mayville, Hullerhirst, and Hayridge, J. G. S. Neill, Esq.; Kersland, ocks. The ruins of an ancient castle James A. Snodgrass, Esq.; Maulside, of the Earls of Glencairn, mantled with Captain John Russell, R. N.; Linn, Cap-ivy, and of massive appearance, stand on tain Crichton; and Blair, Captain W. the estate of Kerilaw, and were recently Fordyce Blair, R. N., are at short dis- touched by an improving hand, to increase tances, north-east, east, and south. their picturesqueness and retard their Kersland estate contains fragments of decay. A tract of about 1200 acres beKersland Castle, the residence of the tween the town and the shore, from famous Covenanter, Robert Ker of Kers- Irvine Water mouth to the vicinity of land. Blair estate, in the romantic Saltcoats, is all a sandy desert incumbent bosky glen of the Dusk, contains a sta- on mineral strata of the coal formation. lactitic cave, 183 feet long, used as a Extensive ironworks were recently erected hiding-place by the Covenanters, and here; extensive coal mines are worked; popularly called the Elf House. Caer- and a great sandstone quarry is open, one winning Hill, in the north-east, 634 feet of the best in the west of Scotland, furnish high, shows vestiges of ancient fortifica- ing stones of great interest to both the tion, and is believed to have been occu- builder and the geologist.

635. SALTCOATS takes its name from | handsome spire and some good houses, salt-works erected in the time of James and is a summer resort of many families V.; and it has had a fitful course of of the middle classes, for sea-bathing; manufacture and commerce, but is now, and it has a key post office, two banking in a main degree, a great nest of cotton offices, a literary association, and four weavers and other operatives. It pre- places of worship. Its population in sents a mean appearance, yet contains a 1851 was 4338.

636. EGLINTON CASTLE, the chief | of £4000, in lieu of a Town Hall of seat of the Earl of Eglinton, stands near the left side of Lugton Water, 2 miles north of Irvine. It is a magnificent edifice, built in 1798. Its front shows a large main tower and circular flanking turrets; and its interior contains an apartment 52 feet long, 32 feet wide, and 24 feet high, and is all fitted up with princely elegance. The park around it includes 1200 acres, and extends to the outskirts of Irvine. A pageant, in imitation of the ancient tournaments, was held here in the autumn of 1839. The earldom of Eglinton dates prior to the year 1508.

637. IRVINE is a sea-port, market town, and royal burgh. It stands on Irvine Water, partly on the left bank, but chiefly on the right bank, about a mile from the influx to the Frith. Its principal street is long, spacious, and well edificed; some of its other streets have a good appearance; and its outskirts and environs contain a number of villas. The new Town Hall and Court House, recently erected, at a cost

1745, are a highly ornamental pile. The Parish Church, situated on a swell of ground on the Golf-fields, is an oblong edifice of 1774, with an elegant spire. The carriage bridge across the river is a handsome structure of 1746, repaired in 1837; and the viaduct of the railway is an elegant structure with six arches. The harbour is in a lagoon three-quarters of a mile wide, accessible only by vessels of less than 110 tons. The town has a key post office, four banking offices, a mechanics' institution, a public academy, seven places of worship, and two chief inns, the King's Arms and the Eglinton Arms. It is governed by a provost, three bailies, and fourteen councillors; and it unites with Ayr and three other burghs in sending a member to Parliament. Its population in 1851 was 7534.

Irvine received a charter of privileges from Robert Bruce, for services rendered in his wars against the English; and it appears to have had, for some time, jurisdiction over all Cunningham. It was a