CAMBRIDGE COUiNTY GEOGRAPHIES
LANARKSHIRE
&
'
CAMBRIDGE COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES
SCOTLAND
General Editor: W. MURISON, M.A.
LANARKSHIRE
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY TRESS
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C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
100, PRINCES STREET
A. ASHER AND CO.
ILetpjtg: F. A. BROCKHAUS
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anU Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
[All rights reserved]
Cambridge County Geographies
\,\
LANARKSHIRE
by
FREDERICK MORT, M.A., B.Sc., F.G.S.
Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
Late Lecturer in Geology, Glasgow University
With Maps, Diagrams and Illustrations
Cambridge :
at the University Press
1910
(STambrtoge :
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
-S o
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. County and Shire. The Origin of Lanarkshire . i
2. General Characteristics. Position and Relations . 3
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries ..... 5
4. Surface and General Features . 8
5. Watershed. Rivers. Lakes . .11
6. Geology and Soil . . . . . . .26
7. Natural History .... -37
8. Weather and Climate ... -44
9. The People — Race, Language, Population . 56
10. Agriculture . . . . • • ' -63
11. Industries and Manufactures . . -69
12. Mines and Minerals . .81
13. Shipping and Trade • 9°
14. History of Lanarkshire . . -95
15. Antiquities i<H
vi CONTENTS
PAGE
1 6. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical . . . .112
17. Architecture — (b] Castellated 121
1 8. Architecture — (c) Municipal and Domestic . .126
19. Communications — Past and Present. . . ' . 131
20. Administration and Divisions 136
21. The Roll of Honour 140
22. The Chief Towns and Villages of Lanarkshire . 151
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Leadhills, with Lowthers in background. Phot. Valentine 8
Characteristic scenery of Southern Uplands. Phot. Valentine 10
Falls of Clyde — Bonnington Linn. Phot. Valentine . 13
Gorge above Corra Linn . . . . . .18
Falls of Clyde — Stonebyres Linn 19
Section across the Lanarkshire Coal Basin . . -31
Fossil Trees at Whiteinch. Phot. J. R. Stewart . . 34
White Cattle in Cadzow Forest, Hamilton. Phot. Valentine 41
Wind Roses showing prevalent winds at Glasgow in
January, in July, and throughout the year . . 47
Tree showing south-west wind. Phot. F. Mort . . 48
Curves of rainfall at four Lanarkshire stations . . 54
Population curves of Lanarkshire and Edinburghshire . 61
Clydesdale Stallion. Phot. Sport and General Illus. Co. . 68
Ironworks, Coatbridge. Phot. Valentine . . . . 71
First modern gun made in Scotland .... 74
Latest type of Locomotive. Hyde Park Works . . 76
Houses cracked by underground workings, Motherwell.
Phot. W. S. Crockett 87
The Broomielaw. Phot. Valentine . , . . .91
Lee Castle. Home of ' Lee Penny." Phot. Valentine . 97
Monument in memory of Battle of Langside. Phot. Valentine 99
Battlefield of Drumclog. Phot. Valentine . . 101
Banner of the Covenanters at Drumclog and Both well Brig 102
Bothwell Bridge and Monument. Phot. Valentine . .103
Flint Implements . . . . . . . .105
The Lesmahagow Flagon . . . . . 1 1 1
Old Church Tower, Rutherglen. Phot. Valentine . .114
Glasgow Cathedral. Phot. Valentine. . . . .115
Crypt, Glasgow Cathedral, showing St Mungo's Tomb.
Phot. Valentine . . . . . . . .117
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Old Church, Bothwell. Phot. Valentine . . . .119
Bothwell Castle, interior. Phot. Valentine . . .122
Craignethan Castle. Phot. W. S. Crockett . . .124
George Square and Municipal Buildings, Glasgow. Phot.
Valentine . . . . . . . . .127
Provand's Lordship. Oldest house in Glasgow. Phot. Valentine i 2 8
Hamilton Palace. Phot. Valentine . . . . .130
Thomas Campbell . . . . . . . .143
David Livingstone . . . . . . . .148
Sir Colin Campbell . . . . . . . .149
"The Cadger's Bridge," Biggar. Phot. Valentine . . 152
"Roman" Bridge near Bothwell. Phot. Valentine . . 153
Jamaica Bridge. Phot. Valentine . . . . .156
Curve showing growth of population of Glasgow . . 157
Royal Exchange, Glasgow. Phot. Valentine . . .158
Glasgow University and Kelvingrove Park. Phot. Valentine 160
High Street, and Wallace's Monument, Lanark. Phot.
Valentine . . . . . . . .163
Strathaven Castle. Phot. Valentine. . . . .165
Diagrams 167
MAPS
Orographical Map of Lanarkshire .... Front Cover
Geological Map of Lanarkshire .... Back Cover
Sketch Map illustrating the origin of the Falls of Clyde 21
Rainfall Map of Scotland . . . . . .52
Population Map of Lanarkshire 59
Note. For the photographs on pp. 1 8 and 1 9 the writer is
indebted to J. W. Reoch, Esq. ; for that on p. 74 to Messrs
Beardmore, Parkhead Forge; for that on p. 76 to the Manager,
Hyde Park Works ; for permission to reproduce the photograph
on p. 34 to Prof. Watts, Secretary of the Geological Photographs
Committee, British Association ; and for permission to have the
Lesmahagow Flagon photographed, to the Glasgow University
Court.
i. County and Shire. The Origin of
Lanarkshire.
The present sub-divisions of Scotland are the result of
a long process of adjustment between different competing
systems. The King, the Church, and the Nobles were
centres of segregation that tended to group the community
in different ways. Yet among these discordant forces the
powerful influence of the natural, physical features of the
country can often be seen to have shaped the political
divisions in harmony with natural regions. Of this fact
there is no better example in Scotland than the county of
Lanark. The modern county is the division of the king-
dom administered by a sheriff, and this system dates back
at least as far as the reign of David I (i 124-1 153). When
the crowns were united in 1603, the districts administered
by the sheriffs of the king coincided with the modern
counties, except that Caithness, Sutherland and Ross were
under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff of Inverness.
The shires, that is shares, were originally governed by
the great earls of the country, who in many cases took
their titles from the districts they ruled. When William I
M. L. i
2 LANARKSHIRE
had conquered England, many of the English earls were
dispossessed of their lands, which were given to William's
companions or comites. Each district was therefore called
a comitatus, from which we get the word county. The
English feudal system was introduced into Scotland by
David I, and the sheriffdom or county of Lanark probably
dates from his reign. * William Hamilton, of Wishaw,
writing about 1710, tells us that "The shyre of Lanark
was anciently of greater extent than now it is ; for there
was comprehended in it the whole sheriffdome of Ranfrew,
lying laigher upon Clyde... untill it was disjoyned therefra
by King Robert the Third, in anno 1402." Since that
time the changes in the county boundary have been geo-
graphically unimportant. Many meanings of the word
Lanark have been suggested, but most authorities are
agreed that it is derived from llanerch — a clearing in a
forest, a word belonging to the Welsh or Cymric branch
of the Celtic group of languages.
It has already been stated that Lanarkshire is a good
example of the way in which natural physical features
have influenced the political divisions of a country. For
the county is a geographical unit, namely, the basin of the
Clyde, a fact that is well expressed by the old name
Clydesdale. The most southerly part of the shire is Gana
Hill, and on the slopes of this hill the Clyde rises. To
the north-west the county ends just where the river
becomes too wide to be bridged or crossed conveniently.
Thus while Lanarkshire embraces both banks of the
Clyde, nearer the sea the broader river forms the boundary
between Dumbartonshire .and Renfrewshire. Naturally
COUNTY AND SHIRE 3
the limits of the county do not everywhere coincide
exactly with the watershed of the Clyde, yet for consider-
able distances the county boundary is absolutely identical
with the watershed of the river.
2. General Characteristics. Position
and Relations.
Imagine two lines drawn from north-east to south-
west across Scotland, one from Stonehaven to Helensburgh,
the other from St Abb's Head to Girvan. These two
lines divide Scotland into three districts called respectively
the Highlands, the Central or Lowland Plain, and the
Southern Uplands ; and these three districts differ strongly
in physical aspect, in rocks, in scenery, in vegetation and
in industries. The lines mark the course of two great
faults or cracks, which traverse the whole country, and
between which the land has gradually sunk for thousands
of feet. This sinking of the central part of Scotland took
place many ages before man inhabited this country, but
yet it may be considered the most significant stage in the
evolution of Scotland, for it preserved the all-important
coal fields of the lowlands on which the prosperity of the
country largely depends.
The Central Plain of Scotland is not only the most
fertile part of the country, but by far the greatest propor-
tion of the mining and the manufactures is carried on
there. It has thus become a district unique in Great
Britain, for it corresponds to no less than four separate
i — 2
4 LANARKSHIRE
parts of England — the south-eastern plain devoted to
agriculture, the Black Country with its coal and iron
industries, the woollen district of Yorkshire, and Lanca-
shire with its cotton manufactures. In some respects
Lanarkshire is the most typical county of the Lowlands,
and its diversity of surface and variety of industries are
increased by the fact that the most southerly of the two
great faults mentioned crosses the Clyde near Roberton,
so that Lanarkshire is partly in the Lowland Plain and
partly in the Southern Uplands.
The position of Lanarkshire on the western slope of
the country was at first a disadvantage. For long the
eastern coastal strip was by far the most important part of
Scotland. The commerce of Europe to a large extent
was carried on in the districts bordering the North Sea.
In Lanarkshire, however, just as the drainage of the
county is collected by a thousand little streams that feed
the main current of the Clyde, sweeping down with ever
increasing volume to the western sea, so the movement of
trade naturally tended to take the same course. The face
of the county was turned away from the chief commercial
centres, but the progress of civilisation in its westward
march has shifted the balance of trade to the shores of the
Atlantic, and thus the geographical position of Lanarkshire
at the present time is one of its most important advantages.
The stream of trade that now pours out of Lanarkshire to
the Atlantic is double that from all the other counties of
Scotland put together.
Position alone, however, does not fully explain the
phenomenal growth of the county during the last century
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 5
and a half. Its natural resources are just as important.
Its mineral wealth surpasses that of all the other counties
of Scotland, and it may be said with truth that Lanarkshire
owes its importance to coal and iron. In the latter half
of the eighteenth century, steam power began to be applied
to the world's industries. Coal was urgently needed, and
for the first time coal could be easily obtained, for it was
not till James Watt had improved the steam engine that
adequate means were available for pumping water from
the mines. The introduction of machinery necessitated
a great increase in the production of iron, and this reacted
again on the coal trade in the demand for coal for smelting
purposes. Scores of busy industrial centres sprang into
existence in Lanarkshire, and soon the population far out-
numbered that of any other county. The banks of the
Clyde with easy access to the sea and their proximity to
the coal and iron fields formed an ideal home for the
shipbuilding industry. The yards of Renfrewshire and
Dumbartonshire launch many a goodly ship, but Lanark-
shire supplies the material.
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
Although Lanarkshire contains more than a quarter
of the population of all Scotland, in size it ranks only
tenth among the counties. (See Figs. I and 2, p. 167.)
Inverness is nearly five times larger than Lanark, but the
latter has nearly fifteen times the population of the former.
From north-west to south-east the shire extends for fifty
6 LANARKSHIRE
miles, while a line drawn east from the point where
Dumfries, Ayr and Lanark meet to the eastern edge of
the county stretches for thirty miles. The total area,
including water, is 567,385 acres. The county is fairly
symmetrical in shape. As the basin of the Clyde broadens
on going down the river from its source, so the county
widens to a maximum and then narrows towards its
north-western extremity. Slight changes were made in
the boundary in 1891 and 1892 by the Boundary Com-
missioners, chiefly to correct the anomaly of a parish being
partly in one county and partly in another.
Starting from Gana Hill in the south, the boundary
strikes north-north-west, coinciding exactly with the
watershed between the Nith and the Clyde, and passing
over hills about 2000 feet in height. A little north of
Slough Hill the boundary swings to the west and leaves
the watershed, but only for about two miles. Keeping to
the watershed again, the boundary line runs west over
hills about 1500 feet in height till it reaches Threeshire
Stone, the point where Ayr, Dumfries and Lanark meet.
The line now runs along the watershed between the
Clyde and the Ayr, passing Cairn Table on the way, and
then swings away west in order to include the head-waters
of the Avon. Leaving the watershed the boundary now
follows the Avon for some distance and then goes north-
north-west to the point where Ayr, Renfrew and Lanark
meet. Bending north the line follows the Cart for some
distance, then leaving the Cart it reaches the Glasgow
boundary, follows it by bending to the west, and so runs
down to Renfrew through Govan. From Renfrew the
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 7
line turns east and crosses the Clyde just west of White-
inch. Passing to the Kelvin the line follows that river
almost to Kirkintilloch, where it turns south and then east
through Lenzie to the Luggie, a tributary of the Kelvin.
Leaving the Luggie the boundary crosses the watershed
of the country to the Avon, a tributary of the Forth.
Then it turns to the south-east by Black Loch and next
bends sharply east till it is only three miles from Bathgate.
It runs south now to Black Hill, then bending north-east
it rejoins the watershed at Leven Seat. It cuts across
the south part of Cobbinshaw Reservoir and then follows
the course of the Medwin, keeping just to the east of the
watershed. It reaches the watershed again at Broomy
Law, but then keeping to the east of Biggar the line
encroaches on the Tweed basin, a strip of which is in-
cluded in Lanarkshire. It comes back to the watershed
at Scawdmans Hill, and follows it south to Clyde Law by
hills over 2000 feet in height. Passing the point where
Lanark, Dumfries and Peebles meet, the boundary coin-
cides with the watershed between the Annan and the
Clyde, and runs in a zig-zag line through Lamb Hill to
Earncraig Hill, finally swinging sharply round to Gana
Hill again. The detailed tracing of the boundary has
shown us, therefore, that on the whole Lanarkshire may
be fairly described as the upper and middle basin of the
Clyde, and the modern county is almost equivalent to the
mediaeval division of Clydesdale.
LANARKSHIRE
4. Surface and General Features.
The surface of Lanarkshire is extremely varied, rang-
ing from a height of nearly 2500 feet down almost to
sea level. As has been mentioned, the south-east portion
of the county forms part of the Southern Uplands, and the
highest hills are almost exclusively confined to this district.
Leadhills. Behind are the " Lowthers," the highest
hills in Lanarkshire
With the exception of Tinto (2335 feet), all the hills
above 2000 feet are found south-east of a line drawn
through Culter, Lamington, Roberton and Crawfordjohn.
A glance at the physical map on the cover will show
at once the strong contrast between the districts on each
side of the line mentioned.
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 9
The highest hill situated entirely in the county is
Green Lowther (2403 feet), two miles south-south-east
of Leadhills, although Culter Fell on the Lanark-Peebles
border is 50 feet higher. Green Lowther forms one of
a group of hills over 2OOO feet in height, which run in a
north-east and south-west direction from the Clyde to the
county boundary, and of which the next in altitude is
Lowther Hill (2377 feet). From the names of its two
highest summits the group is sometimes called the Lowther
Hills. There are in all about a score of hills in Lanark
two thousand feet or more in height, of which about one
half are entirely in the county, the others being on the
boundary line. Of these, in addition to the hills men-
tioned, the most important are Glenwhappen Rig (2262
feet) on the Peebles border, Rodger Law (2257 feet) and
Ballancleuch Law (2267 feet) in the southern extremity
of the shire, and Dun Law (2216 feet), one of the summits
of the Lowther group. The Tinto Hills are the most
conspicuous in the county, as they are separated from any
other important group. Tinto Tap is a landmark all
down Clydesdale, and it is said that from its summit on a
clear day parts of no fewer than sixteen counties can be
seen.
The upper part of Clydesdale has a charm of scenery
that is confined to the Southern Uplands. The district
does not make the same sudden and arresting appeal to
the unobservant traveller that some parts of Scotland do.
The wildness, ruggedness and grandeur of the Highlands
as a rule are absent, for the outlines of the hills are
generally smooth and rounded, yet there is a softly
10 LANARKSHIRE
flowing sweep of contour, a tenderness of colour and
a melancholy loneliness about these green and treeless
summits that make a quiet but irresistible appeal to the
wanderer among them.
In Lanarkshire the transition from the Southern
Uplands to the Lowland Plain is not so abrupt as it is
farther to the north-east or farther to the south-west.
Characteristic scenery of Southern Uplands. View
across the Clyde valley near Crawford
The higher parts of the Lowlands, particularly away from
the Clyde valley, are bare and bleak moors undulating
monotonously almost as far as the eye can reach. The
land rises not only to the south, but also as it recedes from
the Clyde, so that the highest parts form the boundary of
the county. Thus the more fertile central part is flanked
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 11
by long stretches of barren moorland, useless for agriculture,
but in many cases forming good shooting districts. Yet
these moorlands are intersected at intervals by unsuspected
glens of rare beauty. Although the rocks and therefore
the details of the scenery are different, the district in this
respect has a strong resemblance to parts of Derbyshire,
where the same alternation of featureless uplands with
sudden bits of charming river scenery is found. Many
of the smaller streams of the county, almost unknown
except to those living in the locality, will bear comparison
with the finest parts of the Clyde itself.
From the Falls of Clyde to Bothwell the scenery is
almost uniformly beautiful. The bareness of the Southern
Uplands is gone. The river flows through a green and
fertile country, well-wooded and dotted over with fine
mansions. The valley is broad with gently shelving
banks, although in places it contracts and takes on the
character of a gorge. The lower ward of Lanarkshire
is somewhat flat and unpicturesque. The most notice-
able height is the ridge that runs parallel to the Clyde
from Cathkin to Dechmont.
5. Watershed. Rivers. Lakes.
We have already shown that the watershed of Lanark-
shire coincides approximately with the county boundary.
The watershed of the southern half is a framework of
high hills shaped like a great irregular V, with the point
at Queensberry Hill just south of the county boundary.
On the north-east side while the boundary follows the
12 LANARKSHIRE
general direction of the watershed, it swings first to one
side and then to the other. There is here no well-
marked line of hills, but a wide expanse of bare and lonely-
moorland, eight or nine hundred feet above the level of
the sea.
There is a prevalent but mistaken belief that a water-
shed must be a range of hills, or at any rate must stand
well above the level of the surrounding country. In
many cases this is not so. The watershed may be a flat
marsh, and one may sometimes walk right across an
important watershed without noticing any change of
slope whatsoever. This is illustrated in an interesting
way by the Clyde near Biggar. At this point the main
river actually is within a mile of the watershed between
the Clyde and the Tweed. The divide is the broad flat
valley of Biggar Water, and in times of heavy flood the
waters of Clyde and Biggar mingle. It would be an easy
task to divert all the head waters of the Clyde at this
point into the North Sea. In fact, Michael Scott, the
famous warlock, is said to have been in the act of doing
this. He was marching down the vale of Biggar with
the Clyde roaring at his heels when he became alarmed
at the threatening sound behind him. Fortunately for
the present prosperity of Glasgow he looked back, the
spell was broken, and the waters resumed their usual
course.
The explanation of the origin of this low pass between
the basins of the Clyde and the Tweed is not easy. Sir
Archibald Geikie attributes it to " the recession of two
valleys and to the subsequent widening of the breach by
Falls of Clyde — Bonnington Linn
14 LANARKSHIRE
atmospheric waste and the sea," but this is not convincing.
An explanation has been given that is more probable,
although it involves a startling readjustment of our ideas
regarding the permanence of natural features such as
rivers. On this theory the Clyde now flows in an
opposite direction to its course in former times. Originally
it took its rise somewhere on the western border of Scot-
land, at least as far west as Loch Fyne, at a time when
Loch Long and Loch Lomond were not in existence.
Like the Tay and the Forth and the Tweed, it flowed
south-east to the North Sea, cutting the valley where the
Biggar Water now runs. Later on when Loch Long
and Loch Lomond were formed, they cut across the
original head-streams of the Clyde, diverting them to
the Atlantic and leaving a dry valley where the modern
" Tail of the Bank " is situated. This was occupied by
a westward flowing stream that rapidly thrust its head
backwards and occupied the old valley, thus becoming
the parent of the present Clyde. This explanation,
fanciful though it seems at first sight, has many facts in
its favour ; and other passes similar to that of Biggar, but
in different parts of Scotland, have been explained on the
same principles.
Though not the largest river in Scotland, the Clyde
is by far the most important. It is the gateway to one
of the great industrial districts of the world. Along its
banks more than one-third of the total population of
Scotland is clustered. No other river in Britain can
show such strange and violent contrasts in its course as
are revealed by a walk along the valley of the Clyde
WATERSHED RIVERS LAKES 15
from source to sea. From its source for many miles its
course is through the Southern Uplands, a pure mountain
stream among lonely hills, still clear and unpolluted as
when the Roman legions tramped along the old road
by its banks. After issuing from the hills, it flows
through bare moors till it enters the ravine above the
falls. It races through its gorges and leaps its falls as if
in haste to reach the garden of the Clyde, the orchard
belt,
The pleasant banks of Clyde
Where orchards, castles, towns and woods
Are planted by his side."
The sternness and bleakness of its upper course have
vanished. The landscape seems hardly Scottish in its
rich, luxuriant beauty. But the pall of smoke is already
visible in the west, and soon the Clyde flows through the
"black country" of Lanarkshire, almost every town along
its banks eager to defile its purity with every conceivable
form of industrial waste and pestilential sewage. From
here to its mouth the Clyde is a slave to commerce ; and
foundries, mills, engineering-shops and shipyards roar
about its banks till it escapes at last and finds rest in the
clean, salt waters of the firth. Beautiful though the
river is in its upper reaches, surely there are no lovelier
scenes in Scotland than on the estuary of Clyde.
According to tradition the source of the Clyde is on
Clyde Law, down the slopes of which runs Little Clydes
Burn. The older writers are unanimous in this opinion :
" Annan, Tweed and Clyde
Rise a' out o' ae hill side."
16 LANARKSHIRE
But if we seek, as we should, for the true head-waters
in the most important stream, we must select Daer
Water, rising at a height of 1600 feet above sea-level on
the slopes of Gana Hill on the southern border of the
county. Below the point where the Daer Water joins
the Powtrail Water, the united stream is called the
Clyde by the Ordnance Survey, the supreme authority
on matters topographical. The valley of Daer Water
is perhaps the most inaccessible part of Lanarkshire.
There is no road within many miles ; a little footpath
only runs up the valley, deserted save for a shepherd or at
infrequent intervals a solitary fisherman.
A mile and a half past Watermeetings is the junction
with Clydes Burn, and down its valley from Beattock
Summit come the road and the railway from the south to
keep the Clyde close company all the way to Glasgow.
The engineers of road and railway knew well the easiest
and straightest way from Carlisle to the rich Scottish
Lowlands; but long before their time the Romans, with
unerring skill, had discovered the route up Annandale,
across Beattock Summit and down Clydes Burn to
Clydesdale.
Still north the river flows receiving Elvan Water,
where the gold-seekers even yet search for specks of the
precious metal in the sands and gravels. At Crawford
the river swings west for a mile before resuming its north-
ward course. On the right bank is Tower Lindsay, the
ruined stronghold of the Lindsays, Earls of Crawford.
With its inseparable, comrades, the railway and the road,
on each side, the river flows to Abington, where in 1839
WATERSHED RIVERS LAKES 17
Prince Louis Napoleon, who was to sit on the throne of
France, took his supper by the kitchen fire of the little
inn. Duneaton Water comes in on the left bank from
far Cairn Table and the Ayrshire border, and then the
stream flows past Roberton and leaves the Southern
Uplands behind it.
The Clyde now takes a bend to the east that brings
it to the head of Biggar valley. Tinto — the hill of fire —
dominates all this part of Clydesdale. The commanding
appearance of Tinto from almost any part of the Clyde
valley is due to its splendid isolation, far from any rival
peak. It heaves a huge shoulder, curving to a massive
dome, for nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sur-
rounding district, and from its summit can be seen a wide
expanse of country, from the Bass Rock to Arran, from
the Grampians to the peaks of Cumberland. On its
south-east slope are the remains of Fatlips Castle, over-
looking Symington.
Northwards again the stream flows, now a stately
river 40 yards in width, among its fertile haughs, past
Thankerton and Covington. On receiving the Medwin
the Clyde turns first to the west and then to the south-
west, making the curious curve in its course that finishes
just before the falls. Here comes in the Douglas Water
from Douglasdale, home of the most powerful family that
ever lived in Scotland, greater often than the kings them-
selves. Where the Douglas joins the Clyde the river is
flowing gently between sloping banks, while all around
for many miles the ground is covered with great heaps
and ridges of sand and gravel, the remnants of the Great
M. L. 2
18
LANARKSHIRE
Ice Age. Soon the valley contracts, the speed of the
river increases, it hurries breathlessly down over a series
of rapids and then with a roar makes its first leap over
Bonnington Linn. Below Bonnington the scene is
magnificent. The river toils and foams along in a deep
gorge walled in by rocky cliffs 60 feet in height, in many
places beautifully clothed with foliage. For half a mile
Gorge above Corra Linn
the chasm continues till at a sharp bend in the river, the
water leaps in a mass of foam with a noise like thunder
over Corra Linn. The river valley below the fall is a
veritable canon ; the sides are dark precipices over 100 feet
in height, amazing not only to the actual eye but to the
mental vision that sees that this defile has been caused by
the gradual recession of the falls up stream.
WATERSHED RIVERS LAKES
19
Below Lanark the Mouse Water comes in through
the high and narrow defile of the Cartland Crags, c< dark,
rugged and precipitous crags, which are the astonishment
Falls of Clyde— Stonebyres Linn
and terror of every beholder," according to the writer of
the Statistical Account. Our nerves are surely stronger
now than they were a hundred years ago. Still the gorge
2 — 2
20 LANARKSHIRE
of the Mouse here is certainly magnificent, and one can
hardly realise that one is standing by the same stream that
a few miles higher up steals along so gently through the
flat, bog country round Carstairs. Stonebyres Linn, a
mile below the junction of the Mouse Water, is the last
of the falls, in time of flood an unbroken drop of 70 feet.
Of the three falls (for Dundaff Linn is hardly worth con-
sidering compared with its greater sisters) Corra Linn has
the greatest reputation, and is by far the most visited.
Yet the others are hardly, if at all, inferior. Stonebyres
in particular, from certain points of view, is perfect, and
worth more attention than it receives.
The origin of the falls is an interesting problem. It is
supposed that the course of the Clyde near Lanark before
the Great Ice Age was quite different from what it is
now. The curious curve from Hyndford Bridge to
Lanark did not exist, the river taking a fairly straight
course between these points. The Douglas Water also
had a different course, as is shown in the map on p. 21.
The old channels were filled up with material brought by
the glaciers, and after the melting of the ice the former
channels were not everywhere re-excavated. When the
grip of the ice was released, the Clyde joined the former
channel of the Douglas near the site of Core House, and
easily scooped it out, forming a waterfall over the old
bank. The waterfall thus caused receded, as all water-
falls do, until it reached its present position at Bonnington
Linn. Where the Clyde joined its old course near the
site of New Lanark another fall was formed that worked
backwards, and is now known as Corra Linn. Stonebyres
WATERSHED RIVERS LAKES
21
Linn seems to have been caused in quite a different way.
A very hard conglomerate full of quartzite pebbles crosses
the river about 300 yards below the present position of the
fall. The softer beds under this were eroded more rapidly
than the hard bed, and so a waterfall was formed. It is in
this way that most waterfalls have been formed.
Sketch Map illustrating the origin of the Falls of Clyde
(After Stark, Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow)
Half a mile from the right bank of the Clyde stands
Lanark. Near here, if tradition is correct, took place
the first serious encounter of Sir William Wallace with
the English. Incensed at a jest against his young wife,
Wallace drew his sword and cut off the hand of the
22 LANARKSHIRE
offending Englishman. A general fight took place, but
the English garrison poured out in overwhelming numbers,
and Wallace escaped from the town through his own door
opened by his wife. For this his wife was slain, and
Wallace vowed a lasting enmity to the English. With
a few brave followers he attacked the garrison and slew
many of them, including Hazelrig the governor.
From Lanark down to Bothwell is the orchard country
famous throughout the centuries since the time of Bede.
In May the valley is white with blossom. Fruit trees
and currant bushes clothe the slopes to the very edge of
the river, and send fragrant offshoots up every tributary
stream. Strawberry culture, though a recent introduction,
is outstripping the other fruits ; and still more recently
ugly little tomato houses seem to have sprung up every-
where from the ground to meet the rapidly increasing
demand. On the right bank we look up at the entrance
to the fine gorge of Fiddler's Gill, and almost opposite the
Nethan comes in, with Craignethan Castle on its left
bank. Several miles lower down, the Clyde is joined by
the Avon Water, a fine stream for trout and grayling.
Not only in fish does it rival the Clyde, for its scenery in
some parts is equal to anything the main river can show.
Modern mansions and castles old in story are round us,
but for the present must be left behind. There is a
darkening haze to the west, and at times we catch a
glimpse of tall chimneys warning us of a different type of
scenery if we leave the river's hanks. At night the indi-
cations of Lanarkshire's " black country" are even more
apparent. Alexander Smith has well described the im-
WATERSHED RIVERS LAKES 23
pression a traveller to Glasgow obtains who approaches
the city from the south at night.
The wild train plunges in the hills,
He shrieks across the midnight rills;
Streams through the shifting glare
The roar and flap of foundry fires,
That shake with light the sleeping shires;
And on the moorlands bare,
He sees afar a crown of light
Hang o'er thee in the hollow night."
The proximity of the great industrial centres gives
a peculiar atmospheric effect that is finely portrayed in a
little word-picture from the pen of Sir Harry H. Johnstone
in his Life of Livingstone^ a description remarkable both
for vividness and accuracy. " Beyond the factories, with
the invisible Clyde rushing over weirs in the gorge be-
tween, is a high ridge of wooded down ; and above all
that strange, opalescent heaven, with its rainbows and
curtains of vapour, its wreaths and rolling masses of cloud,
its mists and films of smoke, its watery sunshine or its
livid glare of fire, when night falls and the smoke-pall
which daylight has rendered so dull-coloured and opaque
becomes one vast shimmer of rosy flame."
The lower part of the course of the Clyde has always
been subject to destructive floods. In 1454 " ther wes
ane right gret speit in Clyde, the quilke brocht down
haile housis, bernis and millis," and even yet at intervals
much damage is done to crops and houses by the river
overflowing its banks. An inundation in 1831 caused
irreparable loss by the destruction of a large number of
24 LANARKSHIRE
letters written by Robert Burns to his friend William
Reed, the publisher.
The valley here is open and the river winds through
rich haugh lands, but below Both well Brig the banks close
in and steepen with a marked change in the character of
the scenery, which is here exceptionally fine. Two miles
below the bridge old Bothwell Castle looks across to
Blantyre Priory on the other bank, comrades for nigh six
hundred years. A little further down, at Kenmuir and
Carmyle, the Clyde is linked with the names of many
famous artists. Sam Bough, McWhirter, Horatio
McCulloch, and many others of lesser note have painted
on these banks. But a forest of chimneys, a wilderness
of stone and lime is near at hand, and after doubling from
one side to the other time and again as if looking for
some way of escape, the river glides slowly into the heart
of Glasgow.
From Glasgow to the firth the Clyde is largely the
product of man. The conversion of a stream, in places
but a few inches in depth, into a water-way for ocean-
going ships is one of the romances of industrial history.
In the sixteenth century an attempt was made to improve
the channel at Dumbuck but was not successful. The
magistrates of Glasgow therefore reported in 1668 that
they had had " ane meeting yeasternight with the lairds,
elder and younger, of Newark, and that they had spoke
with them anent the taking of ane piece of land of theirs
in feu, for loadning and livering of their ships there,
anchoring and building ane harbour there, and that the
said lairds had subscryvit a contract of feu this morning :
WATERSHED RIVERS LAKES 25
quhilk was all allowed and approvine be said magestratis
and counsell."
On the ground thus purchased the magistrates laid
out the town of Port Glasgow with harbours and a
graving dock. Here the goods were taken from the ships
and loaded on the backs of little pack-horses that brought
them by badly made tracks to Glasgow. In 1755 the
river was still in a state of nature, for between Glasgow
and Renfrew there were twelve shoals, one of which was
only 15 inches deep at low water. James Watt surveyed
the river in 1769, and reported a depth of 14 inches at
Hirst Ford during low water. To John Golborne of
Chester is due the first marked improvement in the navi-
gation of the river, which was dredged and also narrowed
by the construction of jetties. A few years later Golborne
deepened Dumbuck Ford to a depth of seven feet, and
owing to the scour of the river due to his jetty system
this depth was in 1781 found to have become 14 feet.
Act after act was carried through Parliament giving new
powers, and each meant a further improvement in navi-
gation and a consequent stimulus to the commerce of
Glasgow. A great advance was made by the application
of steam power to dredgers and the adoption of steam
hopper barges, to which the present state of the river is
largely due. A formidable obstacle was found in the
Elderslie Rock, extending right across the river at a depth
of eight feet below low water. After years of labour
this was removed at a total cost of about £140,000,
giving now a depth at low water of 28 feet.
The principal tributaries can be easily remembered
26 LANARKSHIRE
from Wilson's enumeration of them in his poem The
Clyde.
"Glengonar's dangerous stream was stained with lead;
Fillets of wool bound dark Duneaton's head;
With corn-ears crowned, the sister Medwins rose,
And Mouse, whose mining stream in coverts flows;
Black Douglas, drunk by heroes far renowned,
And turbid Nethan's front with alders bound;
Calder, with oak around his temples twined,
And Kelvin, Glasgow's boundary flood designed."
The lakes of Lanarkshire are neither numerous nor
large. Hillend Reservoir, five miles north-east of Airdrie,
is the largest, being about a mile long. It supplies the
Monkland Canal with water. There is a little group of
lochs north-west of Coatbridge, of which the largest is
Bishop Loch. The others include Lochend, Woodend
and Johnston Lochs. East of Glasgow is Hogganfield
Loch, and near Lanark with wooded banks is Lang
Loch. As a rule the loch fishing is poor, pike providing
almost the only sport.
6. Geology and Soil.
The rocks are the earliest history books that we have.
To those who understand them they tell a fascinating
story of the climate, the natural surroundings and the life
of a time many millions of years before the foot of man
ever trod this globe. They tell of a long succession of
strange forms of life, appearing, dominating the world,
then vanishing for ever. Yet not without result, for each
GEOLOGY AND SOIL 27
successive race was higher in the scale of life than those
that went before, till man appeared and struggled into the
mastery of the world.
The most important group of rocks is that known as
sedimentary^ for they were laid down as sediments under
water. On the shores of the sea at the present time we
find accumulations of gravel, sand and mud. In the
course of time, by pressure and other causes, these
deposits will be consolidated into hard rocks, known as
conglomerates, sandstones and shales. Far out from
shore there is going on a continual rain of the tiny
calcareous skeletons of minute sea-animals, which accu-
mulate in a thick ooze on the sea-floor. In time this
ooze will harden into a limestone. Thus by watching
the processes at work in the world to-day, we conclude
that the hard rocks that now form the solid land were
once soft, unconsolidated deposits on the sea-floor. The
sedimentary rocks can generally be recognised easily by
their bedded appearance. They are arranged in layers or
bands, sometimes in their original horizontal position, but
more often tilted to a greater or less extent by subsequent
movement in the crust of the earth.
We cannot tell definitely how long it is since any
special series of rocks was deposited. But we can say
with certainty that one series is older or younger than
another. If any group of rocks lies on top of another,
then it must have been deposited later, that is it is younger.
Occasionally indeed the rocks have been tilted on end or
bent to such an extent that this test fails, and then we
must have recourse to another and even more important
28 LANARKSHIRE
way of finding the relative age of a formation. The
remains of animals and plants, known as fossils, are found
entombed among the rocks, giving us, as it were, samples
of the living organisms that flourished when the rocks
were being deposited. Now it has been found that
throughout the world the succession of life has been
roughly the same, and students of fossils (palaeontologists)
can tell, by the nature of the fossils obtained, what is the
relative age of the rocks containing them. This is of very
great practical importance, for a single fossil in an un-
known country may determine, for example, that coal is
likely to be found, or perhaps that it is utterly useless to
dig for coal.
There is another important class of rocks known as
igneous rocks. At the present time we hear reports at
intervals of volcanoes becoming active and pouring forth
floods of lava. When the lava has solidified it becomes
an igneous rock, and many of the igneous rocks of this
country have undoubtedly been poured out from volcanoes
that were active many ages ago. In addition there are
igneous rocks — like granite — that never flowed over the
surface of the earth as molten streams, but solidified deep
down in subterranean recesses, and only became visible
when in the lapse of time the rocks above them were
worn away. Igneous rocks can generally be recognised
by the absence of stratification or bedding.
Sometimes the original nature of the rocks may be
altered entirely by subsequent forces acting upon them.
Great heat may develop new minerals and change the
appearance of the rocks, or mud-stones may be compressed
GEOLOGY AND SOIL 29
into hard slates, or the rocks may be folded and twisted in
the most marvellous manner, and thrust sometimes for
miles over another series. Rocks that have been pro-
foundly altered in this way are called metamorphic rocks,
and such rocks bulk largely in the Scottish Highlands.
The whole succession of the sedimentary rocks is
divided into various classes and sub-classes. Resting on
the very oldest rocks there is a great group called Primary
or Palaeozoic. Next comes the group called Secondary
or Mesozoic, then the Tertiary or Cainozoic, and finally
a comparatively insignificant group of recent or Post-
Tertiary deposits. The Palaeozoic rocks are divided
again into systems, and since the rocks of Lanarkshire
fall entirely under this head, we give below the names
of the different systems, the youngest on top.
Palaeozoic Rocks.
Permian System.
Carboniferous System.
Old Red Sandstone System.
Silurian System.
Ordovician System.
Cambrian System.
All these systems are represented in Lanarkshire except
the oldest (Cambrian) and the youngest1 (Permian).
A line running in a north-east and south-west direction
by Crawfordjohn, Roberton and Lamington to the county
border near Culter marks the position of a great crack or
1 A small area in the Snar Valley between Crawfordjohn and Leadhills
has been referred to the Permian system by some writers.
30 LANARKSHIRE
fault, to the north-west of which the rocks have subsided
until the Old Red Sandstone System has been brought
level with the Ordovician rocks that occur south-east of
this line. The sudden change in the character of the
country observed in crossing this line and already men-
tioned is thus due to the geological structure of the district.
The Ordovician rocks consist of grits, conglomerates,
flagstones, shales and cherts, along with volcanic lavas
and volcanic ash. Since their deposition they have been
thrown into such numerous and complicated folds that it
is hopeless to determine from their present position what
is the true order in which they were laid down. In a
series of brilliant monographs, however, Professor Charles
Lapworth, by a careful study of their fossils, demonstrated
their true order of succession.
Along the crests of folds or arches in the Old Red
Sandstone rocks north of the fault there are found bands
of Silurian rocks. One band occurs near Douglas Water
and another at Logan Water near Lesmahagow. The
latter is noted for the peculiar forms of life that have
been found there. Giant crustaceans and the very earliest
known of Scottish fishes, some of them found nowhere
else, have been collected there in great numbers by
enthusiastic geologists.
The Old Red Sandstone rocks get their name from
the fact that a considerable proportion, although by no
means all of them, are sandstones of a red or brown
colour. In Lanarkshire they occur in a very irregular
band north-west of the fault separating the Lowlands
from the Southern Uplands. This band extends down
GEOLOGY AND SOIL 31
the Clyde to Crossford, and all the falls occur in the
lower Old Red Sandstone. The rocks consist of con-
glomerates, grits, sandstones and mudstones, as well as
rocks of volcanic origin. The igneous rocks stretch across
the county from Douglas past Biggar to Dolphinton. At
Tinto a great sheet of igneous rock has been thrust into
the surrounding strata, and the origin of the Tinto Hills
can be traced to the way in which this rock has resisted
the ceaseless attacks of the weather. The roads in this
district owe their red colour to the fact that the bright-
pink igneous rocks of Tinto are the chief source of road-
metal in the locality.
Section across the Lanarkshire Coal Basin
The Carboniferous System is by far the most important
in the county, for it contains the Coal Measures on which
the very existence of Lanarkshire as an industrial com-
munity depends. The sub-divisions of the Carboniferous
System are as follows: —
Coal Measures.
Millstone Grit.
Carboniferous Limestone Series.
Calciferous Sandstone Series.
In Clydesdale these rocks have a synclinal or trough-like
arrangement, so that the highest beds, the Coal Measures,
32 LANARKSHIRE
appear in the middle bordered by lower and lower beds as
we recede from them either to the north-west or the
south-east. (See the section on p. 31.)
The Calciferous Sandstone series comprises con-
glomerates, marls, sandstones, shales, variegated clays and
impure limestones. When these rocks were being de-
posited, volcanoes were active in many parts of Scotland.
The high moors and hills that stretch for thirty miles
north-west from Strathaven are formed of the lava that
poured from the throats of countless volcanoes in early
Carboniferous times.
The Carboniferous Limestone series consists of sand-
stones, shales, limestones, coal-seams and ironstones, and
forms a belt surrounding the Lanarkshire coal-field on the
north, west and south sides. These rocks are not the
true Coal Measures, but many of the coal-seams have
been worked. The valuable gas coal of Lesmahagow
belongs to this division. Some of the other beds are also
of considerable economic importance. The clayband and
blackband ironstones, though now almost exhausted, have
been extensively worked, as have also the numerous bands
of limestone. In addition the sandstones furnish building
material of the finest quality. A large proportion of the
city of Glasgow has been built from the sandstones of this
series that are found within a few miles of the centre of
the town.
Overlying the Carboniferous Limestone series comes
the Millstone Grit, consisting of sandstones, fire-clays,
thin coal-seams, ironstones and limestones. This is the
GEOLOGY AND SOIL 33
group of strata known in England as the "farewell rock,"
because below it no coal-seams are found. In Scotland,
however, as we have shown, the conditions are different.
About 5% of the Lanarkshire coal is obtained from seams
below the Millstone Grit, which are worked by about
14 collieries. The remaining 95% of coal is got from
the true Coal Measures above the Millstone Grit, worked
by about 250 collieries. The coarse sandstones of this
group have been much used for the making of millstones,
from which fact the name was derived. In Lanarkshire
the fire-clays are the most valuable deposits of the series.
They are worked in the northern part of the basin at
Glenboig, Gartcosh, and Garnkirk. They are clays
eminently suitable for the making of bricks that must
withstand the action of fire. The alkaline compounds
found in ordinary clays are absent, so that the fire-clays
are highly infusible. They are generally supposed to have
been the soils of that far-ofF time when the Millstone
Grit was being deposited, and the absence of alkalies is
ascribed to the extraction of these compounds by plants,
but recent investigation has shown that all the occurrences
cannot be explained in this way.
The Coal Measures occupy a large area in the centre
of the county. They stretch from Glasgow up the
Clyde to Carluke and Stonehouse, and extend eastwards
by Coatbridge and Airdrie right across the county
boundary. Most of the area lies north of the Clyde,
and nearly all the large industrial centres are situated
north of the river on this formation. The rocks consist of
sandstones, shales, marls, fire-clays, coal-seams and iron-
M. L. 3
34
LANARKSHIRE
stones. There are eleven coal-seams, of which the most
important are, in descending order, the Ell, the Pyotshaw,
the Main, the Splint, the Virtuewell, and the Kiltongue.
Some of the seams rest on a bed of fire-clay, representing
the old land-surface, while in other cases the under-clay is
absent. In the former case the coal has probably been
formed on the actual spot on which the forests grew,
Fossil Trees at Whiteinch
while in the latter case the vegetation may have been
drifted to its present position. At Whiteinch, near
Glasgow, can still be seen the remains of an ancient
Carboniferous forest. The boles and roots of several fine
trees have been exposed, and this unique " fossil grove " is
now carefully protected in the interests of science. The
bands of ironstone vary in number in different parts of the
GEOLOGY AND SOIL 35
basin from four to seven. The constant repetition of
sandstones, shales, ironstones and coals throughout these
strata suggests that land conditions prevailed, alternating
with periods of comparatively slight submergence.
The Carboniferous beds are pierced in many places by
dykes and sills of igneous rocks. The dykes occur in
wall-like masses, and the sills as great horizontal sheets
of rock. Where the latter are thrust along a coal-seam
the coal is totally destroyed and a field may be rendered
unworkable. Well-known examples occur in the neigh-
bourhood of Shotts, near Carluke, and to the east of
Glasgow. The prominent ridge on which Glasgow
Necropolis is situated is formed by one of these sills.
Throughout the whole extent of Lanarkshire the
solid rocks are in large measure hidden by deposits of
gravel, sand, and thick sheets of tough clay studded with
boulders. In parts of the Clyde basin these deposits are
over 300 feet thick. They project the mind back to a
time when the climate of Scotland was very different
from what it is. to-day, when the sites of the present corn-
fields and orchards were occupied by glaciers creeping
down from their gathering grounds, the great ice-fields
lying among the high ground to the north and to the
south. The stones in the boulder-clay show that two
main streams of ice met in Clydesdale, the one from the
Highlands, the other from the Southern Uplands. The
opposing ice-sheets were then deflected both to the east
and to the west, one part moving to the North Sea, the
other to the Firth of Clyde. It is the ground-moraine
of these ice-sheets that now forms the boulder-clay of
3—2
36 LANARKSHIRE
Lanarkshire. Gilmorehill and Garnethill in Glasgow
are merely huge accumulations of boulder-clay left by
the ice.
There are deposits of the glacial epoch known as
"kames" that are better developed near Carstairs and
Carnwath in Lanarkshire than in any other part of
Scotland. Beyond the low, flat stretches of peat and moss
about the Mouse Water there suddenly rises a tumbled
sea of ridges and little peaks, beautifully green in colour
and smooth of outline, and forming a remarkable contrast
to the black peat-hags in front. The ridges are composed
of sand and gravel, and wind about so as to enclose little
lakes of clear water or little basins of peat marking the
sites of former tarns. According to some writers the
kames have been caused by denudation out of glacial
debris, but it seems far more probable that they have been
deposited by water in the shapes they now have against
the front of the retreating ice-sheet.
It is only in parts of Lanarkshire that the soil is
favourable for agriculture. In the upper ward the soil on
the whole is poor and thin, and tilled land is scarce. In
the centre and west of the county the ground is cold and
clayey, with tracts of bog and peat. Where the volcanic
rocks occur tillage is in general impossible, for the soil
forms a mere film on the surface of the hard rock. Even
in the lower ward the soil was originally bleak and mossy,
although now vastly improved by care and cultivation.
The most fertile part of the shire lies along the Clyde
•and its larger tributaries. Here the soil is a rich alluvium
brought down by the river. Even in the upper reaches the
GEOLOGY AND SOIL 37
flat, alluvial haughs are green, fertile and wooded, and
contrast strongly with the bare and treeless slopes on
either side.
7. Natural History.
Many centuries ago the British Isles formed a part
of the continent of Europe. Where the waters of the
English Channel and the North Sea now ebb and flow,
there was dry land offering a free passage to the migration
of plants and animals from Central Europe to our country.
Such was the case when the palaeolithic hunters, the men
who chased the mammoth and the reindeer with their
rude stone weapons, lived in Britain. By neolithic times,
however, when our primitive ancestors were using finely
chipped and polished weapons of stone, the British Isles
had become separated from the Continent, and Ireland
was severed from Great Britain. The land-bridge existed
after the disappearance of the great ice-sheet from this
country, and plants and animals from Europe migrated to
Britain. The land connection, however, did not remain
long enough for all the continental forms of life to find
their way to Britain, for we find that there are, fewer
species in Great Britain than in Western Europe, and
fewer species in Ireland than in Great Britain. The
comparative poverty of animal species in Britain is most
marked in the case of the mammals and the reptiles, since
these do not possess the power of flight. Thus while
Germany has about 90 species of land mammals, Britain
38 LANARKSHIRE
has only about 40. There is not a single species of
mammals, reptiles, or amphibians found in Britain that
is not found on the Continent, and only one bird, the
common Red Grouse of Scotland, does not occ^r in
continental Europe.
The plants of Lanarkshire are fairly representative of
the whole of Scotland. There is, however, no mountain
of sufficient height to exhibit well the peculiar Alpine
plants of Scotland, although these are found in the lower
basin of the Clyde outside Lanarkshire.
The moors of upper Clydesdale afford typical examples
of the flora of the Scotch grouse moors. The old Cale-
donian forest probably existed over many areas that are
now bare of trees. There is a charter extant giving to
the inhabitants of Crawford parish permission to cut wood
in the Forest of Glengonar, where there are now only
two or three solitary trees. The existing woods of
Lanarkshire have practically all been planted by man.
Deciduous trees are best developed in the locality of the
Falls of Clyde. Some of the individual trees of Lanark-
shire are magnificent specimens. At Lee Castle there is
an oak nearly 24 feet in girth, in the hollow trunk of
which it is said that Cromwell and a party of his followers
dined. The "Covenanters' Oak" at Dalziel House is
19 feet in girth, and there are two giants in Cadzow
Forest over 21 feet in girth. There is a beech at
Daldowie 1 1 1 feet high, and a poplar at Mauldslie Castle
119 feet in height.
The uplands of Clydesdale away from the river are
mainly moor and marsh. In autumn they are purple
NATURAL HISTORY
39
with the flowers of the ling (Galluna vulgar is) and the
fine-leaved heath (Erica cinerea). The milk-wort, the
bog-asphodel, and in wetter parts the cotton-grass are
abundant. In the marshes also the butter-wort and the
sundew set their traps for unwary insects. All summer
the grassy uplands are bright with the tiny, yellow flowers
of the tormentil and the beautiful mountain-pansy. In
damper parts are found the stone-crop and the golden
saxifrage, the cinquefoil, the bog-bean, and the beautiful
grass of Parnassus.
The hedge-rows are not nearly so rich as in the more
genial climate south of the border, though this fact is due
partly also to the general stiffness of the soil, which is as a
rule derived from boulder-clay. The locality of the Falls of
Clyde however is especially rich. The wood-vetch and the
rarer wood-bitter-vetch are found, and here also the crane's-
bill and the rock-rose are abundant, though uncommon in
other parts of Lanarkshire. At the falls can be found the
rare narrow-leaved bitter-cress and the purple saxifrage.
The cowslip as a rule is rare in Lanarkshire, but near
Bothwell it is abundant. In this locality, too, can be
found the bird-nest orchid and the dusky crane's-bill.
Below Bothwell Brig, round Kenmuir and Carmyle, the
plant-lover is often seen, and here he may find the large
loosestrife, the great leopard's bane, and the goat's beard.
Fossil Marsh is a favourite resort for Glasgow botanists,
and several species are commonly found here that are rare
in any other part of Scotland.
The mammals of Lanarkshire are quite typical of
Scotland as a whole. Only three species of bats are
40 LANARKSHIRE
known, the long-eared bat, the common bat, and Dau-
benton's bat, of which the last is distinctly the least
common. The hedgehog and the mole are everywhere
abundant. The common shrew is plentiful, the small
shrew, though rare, has been found in the south of the
county, and the water shrew has been seen near Glasgow.
The wild-cat is now extinct, and the badger has also
practically disappeared, although it has been seen in recent
years near Carluke and at Milton Lockhart. The pole-cat
and the pine marten are extinct, but the fox, the stoat, the
weasel, and in suitable places the otter, are fairly common.
Most of the British rodents occur in Lanarkshire, but the
dormouse and the harvest mouse are not found. Of rats
and mice, the old black rat is extinct, but its supplanter
the brown, rat is everywhere. Ubiquitous also are the
house mouse and the field mouse, the field vole and the
water vole are abundant, and the black vole has been
recorded. The squirrel is also fairly common. Rabbits
are so abundant as to become pests, and the common hare
and the mountain hare are fairly often seen.
The white cattle of Cadzow Forest are in some
respects the most interesting animals in the county.
They are pure white in colour, except the muzzle, the
hoofs, the ears, and the tips of the horns, which are black.
They are popularly supposed to be the direct descendants
of the ancient wild cattle of this country, the mighty
Bos prlmigemus or Urus^ but most naturalists consider
them to be derived from an ancient stock of domesticated
cattle. The great antiquity and interest of the breed are
however undoubted, and they are the only specimens to
42 LANARKSHIRE
be found in Scotland. The red deer is extinct in Lanark-
shire, but the roe deer and the fallow deer are found.
Many parts of Lanarkshire offer very favourable
opportunities for the study of bird life. In the higher
parts the number of species is comparatively small, but
along the well-wooded banks of the Clyde and its
tributaries the variety and abundance of the birds are
remarkable. A list of all the birds of Lanarkshire cannot
be attempted here, but a few of the more typical species
may be referred to. Of the birds of prey, the sparrow-
hawk is still not uncommon in wooded districts. The
kestrel is still fairly plentiful, sometimes appearing in the
heart of Glasgow ; but the merlin, formerly by no means
rare, has now been persecuted almost to extinction. The
barn owl, the tawny owl, and the short-eared owl are
fairly often seen. On the quiet reaches of the river the
beautiful kingfisher can still be found. The song thrush
and the blackbird make the spring melodious in almost
every part of the county. The missel thrush, the red-
wing, and the fieldfare are everywhere abundant. The
chiffchaff is rare in Lanarkshire, though frequent in other
places. The redstart, stonechat, wheatear, and sedge
warbler all make their appearance in early summer, and
the garden warbler and the grasshopper warbler are also
common. The great tit, the long-tailed tit, the blue tit,
and the cole tit are all abundant, while the marsh tit,
though very rare in some counties, is common in the
orchard district of the Clyde. The pied wagtail and the
white wagtail are common generally, but the yellow
wagtail, though frequently seen in lower Clydesdale, is
NATURAL HISTORY 43
rare in the upper part of the shire. The great grey shrike
is a regular winter visitor, and there is a doubtful record
of the red-backed shrike having nested in Lanarkshire.
The greenfinch, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, and the
bullfinch are all found. The linnet, the crossbill, and
the lesser redpole are not uncommon, and the rare mealy
redpole has been seen. In the towns the starling and the
house sparrow abound everywhere, and the very rare tree
sparrow is recorded from Carmichael parish. Rooks and
crows can be seen in all parts, but the hooded crow is
rare, and the chough and the jay are now extinct in this
county. Other rare birds that have been recorded are the
nightjar, the wryneck, the roller, the rose starling, the
snow bunting, and the waxwing. The swift, the swallow,
the house martin, the sand martin, the cuckoo, and the
skylark are of course abundant everywhere.
Of the goose family the teal, the widgeon, and the
tufted duck are common. Of the doves the wood pigeon
is common, and the stock dove is known to nest in the
county. Black grouse and red grouse are common. The
capercailzie was quite extinct about the end of the
eighteenth century, but the descendants of introduced
species have extended to Lanarkshire. Other birds im-
portant to the sportsman, the pheasant, the partridge, the
snipe, the moor-hen, all are common. On the moors
the mournful cry of the lapwing and the curlew can
everywhere be heard.
Compared with the Continent the reptiles and amphi-
bians of Britain are remarkably few in number. Most of
the British species are found in Lanarkshire. There are
44 LANARKSHIRE
two species of lizards, the lizard proper (Lacerta vivipara]
and the blind-worm or slow-worm. The former may
often be seen on a hot day frequenting dry, sunny places
such as stone-heaps, walls, or ruined buildings. The latter
is common among dead wood, decayed leaves, or stone-
heaps, generally preferring a dry situation. The slow-worm
is of course not a snake as is often supposed. It is a timid,
inoffensive and perfectly harmless creature. When caught
it becomes so rigid through fear that it easily breaks in
two. It is from this fact that its specific name "fragilis"
is derived. Of the true snakes there are two species, the
adder or viper and the smooth or ringed snake. Although
the latter is very uncommon in Scotland, it has been seen
in the woods near Carluke. The adder is the only
poisonous reptile in the country. To the healthy adult
its bite is practically never fatal, although death has
resulted in the case of children and infirm persons. The
adder loves dry, warm places, among ruins or under fallen
trees or on sunny banks. It is not common, but can
hardly be called rare. The frog and the common toad
abound, but the natterjack toad has never been recorded.
The common newt and the palmated newt are everywhere
abundant.
8. Weather and Climate.
The weather of Britain depends largely on the dis-
tribution of atmospheric pressure over these islands. To
put the matter in its simplest form, when the barometer
WEATHER AND CLIMATE 45
is high we expect good weather, and when the barometer
is low we expect wet and stormy weather. These two
types of weather correspond respectively to a condition of
high atmospheric pressure or anticyclone and a state, of
low atmospheric pressure or cyclone. The winds in a
cyclone are often strong and swirl round the centre of
lowest pressure in great spirals with a direction opposite
to that of the hands of a clock. When anticyclonic
conditions prevail, the winds are light and move round
the area of highest pressure in the same direction as the
hands of a clock.
Generally speaking we may say that the winds of
Scotland throughout the year are controlled by three
fairly permanent pressure centres. There is a low
pressure area south of Iceland, an Atlantic high pressure
area about the Azores, and a continental area in eastern
Europe and west Asia that is high in winter time and
low in summer time. In winter as a rule the Icelandic
and the continental centres predominate, as they are then
working in harmony. The tendency of both centres is
to draw the air in a great swirl between them from
south-west to north-east. Thus we find that in winter,
south-west winds predominate in Scotland. (See p. 47.)
Occasionally the continental anticyclone spreads as far as
Scotland, and then for a few days in winter we experience
clear skies, keen frosts, and very light winds. All too soon
the Icelandic cyclone centre reasserts itself, and we are back
again to storms of sleet or rain with a higher temperature.
In summer the Atlantic high-pressure centre has more
influence. It tends to draw the winds more to the west,
46 LANARKSHIRE
sometimes to north-west. This high-pressure area with
its accompanying fine weather is now at its most northerly
limit, and occasionally spreads over these islands, reaching
the south of England frequently, but not so often extending
to Scotland.
This shift of the prevailing winds from south-west to
west according to season can be shown very plainly by
reference to Lanarkshire records. We shall take the
records of Glasgow Observatory1, both because they are
typical of the county and also because they can be abso-
lutely relied on, which, as we shall see later, is not the
case with all the records of the shire. Instead of giving
numerical tables, the results are expressed as diagrams
from which the prevailing winds may be seen at a glance.
Along each of the eight principal points of the compass
we mark a distance proportional to the percentage of days
on which the wind blew from that direction, and so get
a star the longest points of which show the winds that
blew most frequently. The top figure on p. 47 shows that
the winds during January are chiefly from the south-west,
and the second figure shows that the winds during July
are chiefly from the west. Easterly winds are commonest
in late spring and early summer. In May they are more
frequent than winds from any other direction.
The prevailing winds throughout the whole year can
be shown in the same way. The third figure on p. 47
1 For most of the data in this chapter referring to Glasgow the writer
is indebted to Professor Becker of the University Observatory, who generously
gave full access to the manuscripts containing the valuable meteorological
records of the Observatory.
N.W.
Wind Rose showing the prevalent winds at Glasgow
in January
N.W
N.E.
Wind Rose showing the prevalent winds at Glasgow
in July
N.W.
Wind Rose showing the prevalent winds at Glasgow
throughout the year
48 LANARKSHIRE
shows the directions of the wind at Glasgow for the year.
West and south-west winds are clearly the most common.
The three wind stars show average conditions for the
1 6 years, 1893-1908. In many parts of the country the
trees are inarticulate witnesses to the same fact. They
grow with their branches pointing east or north-east, away
Tree showing S.W. wind
from the wind. The branches of the tree shown in the
photograph point almost exactly north-east.
It is a general belief in this country that storms are
more frequent and violent at the time of the equinoxes
than at any other time. The phrase "equinoctial gales"
is heard so frequently that the assumption it implies is
accepted without question. It is an interesting point,
therefore, to consider if the phrase is truthful. Examina-
WEATHER AND CLIMATE 49
tion of actual records proves that the so-called equinoctial
gales are mythical. Storms are not more frequent at the
equinoxes than at any other time. This has been clearly
shown in America, where the myth is also well-established,
but the records for Glasgow during the last 40 years are
quite convincing on the point. They show that storms
are most frequent in winter and least frequent in summer.
The maximum number occurs in January, and the number
decreases steadily till June and July, then rises steadily
again to January. The actual figures are very interesting
and are as follows : —
Number of gales over 40 miles per hour at Glasgow
for 40 years, 1868-1907 :
Jan. Feb. Mar. Ap. May Je. Jy. Au. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. .
50 42 36 ii 5 2 2 5 10 15 27 39
During these 40 years there were four storms that for
a period of 15 minutes attained a velocity of 76 miles per
hour, that is, the violence of a hurricane. Not one of
these was at an equinox and only one in the same month
as an equinox. The dates of these four record storms
were (i) January 24-25, 1868, (2) March 12, 1871,
(3) October 20-21, 1874, (4) January 6, 1882.
The prevailing south-west winds of this country in
winter have much to do with our favourable winter
climate. The climate of the British Isles in winter is
milder than that of any other part of the world in the same
latitude. The following comparison will illustrate this
very strikingly. Aberdeen and Nain (Labrador) are in
the same latitude. The mean temperature of the coldest
M. L. 4
50 LANARKSHIRE
month at Aberdeen is 35° F., or three degrees above the
freezing-point. The mean temperature of the coldest
month at Nain is — 4° F., that is thirty-six degrees below
freezing-point. Most of us learned at school that our good
fortune as regards climate was due to the beneficent
influence of the Gulf Stream, but in recent years this
explanation has been entirely abandoned. It is a myth
as fanciful as the supposed "equinoctial gales." The
Gulf Stream becomes a negligible factor a little to the
east of the Newfoundland banks. Our true benefactor
is the wind. In winter time the south-west winds blow
from the warm, southern regions of the Atlantic, raising
the temperature of Britain and depositing moisture, which
means a still further rise owing to the liberation of the
latent heat. In addition they blow the warm surface
waters of the ocean from more southerly latitudes and
cause them to flow round and past our islands. There
is no strongly-marked current, but a general " Atlantic
drift" of the heated surface waters.
The temperature conditions of Lanarkshire are similar
to those of other counties on the western slope of Scot-
land. The summers are cooler and the winters are
milder than on the east coast. The mean temperature
in Glasgow for January, taking an average of 40 years, is
38-6° F., and the mean temperature for July is 57*5° F.,
giving an annual range of 19° F. The annual range for
Edinburgh is 21° F., and for London is 26° F. As the
height of the land above sea-level increases, the tempera-
ture becomes lower. Thus the mean temperature for
the year at Glasgow Observatory, 180 feet above sea-level,
WEATHER AND CLIMATE 51
is 47° F. ; at Baillieston, about 200 feet above sea-level,
it is 467° F. ; at Carnwath, a little less than 700 feet
above sea-level, it is 45° F.; and at Douglas Castle, nearly
800 feet above sea-level, it is 44*8° F.
Lanarkshire is not so favoured in the way of sunshine
as many other parts of the country. As a rule the amount
of sunshine can be judged from the rainfall. Districts
with a high rainfall have little sunshine, and conversely a
low rainfall means much sunshine. The amount of sun-
shine diminishes as we go from south to north or from
east to west. The average number of hours of sunshine
per annum at Glasgow is 1095, while on Ben Nevis the
amount is less than three-fourths of this figure, namely
735 hours. Aberdeen, on the other hand, has 1401 hours
of sunshine per annum. The temperature and the sun-
shine are important factors in crop-raising. For example,
wheat needs a hot, bright summer to ripen properly,
and therefore we find that Lanarkshire is not an im-
portant wheat-growing county. In proportion to its size
Fifeshire grows eight times the amount of wheat that
Lanarkshire does.
Since in our country the moist winds come from the
west, we find that the eastern counties of Scotland are
distinctly drier than the western. Of even more import-
ance is the effect of altitude on rainfall. The greater the
altitude the heavier the rainfall, and if a rainfall map of
the country be compared with an orographical map (that
is, one showing increasing height above sea-level by a
different tint of colour), the resemblance is very striking.
The marked effect on rainfall of increase in altitude is
4—2
Rainfall Map of Scotland. (After Dr H. R. Mill)
WEATHER AND CLIMATE 53
shown by the fact that on the summit of Ben Nevis the
average rainfall is about 160 inches per annum, while at
the foot of the mountain in Fort William the annual
rainfall is 73 inches.
The records of rainfall for Lanarkshire are neither so
numerous nor so reliable as could be wished. Many of
the earlier records must be looked on with considerable
suspicion. In the New Statistical Account of 1845 an
average of 30 years' rainfall at Glasgow is given as 22*3
inches, and the maximum during that period as 28-55
inches. More recent observations, however, taken over
periods of 10 to 25 years show an average rainfall of 38
or 39 inches, and a maximum of well over 50 inches.
Either the rainfall of Lanarkshire has altered to an amazing
extent or the early records are untrustworthy, and the
latter is the likelier explanation. At Dalserf, again, the
average rainfall "drawn up from the observations of a
medical gentleman" is given as 21*7739 inches. The
"medical gentleman" who calculated his rainfall to the
ten- thousandth part of an inch ( !) should almost certainly
have added over 50 per cent, to his figures. No wonder
the worthy clergyman who gives these figures remarks
with pardonable complacency, "These results, if compared
with those in places lying considerably to the east, will be
found to be in favour of this part of Scotland."
Remembering that the rainfall increases with height
above sea-level and also to a less extent as we move to
the west, we can understand the distribution of rain in
Lanarkshire. The highest rainfall occurs near the head
waters of the Clyde, the mean annual amount at Leadhills
being over 60 inches. As we descend the river the
54
LANARKSHIRE
amount gradually diminishes, until when we reach the
orchard region it is little more than half that amount.
Lower down the change in level is insignificant, and is
2lN
UN
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nou.
Curves showing the rainfall throughout the year at
(i) Douglas Castle, (2) Glasgow, (3) Cambuslang, (4) Blantyre
more than counterbalanced by the approach to the west
coast. The rainfall, therefore, increases again to about 40
inches where the Clyde leaves the county below Glasgow.
In Lanarkshire as a rule the driest month of the year
WEATHER AND CLIMATE 55
is April, and the wettest is January. This can be clearly
seen from the curves on p. 54, which show how the rain-
fall varies from month to month. The curves show the
average rainfall for each month of the year at four places
in Lanarkshire, and have been drawn from the mean
values of 25 years' rainfall. Although the total amounts
for the year are quite different, yet the fluctuations from
month to month show a similarity that is astonishing,
particularly in the curves of 2, 3, and 4. Early spring is
much the driest season of the year, and winter is the
wettest. The curves show very clearly the sudden rise
in the rainfall that takes place in July and August, a
phenomenon that is but too well known to holiday-
makers in the west. As regards length of daylight,
dryness and hours of bright sunshine, June is undoubtedly
our ideal month of summer.
The following table, compiled from the data given in
the annual volumes of British Rainfall^ shows the average
rainfall over the ten years 1899 to 1908 of several selected
stations in Lanarkshire :
Airdrie ... ... 38-1 inches.
Biggar ... 30-1 „
Bothwell ... ... 33-9 „
Carluke- ... ... 34-8 „
Cleghorn ... ... 387 „
Glasgow Observatory ... 38-8 „
Hamilton ... ... 37*5 „
Lanark ... ... 31*5 „
Leadhills ... ... 63-5 „
Motherwell ... ... 327 „
56 LANARKSHIRE
Results for the four years 1905-1908 are given for
Lamington and Slamannan as 41 '6 inches and 37*2
inches respectively. But this period was rather below
the average, so that if we make allowance for that fact
the corrected figures will be approximately 43 inches and
38*7 inches. Buchan gives results for the 25 years 1866
to 1 890 for the following places :
Blantyre ... ... 29*74 inches.
Cambuslang ... ... 34*67 „
Douglas Castle... ... 45'68 „
9. The People— Race, Language,
Population.
The earliest inhabitants of Britain probably crossed
from the continent of Europe when it was connected to
these islands by a land-bridge. They used very roughly
made stone weapons and were mighty hunters, chasing
the reindeer, the mammoth, the wild-horse and other
animals that lived in this country in those days. From
their stone weapons they are called palaeolithic (ancient
stone), and their nearest representatives in modern times
are believed to be the Bushmen of Africa. Authorities
are almost unanimous in maintaining that there is no
evidence that this race reached Scotland. These early
palaeolithic men were followed by a race that used stone
weapons of a much finer type (neolithic), and relics of
this race are found all over Scotland. Stone implements
of neolithic type have been frequently found in Lanark-
PEOPLE— RACE, LANGUAGE, ETC. 57
shire, and will be referred to again in the chapter on
Antiquities.
One of the most constant and valuable physical
characters of a race is the shape of the skull, which may
be classed as long or broad. The primitive race of Scot-
land were long-skulled, short in stature and probably very
dark in complexion. They are known as Iberians, and
have no affinities with Celts or Teutons, who are of
Aryan stock. Later on Scotland was invaded by Celtic
tribes, who were broad-skulled, and who are generally
supposed to have driven out or exterminated the Iberian
race, for in early historic times the language of almost
the whole of Scotland was Celtic with, however, a
number of non-Aryan peculiarities of syntax. Yet it is
a remarkable fact that the majority of the people in
Scotland at the present time are long-skulled. Now the
Teutons are long-skulled ; but we know from history
that the Scottish Highlanders are not of Teutonic stock,
and in addition the Teutons are fair while the Celtic-
speaking races are very much darker in complexion than
the people of other districts. It would seem therefore
that the Celtic invaders were merely a predominating
and ruling caste, who completely imposed their language
on the conquered tribes but did not seriously dilute their
blood. The aboriginal stock absorbed the invaders, and
thus on the whole the inhabitants of Scotland may be
said to be of pre-Celtic or of Teutonic blood. No
definite agreement on these points, however, has yet
been reached.
The earliest records relating to the Clyde valley state
58 LANARKSHIRE
that it was in possession of the Damnonii, a Celtic-
speaking tribe. At the end of the fourth century, when
the Roman legions were withdrawn, Clydesdale was in-
vaded by the Scots, a Goidelic tribe, and the original
inhabitants were driven to the south of the district.
About the beginning of the fifth century the Teutonic
race began to appear in Scotland, and for 500 years this
immigration went on until practically the whole of the
Lowlands was in the hands of Teutonic tribes, the
ancestors of the present Lowland Scots.
The place-names of Lanarkshire are extremely inter-
esting. They are not nearly so exclusively Celtic as in
the districts bordering the firth. The names of the hills
illustrate this. The Celtic bens, stabs, sgurrs, maols and
mealls are as a rule conspicuous by their absence, although
we meet with the Celtic words dun, torr and cairn. We
find the Anglo-Saxon laws, dods, hills and rigs. In the
names of the rivers, however, we meet with Celtic words
chiefly, such as Clyde, Avon, Douglas and Calder. The
names of villages and towns fall into two classes. Those,
the history of which stretch furthest back such as Lanark,
Glasgow, Dunsyre, have generally Celtic names, while
those founded in more recent times as Roberton, Mother-
well, Lamington, have names of English origin. Several
words of Norse origin also occur, such as fell and gill, and
town names as Biggar, Busby and Bearholm. In fact, as
Sir Herbert Maxwell tells us in his Scottish Land Names,
" There is perhaps no district in Scotland where the inter-
mixture of languages is so perplexing as in the southern
part of Strathclyde."
PEOPLE— RACE, LANGUAGE, ETC. 59
At the present time Lanarkshire contains between
one-fourth and one-third of the total population of the
country. The census of 1901 gave 1,339,289 persons
to Lanarkshire out of 4,472,043 for all Scotland. No
Population
per sq. mile
\Less than 100
700-250
1 250-500
JOO-7000
\0uer WOO
Map showing density of population in Lanarkshire
other county even approaches this number, Edinburgh-
shire coming second with less than half a million.
Although much of Lanarkshire is bare moorland, it is
yet the most densely populated of all the counties, having
60 LANARKSHIRE
1524 persons to the square mile. This contrasts very
markedly with Sutherland, which has only n to the
square mile, or even with Scotland as a whole, which has
150 persons to the square mile. (See Fig. 3, p. 167.)
It is only in the last hundred years that Lanarkshire has
shot to the front so conspicuously, and this has been due
to the industrial development of the county, following on
the exploitation of its rich coal and iron fields. Motherwell
has now a population of over 30,000, yet at the beginning
of the nineteenth century it did not exist even as a village.
In 1 80 1 the population of the county was 147,692, that
is to say it has increased during the nineteenth century
almost ten-fold, while in the same time the population
of the whole country has only tripled itself. The curves
on p. 6 1 show the comparative growth during the nine-
teenth century of Lanark and of Edinburgh, the county
next to it in importance.
The alien element is stronger in Lanarkshire than in
any other county of Scotland. Every nationality into
which foreigners are grouped by the census authorities is
represented in Lanarkshire, and this doubtful distinction
is shared by no other shire in the country. At the time
of last census (1901) there were three foreigners in Suther-
land, three in Nairn, two in Kinross and 13,438 in
Lanarkshire, more than half the foreigners in the whole
of Scotland. Of the population of all Scotland less than
one-half per cent, are foreigners, but in Lanarkshire the
proportion rises to just over one per cent. The nations
most strongly represented are Russia, Poland, Italy and
Germany. The proportion of Russians and Poles is
PEOPLE— RACE, LANGUAGE, ETC. 61
nothing less than astonishing. Nearly four-fifths of the
total number of these peoples in Scotland are to be found
in Lanarkshire. These figures are largely accounted for
by the number of Russian Jews engaged in various occu-
pations in Glasgow, and the continual influx of Poles,
13
12
1.0
i
|B
i-
o 5
3 4
7
Curves showing the comparative growth of the populations
of Lanarkshire and Edinburghshire
not single spies but in battalions, to Hamilton and the
surrounding colliery districts. There is many a John
Smith or Sandy Macgregor in these parts whose know-
ledge of English scarcely goes beyond his new agnomen.
The Poles have the reputation of being good workers
and respectable neighbours. Their occasional outbreaks
62 LANARKSHIRE
on festive occasions are almost invariably confined to
their own circle. There are others, not foreigners,
whose knowledge of English is insignificant or absent.
In 1901 there were in the county nearly 27,000 persons
who spoke both Gaelic and English, and 104 who spoke
Gaelic only, and of the latter, curiously enough, only
eight did not reside in Glasgow or its suburbs.
Lanarkshire, in spite of its wealth and industrial
supremacy, compares unfavourably with other parts of
Scotland in some respects. Of its families, 71 per cent,
live in houses of one or two apartments, a striking
contrast to the fact that the percentage for all Scotland
is 51.
The occupations of the people of the county are
numerous and varied. Naturally those engaged in
industrial pursuits form by far the majority of the
workers. Of a total of over 400,000 men engaged in
occupations of all kinds, over 300,000 are industrial
workers. Those engaged in commerce total little more
than a fourth of the latter number. The professions
account for nearly 17,000, while agriculture claims less
than half that amount. Among the industries the
various branches of metal and machinery manufacturing
absorb the greatest numbers, almost exactly 100,000,
while next in importance come mining and quarrying,
in which nearly 56,000 men are engaged.
Of course the conditions are different with women
workers. Household duties for which no salary is paid
are not considered " work " by the census, so that over
300,000 women are (nominally) unoccupied. Of the
PEOPLE— RACE, LANGUAGE, ETC. 63
others nearly 100,000 are engaged in industries, while
less than 38,000 are employed in some branch of
domestic service. In the textile industries women take
a prominent position, nearly 25,000 of them being so
employed, a total that is more than double the number
of male workers.
io. Agriculture.
Although at the present time Scottish gardeners and
Scottish farmers have a world-wide reputation, yet it was
not till the eighteenth century that there was any agri-
culture worthy of the name in Scotland. Most of the
country was unenclosed, roads and bridges were almost
unknown, artificial drainage was not employed, and only
the driest parts were tilled. Yokes of oxen dragged a
rude plough far up the hill sides, because the lower parts
were hopeless swamps. A few sentences may be quoted
from Henry Grey Graham's description of the state of
agriculture at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
" There were no enclosures, neither dyke nor hedge
between fields, or even between . farms ; so that when
harvest began or the cereals were young, the cattle either
required to be tethered, or the whole cattle of the various
tenants were tended by herds."... "When the harvest was
over the cattle wandered over all the place, till the land
became a dirty, dreary common ; the whole ground being
saturated with the water which stood in the holes made
by their hoofs. The horses and oxen being fed in winter
64 LANARKSHIRE
on straw or boiled chaff, were so weak and emaciated
that when yoked to the plough in spring they helplessly
fell into bogs and furrows ; even although to fit them
more thoroughly for their work, they had been first
copiously bled by a ' skilful hand.' "..."The harrows,
made entirely of wood, — ' more fit,' as Lord Kames said,
4 to raise laughter than to raise soil,' — had been in some
districts dragged by the tails of the horses, until the
barbarous practice was condemned by the privy council."
...ulf one man dared to cultivate a neglected bit of
ground, the others denounced him for infringing on their
right of grazing on the outfields. How could he begin
the growing of any new crop ? The others viewing
every innovation with the contempt which comes from
that feeling of superiority, which ignorance and stupidity
produce, would refuse to join him."..." With a system
so atrocious, with land uncleaned, unlimed, unmanured,
undrained, it frequently happened that the yield could not
feed the inhabitants of the district, and men renting from
40 to 100 acres needed to buy meal for their families."
Gradually new crops and better methods were intro-
duced. The cultivation of turnips and potatoes marked
the beginning of a more rational agriculture. Old ideas,
as the determination to use no mechanical aids to winnow-
ing because it contravened the Scriptures and "was making
Devil's wind," gradually disappeared. Stock-breeding was
introduced, the land was let in larger holdings, alternation
of crops was practised, artificial fertilisers were used, until
at the beginning of the nineteenth century agriculture was
on a satisfactory basis.
AGRICULTURE 65
In some respects Scotland will always be at a dis-
advantage compared with England. In many parts the
soil is as fertile as any south of the border, but the more
favourable climate of England causes an earlier harvest.
An additional crop of turnips or cabbages or vetches can
then often be secured after the main crop has been got in,
whereas in Scotland this can very seldom be done.
On the whole Lanarkshire cannot be considered one
of the chief agricultural counties of Scotland. Much of
the ground, particularly in the upper ward, is quite un-
suited for tillage. Thus it follows that only about a
quarter of the total area of the county consists of culti-
vated land, "whereas in Fife and Haddington more than
one-half of the land is cultivated. The only branch of
agriculture in which Lanarkshire excels is that of fruit-
growing. Its orchards have been famous for many
centuries. From Lanark to Bothwell both banks of the
Clyde are devoted to fruit-growing. Apples, pears and
plums of the finest quality have been grown here since
the beginning of Scottish history. Gooseberries and
currants claim a fair proportion of the area, but in recent
years strawberry cultivation has increased enormously.
Even Perthshire, the other great fruit-district of Scotland,
has less than half the acreage of Lanarkshire devoted to
this fruit. The former county excels in raspberries,
however, which are grown only to a moderate extent in
Lanark.
A common practice is to grow strawberries for three
or four years. The land is then ploughed and a corn
crop is taken. Next year potatoes are grown for the
M. L. 5
66 LANARKSHIRE
purpose of cleaning and enriching the soil, when the
ground is heavily manured and is ready again for straw-
berries. Over four tons of strawberries per acre can be
gathered from the fields bordering the river. Higher up
the banks, the yield is not so heavy, but the fruit is
considered of finer quality. The tomato is quite the
newest incomer to the district, but its cultivation has
spread with remarkable rapidity. Everywhere the little
glass houses are springing up like mushrooms to meet the
rapidly increasing demand for this fruit in the large towns
of the district.
Of the area under orchards proper, most is claimed
by plum trees, and in autumn the wayfarer may see for
miles along the road within easy reach the scarlet fruit
gleaming through its green setting. Apple trees are
almost as common, and both these species are grown
over twice the area given to pears. Cherry cultivation
is relatively unimportant. The total area under different
kinds of small fruit in 1908 was 2259 acres, and under
orchards was 765 acres.
Scotland is not a great wheat-growing country; the
summers are too wet and cold. In fact, in several of the
counties not a single acre of land is given to wheat. By
far the most important crop is oats, which is peculiarly
well suited to our climate. In Lanarkshire, for example,
oats occupy more than twenty times the area devoted to
wheat. This contrasts very markedly with some of the
English counties such as Cambridge, where wheat is
grown over nearly twice the extent occupied by oats.
The comparison with a purely agricultural county like
AGRICULTURE 67
Cambridge is instructive. The latter county is not quite
so large as Lanarkshire, but it has nearly 52,000 acres of
oats to 37,000 in Lanark, and actually 93,000 acres of
wheat to 1700 in Lanark. There are no other corn
crops of any importance in the shire, but of other pro-
ducts turnips and potatoes are the most valuable. There
are over 9000 acres under turnips and 5000 under
potatoes. The area given up to hay is, of course,
extremely large, there being nearly 48,000 acres thus
cultivated in 1908. (See Fig. 4, p. 168.)
In stock-raising also Lanarkshire cannot compete
with many of the other counties of Scotland. Compare
it with Aberdeenshire, for example, and the contrast is
striking. The latter contains over 31,000 horses used
for agricultural purposes, while Lanarkshire can boast of
barely 8800. It is of interest to note, however, that one
of the best known breeds of horses in the world is of
Lanarkshire extraction. It is said that the famous
Clydesdales originated from the crossing of a Flemish
stallion with a Scotch mare in the seventeenth, or as some
say in the eighteenth century. They were certainly
brought to a high pitch of perfection in the upper ward
of Lanarkshire during the eighteenth century. The
type is not unlike the mighty English "shire " horse, but,
to quote an authority, " the English breed is larger, and
possesses more substance than the Clydesdale, but the
latter has a decided superiority in bone and muscle, with
a compact and firmly knit body, symmetrical head, and
strong feet and pasterns, that render its strength more
durable and admirably fit it for heavy draught work."
5—2
68 LANARKSHIRE
Lanarkshire ranks third among the counties for cattle,
being surpassed only by Aberdeen and Ayr. The total
in 1908 was more than eight times the number of horses,
namely 71,636. The cattle are kept chiefly for dairy
purposes, and therefore the great majority of them are
Ayrshires, although a number of Highland cattle may be
seen in the upper ward. The former breed has been
Clydesdale Stallion
found peculiarly suitable to the moist climate of the
south-western counties. It is not only hardy, but yields
a larger proportion of milk to food consumed than any
other breed in the country. Glasgow and other large
towns absorb the supply of most of the dairies, but cheese
is made in some parts, particularly round Carnwath and
Lesmahagow.
AGRICULTURE 69
In the upper ward the green hill slopes form fine
pasture grounds for sheep, and there are many large
sheep-farms in the district. The stock consists chiefly
of Cheviots and Black-faced sheep. The wool of the
Black-face does not bring so high a price as that of the
Cheviot, but the former breed is hardier and more suited
to mountainous tracts. It will thrive on poor fare and
withstand privations that would exterminate any other
breed. In 1908 the number of sheep in Lanarkshire
was 257,779. (See Fig. 5, p. 168.)
The ancient Caledonian forest probably at one time
extended over most of Lanarkshire, but only a few
doubtful vestiges of this now remain in Scotland. In
certain parts of Lanarkshire there were undoubtedly
within the last thousand years forests that have now
entirely disappeared. At the present time the woodlands
in the locality of the Falls of Clyde show a better develop-
ment of deciduous trees than any other part of the west
of Scotland. Over 21,000 acres of the county may be
classed as woodland, and within the last ten years this
amount of land under trees has just barely held its own.
ii. Industries and Manufactures.
There is probably no district in Britain where the
variety of industries and manufifttures is greater than in
Lanarkshire. This is, in truth, one of the most significant
features of the county. Specialisation, to any marked
extent, is absent. We do not find groups of towns
70 LANARKSHIRE
engaged almost exclusively in the cotton trade as in
Lancashire, or in the woollen trade as in West York-
shire, or in the iron trade as in the " Black Country " of
England. This is undoubtedly a favourable state of
affairs, for it is seldom that several of the great industries
are notably depressed at the same time, and sudden
fluctuations from excessive prosperity to the depths of
adversity are not nearly so common in Lanarkshire as in
other great manufacturing districts.
The pre-eminence of Lanarkshire as an industrial
centre is due to several causes, of which the most im-
portant is the possession of valuable coal-fields of large
extent and fine quality. The position of these coal-fields
must not be overlooked. In the chapter on Geology
they were shown to stretch as far down the Clyde as
Glasgow, and thus the manufactures of Lanarkshire have
ready access to the markets of the world. It was about
the middle of the eighteenth century before the manu-
factures of the county began to develop. The stimulus
given to the textile trades by the application of machinery
in the second half of the eighteenth century was felt in
Scotland. The inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright,
Crompton and Cartwright in England practically laid
the foundations of a new industry, and Lanarkshire was
not slow to seize its opportunities. Other industries
followed, reacting one upon the other, until the county
became a hive of varied industries — the spinning of cotton,
silk and flax, weaving and dyeing, the production of
pig-iron, the rolling of steel, the firing of pottery, glass-
making, the building of bridges, the manufacture of
INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 71
chemicals, distilling and brewing, and a thousand and one
other industries from the building of battle-ships to the
making of clay tobacco-pipes.
For over a century the production of iron has been
a leading industry of Lanarkshire. For many years the
West of Scotland was the most important iron district in
Britain and now ranks second only to Cleveland. The
Ironworks, Coatbridge
first blast-furnaces in the county were begun at Wilson-
town (Carnwath) in 1781. In 1788 there were only
eight blast-furnaces in all Scotland, turning out less than
7000 tons of pig-iron in a year. At the present time
there are nearly 60 in Lanarkshire alone. Coatbridge is
the chief centre for this branch of the iron trade, more
than half the blast-furnaces of the shire being situated there.
The neighbourhood of Glasgow is next in importance.
72 LANARKSHIRE
The two most marked advances in the production of
pig-iron have both originated in Lanarkshire. At first
charcoal was used as fuel, and later coke, but in 1831
Messrs Dixon introduced the use of coal, thus effecting
an enormous saving. The consumption of coal per ton
of iron produced has fallen from eight tons to less than
two tons. The other striking innovation was the intro-
duction of the hot blast, suggested by James B. Neilson
in 1828. Experiments were made at the Clyde Iron-
works with complete success, and soon every furnace in
the country adopted the idea.
The production of mild steel, which began about
1872, led to the demand for purer ores than could be
found in the district. This necessitated a great import
of iron ore, chiefly from Bilbao in Spain, in addition to
supplies from England, Algeria and Elba. Steel-making
is now one of the most important industries in Lanark-
shire. The Steel Company of Scotland was the pioneer
firm and was founded in 1871. It owns works at
Newton and Glasgow, and uses the Siemens or open-
hearth process. There is, it may be noted, no Bessemer
steel made in Lanarkshire. Motherwell is now recognised
as the centre of the Scottish steel industry. The Dalzell
Steel and Iron Works (Colville's) in this town have the
largest plant in Scotland and can turn out 5000 tons per
week. On every side in Motherwell indications of the
predominant industry assail one's eyes and ears. The
air resounds with the clatter and bang of the rolling-mills,
the clanging of the steam-hammers and the rattling
fusillades of the pneumatic riveters. At Parkhead Forge
INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 73
near Glasgow, armour plates are the speciality, and this
firm can now build a battleship, protect it with armour
plates, fit it with boilers and even supply it with guns.
This last fact is particularly interesting, for it marks a
new industry in Lanarkshire. The first modern gun
from this county was completed towards the end of
1909. It is a 12-inch gun firing a projectile over a third
of a ton in weight, and nothing like it has ever been made
in Scotland before.
To describe in detail the multitudinous industries
based on iron and steel would need many volumes and
only a rapid glance can be given at them in these pages.
Foundries are numerous, producing castings which vary
in size from the parts of a model engine to the gigantic
cylinders of a battleship. Boilers of all kinds, Lancashire,
water-tube and ordinary marine types, are made in Glasgow,
Motherwell, Govan and other places. Many works, again,
devote themselves to machine tools, half-human con-
trivances for punching and shearing, for rolling and
bending, for planing and sawing. Machinery of every
kind, in fact, is manufactured in the industrial towns
of the county-land and marine engines, cranes, pumps,
steam-hammers, winding-engines, sugar-machinery and
innumerable other kinds.
The making of scientific instruments has an added
interest from the long connection of Lord Kelvin with
this branch of industry. The name "Kelvin and White"
is known wherever Glasgow-built ships go. It was the
invention of the mirror galvanometer by Lord Kelvin
that made possible communication across the Atlantic.
INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 75
Over 50 patents were taken out by him, and with many
pieces of scientific apparatus Glasgow practically supplies
the world. Another Glasgow invention of great interest
and importance is the range-finder of Barr and Stroud.
Their design was adopted by the Admiralty, and is now
fitted on all battleships and cruisers. It is used also in
nearly every other navy in the world.
The building of locomotives has been brought to a
high pitch of perfection in Lanarkshire. The Hyde
Park Locomotive Works, Springburn, Glasgow, in many
respects are the premier works not only of Britain but of
all Europe. Three hundred engines in a year can be
turned out, and when one thinks of the wonderful com-
plexity of the modern locomotive this is an astonishing
figure. The north-east of Glasgow is in fact devoted
to locomotive building, for there also the Caledonian
and North British Railways have their works. Other
locomotive firms too there are in the city; the trade
employs many thousands of men, and Glasgow engines
can be seen in every quarter of the globe.
Roof and bridge work is carried on in various parts
of Lanarkshire, chiefly in Glasgow and Motherwell.
Those stupendous examples of human achievement, the
Forth Bridge and the Tay Bridge, might justly be regarded
as among the wonders of the world. They were con-
structed by the well-known Glasgow firm of Sir William
Arrol & Co., and there are other builders in the county
of hardly less eminence.
The Clyde and ship-building are synonymous. The
first passenger steamer ever launched in Britain was built
INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 77
on its banks, and at the present time it is the greatest
ship-building centre in the world. In 1907 the tonnage
built on the Clyde was nearly double that produced by
the whole of Germany. Every kind of sailing craft that
can be called a ship will be found a-building here, from
a racing yacht to a Lusitania, from a square-rigged wind-
jammer to a battle-ship. It is only the north-western
extremity of Lanarkshire, from Glasgow seawards, that
takes part in this industry. The Renfrew arid Dumbarton
banks are lined with yards of the first importance, turning
out a tonnage far exceeding that of Lanarkshire, but it
must not be forgotten that their existence depends largely
on this last county. Their coal and steel come from
Lanarkshire, and in several cases the workers themselves
travel from Glasgow and its suburbs to the ship-yards
and back again every day.
The most famous yard in Lanarkshire is that of the
Fairfield Company, Govan. They have built several of
the most famous Cunarders, but it is in warships that they
take the most prominent position. Up to the end of 1908
they had built for the British navy ships in total displace-
ment amounting to almost 200,000 tons, a figure equalled
by no other firm on the Clyde.
The textile industries of Lanarkshire, although im-
portant, are not to be compared with those of Yorkshire
or Lancashire, where whole communities devote themselves
to nothing else. The weaving industry, however, is one
of the oldest in the county and in the sixteenth century
was firmly established. After the Treaty of Union, when
new markets were opened to Scottish enterprise, the trade
78 LANARKSHIRE
grew rapidly, and by the beginning of the nineteenth
century, spinning and weaving provided employment not
only in the towns and villages of Lanarkshire but in
lonely cottages far from urban districts. But in the
struggle for existence the factory operative conquered
the hand-loom weaver, who, in many instances, had either
to emigrate or starve. The industry is now concentrated
in large factories.
Cotton-spinning is largely carried on in Glasgow and
the surrounding district. The east end of the city also
still produces muslins and curtains on quite a large scale.
The subsidiary industries of bleaching, dyeing and printing
employ large numbers of people. The manufacture of
linen used to be an important industry in the west of
Scotland, but the competition of Belfast has been too
keen, and now the trade is practically extinct. Worsteds
and woollen cloth goods are made to some extent, but
the most important branch of the woollen industry in
Lanarkshire is the manufacture of carpets. Glasgow
carpets have a very great reputation for high quality, and
some of the best designers in the country were for the
first time induced to enlist their talent in the service of
Templeton of Glasgow. The manufacture of silk fabrics,
though not increasing to any marked extent, still holds
its own. Handkerchiefs, ties, chiffons and other light
materials are the chief articles produced.
The chemical manufactures of Lanarkshire are charac-
terised, like the industries in general, by great variety.
Perhaps the most important product is sulphuric acid, or
oil of vitriol, which is produced in large quantities by
INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 79
several makers. Other acids, bleaching powder, and
Epsom salts are also important products. In recent
years the increased appreciation of the value of fertilisers
has given a stimulus to the manufacture of artificial
manures. Even ironworks are engaged in this business,
for the spare gases from the furnaces are not allowed to
escape, but are made to yield their share of ammonia from
which to make ammonium sulphate, a valuable fertiliser.
It is estimated that twenty years ago there were only
fifty tons of potassium cyanide per annum consumed in
the whole world. The invention of the cyanide process
for gold extraction entirely altered these conditions, and
created an enormous demand for cyanide. The process
was evolved in a Glasgow laboratory by MacArthur and
Forrest, and the patents were in the hands of a Glasgow
firm. The demand for cyanide at the present time may
be imagined from the fact, that the use of it for a period
of five years on the Rand alone has recovered thirty-five
millions sterling of gold. The Cassel Gold Extracting
Company of Glasgow have a manufacturing capacity
more than double that of any other works in the
world.
A very interesting industry that has sprung up in
Glasgow during the last few years is the making of
rubber-cored golf balls. Hundreds of girls are now em-
ployed in this manufacture, and the industry is growing
rapidly. There are many other branches of chemical
industries that can only be mentioned. Among them the
most important are sugar refining, brewing, distilling, the
manufacture of oxygen, the making of paints and varnishes,
80 LANARKSHIRE
soap making, oil-distillation, tanning, starch and gum mak-
ing, electro-plating, and waterproofing.
Pottery and glass-making have for long been staple
industries in Lanarkshire, particularly in Glasgow. Many
different kinds of glass are made, and the products have
a wide reputation. In recent years, however, the com-
petition of France and Germany has been more severely
fejt, perhaps because the local manufacturers are not so
modern in their methods as their continental rivals. Of
the various branches of glass-making, probably the one
that has been brought to the highest degree of perfection
in Lanarkshire is the manufacture of globes and shades for
gas and electric lights.
The clay for use in the potteries is obtained largely in
the south of England, and is brought to Glasgow in small
sailing vessels. It varies in quality and also in the ingre-
dients added to it according to the class of ware desired.
The clay used always to be worked on the potter's wheel,
an instrument that was in use five thousand years ago,
and is only now becoming extinct owing to the intro-
duction of machinery.
The presence of valuable beds of fire-clay in different
parts of Lanarkshire has resulted in a very important and
flourishing industry in the west of Scotland, namely, the
making of fire-bricks, retorts, pipes, troughs, garden vases,
and many other articles. Ordinary building bricks are
also made in large quantities, and the supply could be
largely increased, but the presence of so much good build-
ing stone in Lanarkshire limits the demand for brickwork.
In recent years an interesting method of using waste
INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 81
material in brick-making has been discovered. This
consists in the utilisation of the great "bings" or heaps
of blaes that form too conspicuous a feature in the land-
scape of many parts of Lanarkshire. The material is
crushed and then moulded into bricks under high
pressure.
12. Mines and Minerals.
Lanarkshire has been an important mining centre for
many centuries. Although there is no definite information
on the point, it seems very likely that the lead mines of
the upper ward were worked by the Romans. From
many points of view, however, the most interesting
mineral found in Lanarkshire is gold. The history of
the gold workings makes a fascinating story. The early
Celtic tribes of the district certainly made torques and
other ornaments of gold, specimens of which have been
found in different parts of the county. The gold of
which these ornaments were made must almost certainly
have come from upper Clydesdale. When we come to
the beginning of the sixteenth century in the reign of
James IV, we find that the mines of Crawford were well
known, and several valuable finds are recorded. A manu-
script in the British Museum tells us that there were three
hundred miners at work in this reign. The writer states
shrewdly "that there hath ben...plentie of golde gotten in
ye waters of the said cloughes and Gilles 80 fad[oms]
above the foresaid waters in ye valleis, wch golde being
M. L. 6
82 LANARKSHIRE
ponderous... must bie common reason descend : so as con-
sequentlie, whereas some peeces of [gold] of above 30
ounces weight have been found in the said Gillies, the
same must...growe there aboute or bie violent waters be
dryven out of higher places wher they did grow within ye
circumference of those places where the golde is founde."
Tradition tells us that in the reign of James V the
French ambassadors were hunting with the king near
Crawford. They taunted the king with the poorness of
his country till, stung by their jeers, James wagered that
the district produced richer fruit than any in the fair land
of France. His wager was won when, at the banquet
that evening, instead of fruit the ambassadors were served
with covered dishes containing " Bonnet pieces," coins
made of the gold found in the neighbourhood.
In 1542 crowns both for the king and the queen were
made of gold from the Leadhills district, and these can
still be seen in Edinburgh Castle. During the minority
of James VI, a Dutchman, Cornelius de Voss, formed a
company and prosecuted the search with such vigour that
in thirty days gold worth ^450 was sent to the mint at
Edinburgh. Another company, headed by a Fleming,
was not so successful, and James ended their license. A
number of good reasons for so doing was given, but the
best undoubtedly was, as the act states, "and which is
most inconvenient of all, has made no sufficient payment
of the duty to our Sovereign Lord's treasury." Later on
our Sovereign Lord James conceived a very characteristic
and ingenious " plot " to make the mines productive. He
suggested to Bevis Bulmer, a mining expert of the day,
MINES AND MINERALS 83
that twenty-four gentlemen should each contribute ^300,
and the king would make each a knight, "a Knight of the
Golden Mynes or a Golden Knight."
This Bevis Bulmer,
"Who won much wealth and mickle honour
On Shortcleuch Water and Glengonar,"
was the most famous of the gold miners of Lanarkshire.
Working with a staff of 300 men he secured in three
years gold to the value of .£100,000 sterling. It is very
interesting to note that he erected a stamping mill at the
head of Longcleuch Burn, for he had found a "little string
or vein powdered with small gold." Many attempts have
since been made to find the gold in situ but without
success. All the gold obtained is found among the stream
gravels and clays. Bulmer's friend and pupil, Stephen
Atkinson, tells us that, he had "too many prodigall wasters
hanging on every shoulder of him... and at last he died in
my debt ^340 starling, to my great hindrance : God
forgive us all our sinnes."
Atkinson obtained power to continue the work and to
make " ane new searche, tryall and discouerie of the
mynes, seames and minerallis in Crawfurde Mure," but
his elaborate project was not successful. Throughout the
three centuries since that time, gold has been collected
in small quantities from the Leadhills and Wanlockhead
district. Little nuggets have occasionally been found as
large as a bean, but most of the stream washings of gold
are in the form of fine grains. The miners still turn out
on special occasions, such as the marriage of one of the
6—2
84 LANARKSHIRE
Hopetoun family, and obtain enough gold to make the
wedding-ring. There are mining experts who are of the
opinion that with the application of modern, economical
methods, gold-mining in Lanarkshire might be made a
commercial success.
The lead mines of Lanarkshire have certainly been
worked for nearly seven centuries. In a grant of lands
to the monks of Newbattle in 1239 by Sir David Lindsay,
a lead mine on Glengonnar Water is mentioned, and in
1264 the sum of forty-two shillings is entered in the
accounts of the sheriff of Lanarkshire for the conveyance
of lead from Crawford to Rutherglen. Lead-mining in
the old days was a more exciting occupation than it is
now. In spite of guards the wild Borderers occasionally
raided the lead-bearers, and even certain staid burgesses of
Lanark and Glasgow were accused of seizing a quantity
of lead on its way to Leith, and were ordered to restore
their stolen goods. With varying success the lead-mining
was carried on until recent times. In 1810 about 1400
tons of lead were produced, but towards the middle of the
century the output diminished to about seven or eight
hundred tons. The mines were then taken over by the
Leadhills Mining Company, and soon the industry was
placed on a prosperous footing, so that by 1892 the output
of dressed ore amounted to nearly 2OOO tons. The plant,
however, was old and out of date, but during the last ten
years the company have embarked on the bold policy of
adopting modern methods and putting down expensive
machinery with complete success.
As this is the only district in Scotland where lead is
MINES AND MINERALS 85
mined at the present day, a few details may be given
regarding the methods of working. Hauling, pumping
and lighting are now partially done by electricity, and
the system is being extended. To this day the ore is
entirely hand-mined, but compressors are being put down
for rock drilling. When the ore (galena or lead sulphide)
has reached the surface it is first hand-picked, the lumps
of pure ore being thus extracted. This is almost all ex-
ported to India. The residue is washed and crushed, and
the rock is separated from the ore by gravitation. The
ore is mechanically graded according to size, and is sold
in the condition of pure, dressed ore. Until two or three
years ago the ore was smelted on the spot, but owing to
complaints of farmers regarding the injurious effects of the
lead fumes on vegetation, the smelting was discontinued.
Even the washing water is not allowed to escape without
paying its toll of lead. It is run into circular troughs and
set rotating. The lighter sand, owing to centrifugal
force, settles round the outside of the tank, while a heavy
lead mud is recovered from the centre. In 1908 the
quantity of ore produced was 3199 tons, while the neigh-
bouring mines at Wanlockhead just over the Dumfries-
shire border produced less than half that amount.
By far the most important mineral in Lanarkshire is
coal. It forms the foundation on which the whole
industrial success of the county is based. The method of
occurrence of the seams has already been described in the
chapter dealing with the geology of the county. The two
methods of extracting the coal are known as the " stoop
and room " system and the " long wall " system, and both
86 LANARKSHIRE
methods are largely used in Lanarkshire. In the first
method roads are driven through the coal and connected
by cross-passages, leaving pillars of coal to support the
roof. The roof is afterwards propped up by timber and
the coal-pillars removed. This method is generally em-
ployed for thick seams. For thin seams the long wall
system is preferred. As the work proceeds outwards the
whole of the coal is extracted, and the "face" is thus
gradually pushed outwards, while the waste material is
stacked up to support the roof. In recent years in
Lanarkshire coal-cutting machinery has been largely in-
troduced. It is used on the long wall system for thin
seams, and is often made to cut through the under-clay,
thus preventing any waste of coal. About two- thirds of
the machines are driven by electricity and the rest by
compressed air.
Lanarkshire is the most important county for coal in
Scotland. In 1908 it produced over seventeen million
tons, the next county being Fife, with exactly half that
amount. The coal is not all used locally, as there is a
considerable export trade from the Clyde. There are
more than 55,000 people employed at the coal mines of
Lanarkshire, and this number and the coal-output increase
from year to year. It is therefore a point of very great
importance to know how long this enormous drain on the
coal resources of the county can last. It has been esti-
mated that there are probably between one and two
thousand million tons of coal left in the ground. Even
taking the higher figure and assuming that the production
will not increase, it is plain that the coal of the county
MINES AND MINERALS
87
will be exhausted in little more than a century. Almost
certainly the easily got and therefore cheap coal will be
Houses cracked by underground workings, Motherwell
exhausted before then, and it is cheap coal that makes
Lanarkshire the great industrial centre that it is.
88 LANARKSHIRE
In various parts of Lanarkshire the extraction of
minerals, particularly coal, has had various effects on
buildings. Some towns exhibit every appearance of
having been visited by an earthquake. Gaping cracks
run through the walls of some of the houses, others are
supported by beams and stays, and others have become
so dangerous that they have had to be deserted altogether.
In Motherwell quite a number of the houses show how
their foundations are gradually giving way, and builders
and purchasers of new property have to be extremely
particular regarding their choice of a site.
In the early days of the iron industry only local ores
were used. A great impetus to the mining of iron ore
was given in 1801 by Mushet, who discovered that the
miners were rejecting under the name of " wild coal " the
valuable ore known as blackband ironstone. For many
years there was no need to import foreign ore, but the
advantages of foreign haematite for steel-making and the
gradual exhaustion of the better seams of ironstone have
caused a great change in this respect. The output of
Scottish ores has fallen off rapidly. Thus in 1881 the
production of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire was 2,232,237
tons, in 1890 it was 721,793 tons, and in 1908 it was
432,840 tons, not a fifth part of what it was thirty years
ago. In the production of ironstone in 1908 Lanarkshire
ranked second among the counties, being beaten by Ayr,
which had nearly 270,000 tons.
The extraction of fire-clay is now an important in-
dustry in Lanarkshire. Mining is carried on chiefly at
Glenboig, Garnkirk, and Gartcosh. The fire-clay occurs
MINES AND MINERALS 89
in beds from four to twenty feet thick, and is of a very
high quality. In 1908, 354,000 tons of fire-clay were
mined in Lanarkshire out of a total for the whole country
of 880,000. Large quantities of ordinary clay are also
dug for the making of building-bricks. Over 200,000
tons were extracted in 1908.
The oil-shales of Scotland are found chiefly in the
east of the country, Linlithgowshire being by far the
largest producer. In the eastern part of Lanarkshire,
however, a considerable amount of oil-shale is mined ;
the quantity in 1908 being nearly 45,000 tons. The
oil-shale industry is a peculiarly Scottish one. It was in
1850 that James Young made the important discovery
that paraffin oil and solid paraffin could be obtained by
the distillation of certain shales. A flourishing industry
sprang up, and Scotch oil was exported to every part of
the globe. In recent years the history of the industry has
been one of continual struggle against the competition of the
enormously rich oil fields of America and Trans-Caucasia.
The industry still flourishes only through the far-seeing
policy of applying technical skill of the highest kind to the
different manufacturing processes, resulting in improved
methods and therefore diminished working expenses.
In connection with the mining industry it seems
strange to remember that little more than a hundred years
ago slavery existed in Scotland. Many of the coal-hewers
and coal-bearers were serfs, compelled to labour all their
lives in bondage. A workman who dared to leave his pit
was in the eyes of the law a thief, for he had stolen him-
self from his master. If his children once went to work
90 LANARKSHIRE
in the mines they were slaves thenceforth. Even children
in their infancy were sometimes sold by needy parents to
the coal masters. This monstrous state of affairs was only
partially remedied in 1775, and it was not till 1799 that
tardy justice gave unconditional freedom to all.
13. Shipping and Trade.
Glasgow is the gateway through which enters and
leaves the mighty double stream of trade that continually
pours in and out of Lanarkshire. Moored to its ten miles
of quays lie ships that have come from every corner of the
globe — here a sailing-ship laden with ore, battered and
rent by its long voyage from the far South Seas; a hundred
yards away a floating hotel plying across the Atlantic with
the regularity of a river-ferry. The shipping that now
enters and clears from Glasgow each year amounts to
over five million tons.
The history of the shipping trade is a continuous
record of the triumph of human determination and fore-
thought over opposing natural forces. The originator of
Glasgow's commerce overseas is said to have been William
Elphinstone, who about 1420 exported salmon and herrings
to France, and brought back brandy and salt in exchange.
By the middle of the seventeenth century most of the
inhabitants were engaged in commerce, and traded with
Ireland, the Western Islands, France and Norway. By
the end of the century Glasgow's mercantile marine num-
bered 15 ships, having an average register of nearly 80
SHIPPING AND TRADE
91
tons. It was not, however, till after the union of the
Parliaments that Glasgow's trade showed a rapid growth.
The ports of England and the English colonies were now
thrown open to Scotland, and soon Glasgow's colonial
trade was of considerable importance. Ships were at first
chartered from other ports to bring back the tobacco from
The Broomielaw
Virginia, but in 1718 the first Glasgow-owned vessel, a
Greenock-built ship of 60 tons, crossed the Atlantic. The
trade was so successful that several English ports formed a
" combine " against Glasgow, and complained to govern-
ment regarding the fraudulent dealings of the Scottish
merchants. Investigations ensued, resulting in the ac-
quittal of the Glasgow merchants without a stain on their
92 LANARKSHIRE
characters, the finding being that "the complaints are
groundless and proceed from a spirit of envy."
During the latter half of the eighteenth century more
than half the tobacco imported into the kingdom was
brought to Glasgow, and made the fortunes of the
" tobacco lords," who strutted in their scarlet cloaks on
the " plain-stanes " of the Trongate, ignoring the appeal-
ing looks of the mere shopkeepers, who, when they wished
to do business, stood in the gutter meekly awaiting an
opportunity of catching the eyes of the great men. The
outbreak of the American war in 1775 dealt a crushing
blow to the tobacco trade, from which it never fully
recovered, but Glasgow enterprise and Glasgow capital
soon poured into other channels, and a flourishing trade
with the West Indies arose.
The introduction of steam-navigation marked the
beginning' of a new era in the history of shipping, and
the first successful steamboat may justly be considered
to be Symington's "Charlotte Dundas," which was
built about 1801 and plied for a short time on the
Forth and Clyde canal. Ten years later Henry Bell's
"Comet" was built, and soon was followed by several
other steamers. About the same time a new trade was
opened up with the East Indies and proved so successful
that in a very short time it reached large dimensions.
The most famous line of steamships in the world, the
Cunard Line, was founded by Messrs Burns in 1840
with the "Sinus," and this was the first steamship to
cross the Atlantic. Soon afterwards the hardly less
famous "Anchor" and "Allan" lines were formed, at
SHIPPING AND TRADE 93
first for trade with America only, but soon sending ships
to many other countries. At the present time there is
regular communication with almost every port in the
British Isles, all the great ports of the Mediterranean and
Western Europe, with Canada and the United States,
with South America, India, China, Japan, the West
Indies, and Australia.
In 1907 the -total tonnage that entered and cleared
at Glasgow was over five millions, a tonnage nearly
double that of Leith, which ranks as the second port of
Scotland. The export and import trade in the same
year was valued at over £46,000,000. In spite of a
few fluctuations, the trade of Glasgow still seems to be
growing rapidly in value, as in 1895 it was only about
half the 1907 value. Glasgow generally ranks fourth
among the ports of Great Britain, the other three that
surpass it in value of trade being London, Liverpool and
Hull. It is somewhat surprising, however, to find that
in 1907 it had to yield pride of place to Manchester, a
practical illustration of the value of a ship-canal.
The imports are chiefly food-stuffs, namely wheat
and flour, animals and meat. The wheat and flour
come principally from the United States, the Argentine
Republic, India, Canada, Russia, and Australia. We
receive our supplies of cattle .and sheep chiefly from the
United States and Canada, and our dead meat from the
United States, the Argentine Republic, Denmark, New
Zealand and Canada. The exports, as might be expected,
consist almost entirely of manufactured goods, the most
important being machinery and iron and steel goods.
94 LANARKSHIRE
Cotton goods rank next in importance, and coal, linens
and spirits are valuable items. Glasgow has always
formed one of the chief emigration ports of the country,
particularly for the United States and Canada. Most of
the emigrants are natives of Scotland, but many are
foreigners who cross to this country from the Continent,
generally in large batches under supervision, in order to
obtain the advantage of Glasgow vessels.
The growth of Glasgow has been accompanied by
the relative decline of Rutherglen. It was a royal burgh
in the twelfth century, and for centuries it was the chief
trading town of lower Clydesdale. Even at the be-
ginning of the fifteenth century, when Lanarkshire was
divided into two wards, Rutherglen was the chief town
in the lower ward. It asserted active superiority over
Glasgow and levied tolls from the Glasgow inhabitants
until the fifteenth century. In matters of trade, however,
the people of Rutherglen were not so far-seeing as their
canny Glasgow neighbours, who consistently clung to
their commercial ideals. Thus in the sixteenth century,
when Glasgow, Renfrew and Dumbarton combined in
an attempt to improve the navigation of the Clyde,
Rutherglen held aloof. As a result the town is still in
no more favourable a position as a port than it was 500
years ago. Small vessels can reach the town at high tide.
It must not be forgotten, however, that Rutherglen has
still a ship-building yard from which vessels of fair size
have been launched.
HISTORY OF LANARKSHIRE 95
14. History of Lanarkshire.
Two thousand years ago Clydesdale was inhabited by
a tribe called the Damnonii. They are usually referred
to as Celts, but we have already indicated the possibility
that Celtic blood may not have been nearly so prominent
in Scotland as Celtic culture and speech. When the
Romans invaded Scotland the route down Clydesdale was
one of the easiest ways from England to the Scottish
Lowlands, and therefore this part was overrun by the
Romans. The great rampart built on the line of Agri-
cola's forts passes through the north-west extremity of
Lanarkshire, and is known as Antonine's Wall. There
was no real colonisation of Clydesdale by the Romans.
It was held by the soldiers as a military outpost, and con-
sequently we find remains of camps and well-made roads,
but not of permanent settlements.
After the departure of the Romans the district re-
verted to its former owners, better known as the Britons
of Strathclyde, and the capital of the kingdom was
Alcluyd or Dunbreatan (hill of the Britons), now known
as Dumbarton. In the seventh century the district
became for a time subject to the Anglian King of North-
umbria, and for centuries after this time there must have
been a constant influx of Anglo-Saxons and a gradual
expulsion of the natives. In spite of attacks from the
Norsemen, the kingdom grew in power until in the tenth
century it stretched as far south as Cumberland.
After the defeat and death of Macbeth, about the
96 LANARKSHIRE
middle of the eleventh century, most of Scotland was
united under Malcolm, the son of Duncan. From about
this time Anglo-Saxon influence predominated in the
Scottish Lowlands, and Celtic influence became sub-
sidiary. On Malcolm's death the kingdom was again
divided, until the accession of David I in 1124 finally
united all Scotland into one kingdom. At the court of
Henry I of England, David had become imbued with
Norman ideas and culture, and therefore we find during
his reign an influx of Normans into Scotland, who soon
settled down in permanent residence and founded some of
the most powerful families in Scotland.
It was in David's time that the county of Lanarkshire
probably first became an administrative district with
boundaries roughly approximating to its modern limits.
It was not, however, until the War of Independence that
Lanarkshire came prominently to the front. Although
Sir William Wallace was not born in the county, he
made his home there, and many of his best-known
exploits are associated with the shire. His first serious
conflict with the English in Lanark has already been
described. The last phase of Wallace's career is also
associated with Lanarkshire. It is said that it was in the
church of Rutherglen that Sir John Menteith agreed to
betray Wallace, and at Robroyston, a few miles from
Glasgow, he was made prisoner by the English.
Wallace had been aided by Sir William Douglas, a
member of the famous house of Douglas, powerful in
Scotland before the influx of the Normans. Their ancient
seat was in Douglasdale, one of the most inaccessible parts
HISTORY OF LANARKSHIRE
97
of Lanarkshire. Most famous of the Douglas line was
the "Good Sir James," generous and valiant friend of
King Robert the Bruce. When Sir James met his death
in Spain on his way to Palestine with the heart of the
Bruce, he had in his company another brave Lanarkshire
knight, Sir Simon Loccard of Lee. To him was entrusted
the duty of bringing back the heart in its padlocked casket
to Scotland, and since that time his descendants have
-a*i*.
n
W WTf
Lee Castle. Home of "Lee Penny"
added to their coat-of-arms a heart and padlock, and the
name of the family was changed to Lockhart. Since that
time also the Douglases have carried on their shields a
bloody heart and a crown.
Sir Simon Loccard returned from this campaign with
the famous "Lee Penny," part of the ransom of a prisoner.
It is a red, heart-shaped stone, latterly set in a shilling-
piece of Edward I's reign, and for centuries was used as a
M.L. 7
98 LANARKSHIRE
healing talisman. Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Talisman^
obtains its title from this relic, as a fanciful account of
the stone forms an important incident in the story.
From the time of the Bruce the county was at peace
until the ambition of the Douglas family brought upon
the district the miseries of a civil war. William, eighth
Earl of Douglas, took refuge abroad for a time, and on
his return was slain by the king's own hand. In 1455,
James II demolished Douglas Castle. Passing to Glasgow,
he gathered the men of the west, returned to Lanark,
and then burnt and harried all Douglasdale and Avondale.
Other members of the house of Douglas who figured
prominently in Scottish history are Archibald Bell the
Cat and Archibald, sixth earl (of the younger branch),
who was grandfather of Lord Darnley, and thus great-
grandfather of James VI.
The county was torn again by civil war in the time
of Queen Mary. In 1544, during the Queen's minority,
the Regent James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, besieged the
Earl of Lennox in Glasgow. On the surrender of the
garrison they were all, with the exception of two, treacher-
ously massacred. The most important event of this period
was the Battle of Langside, on which to a large extent
depended the future of the whole of Scotland. When
Queen Mary escaped from Lochleven her supporters
assembled in force at Hamilton. The Regent Murray
was encamped at Glasgow to prevent the passage of the
Clyde on the way to Dumbarton. Learning that the
Queen's army would attempt the passage lower down
the river, Murray moved out to Langside Hill to intercept
HISTORY OF LANARKSHIRE
99
the enemy. Here he was attacked by the Queen's
forces, but completely defeated them. Mary was watch-
ing the battle from a hill near Cathcart, and on seeing
the flight of her army, galloped off in terror and did not
stop till she reached Sanquhar, 60 miles away.
For a hundred years peace reigned in Lanarkshire,
and then the flame of civil strife broke out anew. The
county became a refuge for those who sought a respite
Monument in memory of Battle of Langside
from the persecutions of the "killing times." The un-
frequented hills, the wide moorlands, and the peat bogs
of Clydesdale became the haunts of the Covenanters, and
many of the best-known episodes of the struggle against
Episcopacy were associated with Lanarkshire. The
famous Peden "the Prophet" has given his name to a
stream that runs down from the Lowthers to join the
Powtrail Water, for here he found shelter in a shepherd's
cottage beside the burn. In Crawford, John Willison
7—2
100 LANARKSHIRE
had a secret chamber constructed where the persecuted
might find shelter, and here Donald Cargill found refuge
for a time. It was at Covington mill in Lanarkshire that
Cargill was at length taken prisoner, in 1681.
Monuments of the Covenanters are dotted all over
the county, in the heart of Glasgow, and on bare hill
sides far from any town. One of the most interesting
may be seen in Hamilton churchyard erected to the
memory of four martyrs whose rudely carved heads
ornament the stone. They were Lanarkshire men who
were executed at Edinburgh in 1666. Their bodies were
quartered, the right hands were taken to Lanark, where
they took the covenant, and their heads were exhibited
on the old Tolbooth at Overnewton. The inscription on
the stone is as follows :
" Stay, passenger, take notice what thou reads ;
At Edinburgh lie our bodies, here our heads,
Our right hands stood at Lanark; those we want
Because with them we sware the Covenant."
The affair at Rullion Green originated in Lanark-
shire and Dumfriesshire. The insurgent Presbyterians
assembled at Lanark and then moved towards Edinburgh.
Meanwhile General Dalziel was marching from Glasgow
to Lanark when he found that his enemy had given him
the slip. He came up with them on Rullion Green, on
the eastern slopes of the Pentlands, and there completely
routed them. Many of the prisoners that were taken
experienced the tender mercies of the "boot" and the
"thumbscrews."
HISTORY OF LANARKSHIRE
101
It was in Lanarkshire in 1679 that the Covenanters
obtained their most noted victory over their persecutors.
The 29th May was being celebrated as a holiday,
since that day was the anniversary of the restoration of
Charles II. The bonfires were blazing in Rutherglen
when a party of Presbyterians entered the town, quenched
the fires, held a brief religious service, and entered their
Battlefield of Drumclog
protest against the forcible establishment of Episcopacy,
a copy of which they nailed to the cross. Graham of
Claverhouse drew out his dragoons from Glasgow to
avenge this affront. In Hamilton he heard of a con-
venticle at Loudoun Hill, and moved in that direction.
He was opposed by a fairly large body of men, though
poorly armed, who were stationed at Drumclog, in
the upper Avon valley near the Ayrshire border. The
102 LANARKSHIRE
insurgents were skilfully drawn up on a boggy piece of
ground behind a large ditch. A hot engagement ensued,
the dragoons were outflanked, about 30 were killed and
the remainder hurled back in disorder, Claverhouse him-
self escaping from the field with difficulty. This success
NoQp^s MTMim EwMissw' YJOrawnif-
Banner of the Covenanters at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig
greatly encouraged the insurgents, and their numbers
rapidly increased.
In June the Duke of Monmouth advanced against
them with a powerful army. They were well posted at
Bothwell Brig, across which the Duke would have to move
in order to attack them, but their ranks were torn with
dissensions between the moderate and the extreme parties.
HISTORY OF LANARKSHIRE
103
Part of them behaved gallantly, but we are told that the
main body seemed "neither to have had the grace to
submit, the courage to fight, nor the sense to run away."
Five hundred of the insurgents were slain and about 1200
prisoners were taken, many of whom were executed or
sent as slaves to the plantations. A body of Scottish
Bothwell Bridge and Monument
Highlanders with Monmouth's army distinguished them-
selves by their cruelty.
The revolution of 1688 put an end to the persecution
of the Covenanters, and active warfare was seen no more
in Lanarkshire. At the rebellion of the '45, however, the
road through Clydesdale was chosen by Prince Charlie in
his retreat from England. The army followed the route
now traversed by the Caledonian Railway from Carlisle,
104 LANARKSHIRE
namely up Annandale, over Beattock Summit into Clydes-
dale, and then down the Clyde to Glasgow. Prince
Charlie spent the last few days of 1745 in Glasgow, a
most unwelcome guest. He had extorted large supplies
from the city, both in money and in food and clothing,
but even the compensation received by the citizens,
namely, a grand review on Glasgow Green, roused no
enthusiasm. He procured only 60 adherents during his
stay, and these the scum of the town. In fact the provost
of the time maintained that his only recruit was "ane
drunken shoemaker," and it is said that but for the inter-
cession of Cameron of Lochiel the Prince would have
sacked and burnt the town.
Since the beginning of 1746 the history of the county
has been one of uninterrupted progress. Its epoch-making
events have been discoveries in industry, its revolutions
have been revolutions of industrial methods, and the
improvement in social conditions and customs has been
no less marked.
15. Antiquities.
The earliest men in Britain were unacquainted with
the use of metals. Their weapons and tools were of stone
roughly shaped and chipped. These weapons of palaeo-
lithic type do not occur in Scotland, but stone weapons
and tools finely chipped or polished have been discovered
in many parts of the country. Neolithic implements of
this type have been frequently found in Lanarkshire.
Palaeolithic implement
(From Kent's Cavern, Torquay]
Neolithic Celt of Greenstone
(From Eridlington, Torks.}
106 LANARKSHIRE
They consist of celts or axes, arrow-heads, spear-heads,
flail-stones, knives or scrapers, slick-stones for softening
hides, and other implements. Many of the so-called
Druidical monuments were probably erected by Neolithic
man. The race was widely distributed, stone structures
of a similar kind having been found all over Europe, in
Africa, Asia, and America. The cromlechs or "standing
stones" of Scotland probably belong to this period. One
of the finest in Lanarkshire is a megalithic pillar near
Elvanfoot, the largest in the district, which gave its name
to the farm on which it was found, Crooked Stone. Near
Biggar, part of a circle of standing stones may be seen,
and near the head-waters of both North and South
Medwins similar monuments occur.
As mankind progressed in civilisation the art of metal-
working was discovered, and the earliest metal implements
are made of bronze. These at first imitated the shape of
the stone tools, so that we find celts and other implements
fashioned like the stone ones, but of bronze. Many such
relics have been discovered in Lanarkshire. A fine bronze
axe-head over six inches long was found near Biggar, and
bronze spear-heads, celts, crowbars, and other tools have
been discovered from time to time in different parts of the
county.
In a British camp on the right bank of the Clyde,
below the junction of Glengonnar Water, an interesting
sepulchral urn was found. It was about six inches in
height and made of coarse clay mixed with grit. A rough
ornamentation of a herring-bone pattern had been given
to it, and on being opened the urn was found to be full
ANTIQUITIES 107
of calcined bones. With the urn was found a bronze
armlet, which is stated to be perhaps the finest specimen
of this type of personal ornament which can be met with
in any collection or museum. It is nearly three inches
in external diameter, nearly half an inch thick, and dates
probably from the time immediately preceding the Roman
invasion. Sepulchral tumuli, often containing remains of
this nature, are common throughout the county. There
is a tumulus in Lesmahagow parish over 50 feet high,
many of the stones used in the construction of which
weigh about a ton.
Ornaments of gold have been found in a few places.
At Stonehill, in Carmichael parish, two rings of pure gold
but of rude workmanship were dug up. Gold torques or
collar ornaments have been found in more than one part
of Lanarkshire. One very fine specimen was obtained
near the borders of Culter parish. It is of thin gold in
the shape of a crescent, the horns of which nearly meet.
The middle part is almost an inch and a half broad,
and the torque is decorated with lines and depressions.
Another is a circular ribbon of gold spirally twisted and
ending in two hooks. It is too small to have been hooked
round the neck, so that if worn as a necklet the ends
must have been joined by a thong, or the ornament was
possibly hooked round the arm. Another specimen was
found at Carmichael. They have been attributed to a
time just after the withdrawal of the Roman legions. A
Strathclyde poet about 650 A.D. describes how 363 warriors
wearing the collar of gold went out to fight the Saxons
and were all slain but three.
108 LANARKSHIRE
Several British camps have been discovered in different
parts of the county. At Cairn Grife, near Crawfordjohn,
is a fine example of one of these ancient British forts.
The fort is about a hundred feet square, and is enclosed
by two ramparts separated by a distance of from five to
seven yards. Camphill in Glasgow gets its name from
the remains of a British camp that can still be seen there.
At Nether Abington there rises abruptly from the banks
of the Clyde a hillock, partly artificial and partly natural.
It is protected by a ditch on the land side, and projecting
from this, a rampart and a ditch of later construction
take the form of a horse-shoe. This type is common in
England, but rare in Scotland. They seem to have been
used first by the Saxons and then by the Normans. The
mound was excavated by G. Vere Irving, who found that
a fortress had been built on a sepulchral tumulus.
A crannog or pile-dwelling was discovered a dozen
years ago on the margin of a pond near Hyndford. It
was probably inhabited during the Roman occupation of
the surrounding country, for a large number of Roman
remains were obtained from it. The most interesting
relic discovered was a fine torque, consisting of large,
ornamented bronze beads strung on an iron rod.
In Roman times Clydesdale was one of the chief
highways from England to the Lowlands of Scotland.
The chain of Agricola's forts and later the wall of
Antonine ran for a short distance across the north-
western part of the county, about four miles north of
Glasgow. Traces of the wall can be distinctly seen to
the west and to the north of Cadder. The "wall" or
ANTIQUITIES 109
rampart was built of sod in layers upon a stone founda-
tion. Its height was about 12 feet, and it was protected
by a fosse or ditch nearly 40 feet wide and about 12 feet
deep. A magnificent collection of inscribed stones from
the rampart can be seen in the Hunterian Museum,
Glasgow University. The stones include sepulchral
monuments, altars to Jupiter, Hercules, Apollo, Diana,
and other deities, and slabs commemorating the com-
pletion of the building of portions of the wall by the
troops that set up the tablet.
From Annandale to the west end of the wall the main
Roman road from England followed the Clyde. Its course
was almost identical with the present route of the Cale-
donian Railway from Carlisle. It entered Lanarkshire
by the head streams of the Annan, crossed Beattock
Summit to Clydes Burn, and then followed the main
stream through Carstairs and Cleghorn, past Uddingston
and Glasgow to the wall. A branch road came into
Lanarkshire by the Powtrail Water, joined the modern
road below the Dalveen Pass and reached the main
Roman road near Elvanfoot. Above Carstairs a Roman
road ran at right angles to the main route. The east
limb probably went into Edinburghshire, while the west
limb ran parallel to Douglas Water towards Duneaton
Water and Crawfordjohn. Another branch stretched
through Stonehouse and Strathaven parishes to Ayrshire.
In many places these roads can still be clearly made out,
particularly in the upper ward of the county. They often
run for considerable distances parallel to the modern road,
and generally at a slightly higher level.
110 LANARKSHIRE
Along the roads a great many camps have been dis-
covered. In the valley of the Clyde they can be counted
in dozens, and they are generally accompanied by relics
of some description that give clear evidence regarding
their occupants. A large and important camp near Cleg-
horn is supposed to have been occupied by Agricola. It
is rectangular in shape, its length being 600 yards and its
breadth 420 yards, and there are six gates. Another
important camp is situated on the right bank of Clydes
Burn above its junction with the Clyde. It is not quite
so large as the one just mentioned, as it measures 500
yards by 300 yards. It is believed to have been one of
the temporary camps of the western column of Agricola's
army. A typical Roman castellum was discovered on the
right bank of the Clyde near its junction with Clydes
Burn. On three sides access is difficult, and therefore a
single rampart protects it on these sides. On the weak
north-western side the defences were doubled. The
interior was excavated and a circular basin was found
chiselled out of rock, the tool marks being quite distinct.
It was lined with clay for the purpose of holding water,
and an abundant supply was still in the reservoir. Round
Tinto there are several camps that cannot be referred to
any Roman road.
Traces of Roman occupation abound in this district,
and fancy can easily conjure up the picture of the con-
quering legions marching vigilant and irresistible through
the lonely hills, where the Caledonian guerillas were
waiting to take advantage of any slackness of discipline.
All along the line of march we find their armour, their
ANTIQUITIES 111
utensils, their ornaments, their money. At Carstairs camp
were found coins of the reigns of Aurelius, Antoninus,
and Trajan ; a silver coin with the head of Faustina was
found at Lanark ; near Biggar many Roman coins have
been obtained, one of gold bearing the head of Vespasian;
and along the line of road at Burnhead and Castlehill gold
coins have been discovered.
The Lesmahagow Flagon
A find made at Lesmahagow in 1810 is of particular
interest. The natives had been familiar with a round
stepping-stone in a certain burn. The stone became
indented, and this peculiarity roused curiosity and led to
its examination. It was found to be a beautiful bronze
flagon with 'several symbolic figures, including Mercury
and Minerva. It is now in the Hunterian Museum,
Glasgow University. A very rare and curious relic of
112 LANARKSHIRE
the middle ages was found in Culter parish. It consists
of a small metal shrine about four-and-a-half inches high,
and shaped like an arm. In it were kept the relics of some
holy man, a portion of the arm, or perhaps only a finger.
Its date is about the end of the thirteenth century.
1 6. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical.
The earliest Celtic examples of ecclesiastical architec-
ture were dry-built stone cells with a roof closed with
overlapping stones and flag-stones. These were followed
by the Columban Scottish churches, consisting of one
small oblong chamber with one door and one window.
No ornamentation was used until the Romanesque influ-
ence made itself felt, introduced by the Normans. The
type was elaborated later by the addition of a chancel.
The Celtic structures were superseded by churches of
Norman style, introduced in the twelfth century. This
style is characterised chiefly by simple massive forms and
semicircular arches. As a rule there is little ornament
except in the doorways, the arches of which are moulded,
and into which zig-zag or bird's-head ornamentation is
introduced. Very few good examples of this style exist
in Scotland, but parts of the cathedrals of Dunblane and
Kirkwall and the abbey of Dunfermline exhibit it very well.
The round Norman arch was replaced by the pointed
arch, giving the First Pointed Style, which reached Scotland
in the thirteenth century. Fresh ornamentation was
introduced showing itself in mouldings and in vigorous
foliage. The windows were always pointed, narrow and
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 113
lofty, and an effect of greater spaciousness, combined with
lightness, was aimed at. In Scotland the style was not so
pure as in England or France, as round Norman forms
lingered on, especially in doorways, although the general
style was altered. Glasgow Cathedral presents a fine
example in its crypt and choir, and in St Kentigern's,
Lanark, the style is shown particularly well by the doorway.
From the middle of the fourteenth to the middle of
the fifteenth century, the Middle Pointed or Decorated Style
prevailed in Scotland. The details aimed at a still lighter
effect. The windows were enlarged, the tracery became
more ornate, and the vaulting and buttresses were made
lighter. Perhaps the finest example of the style in
Scotland is Melrose Abbey. The nave of Glasgow
Cathedral is also a good fourteenth century example of
the Decorated style.
The transition to the Third Pointed Style was gradual.
In England the tracery became more rigid, and the
windows were carried up in straight lines so that the
style was called Perpendicular. In Scotland the exterior
is generally marked by rather heavy buttresses, termina-
ting in small pinnacles. The semicircular arch is often
used, and there is a revival of early ornamentation. Most
of the examples are not cathedrals but collegiate churches.
A fragment of St Mary's Church, Rutherglen, is of
Norman architecture. The tower of this church, which
still stands, is unique in Scotland. It had no connection
with the original church, being built later. The church
was granted to the Abbey of Paisley by William the Lion
in the twelfth century, and remained a possession of the
M. L. 8
114
LANARKSHIRE
abbot till the Reformation. In Lamington Church,
founded by Lambin in the twelfth century, a fine
Norman doorway is still preserved. The elaboration of
the doorway is surprising for such a remote place. There
are three orders of mouldings all showing characteristic
Norman ornamentation. The bell of the church bears
the date 1647, an^ down to 1828 the church still kept
its "jougs" for the punishment of evil-doers.
4 A
Old Church Tower, Rutherglen
St Kentigern's Church, Lanark, is a fine example of
the First Pointed Style. It certainly existed in the
twelfth century, and was given by David I to the Abbey
of Dryburgh. It possessed the somewhat unusual feature
of a double chamber, being divided down the centre by a
row of arches. In the south wall is a fine example of a
First Pointed doorway, with characteristic foliage and
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTIC AL 1 1 5
bold, pointed mouldings above. The church continued
to be used till after the Reformation, but by the middle
of the seventeenth century it had fallen into a ruinous
condition.
Glasgow Cathedral was built in parts at different
times, and therefore shows different styles of architecture.
The earliest part of the present building dates from the
Glasgow Cathedral
twelfth century. It is a mere fragment, but enough
remains to show that it was in the Transitional style
in use in the second half of the twelfth century. The
choir, after being destroyed by fire, was completed by
Bishop Joceline in 1197^ and of this building a consider-
able part still remains. The present choir was built in
the thirteenth century by Bishop William de Bondington,
8—2
116 LANARKSHIRE
and illustrates not only the genius of the architect but the
wealth of the community that erected it. The mouldings
are very elaborate, and the whole structure is of singular
richness and beauty of design. Later on in the century
the nave was built, a work distinguished by great simplicity
and dignity. The mouldings are characteristic, but not so
elaborate as those in the choir. The whole structure was
probably roofed, and the basement of the central tower
erected, by the middle of the fourteenth century. In the
fifteenth century Bishop Cameron erected the stone spire
of the cathedral, the details of which are especially fine.
The general form of the building, like that of all
cathedrals, is a cross, but the transepts project so slightly
that the long stretch of the walls seems almost unbroken.
The general impression given by the exterior is that of
simplicity bordering almost on bareness, but the interior
is magnificent. The proportions are noble and harmonious,
and the details are particularly beautiful and rich.
In 1560 the government ordered the destruction of
the altars, images and other monuments of the old faith,
and this barbarous edict was consequently carried out. In
1574 the Assembly instigated a further act enjoining
more destruction, and then ensued throughout Scotland
the devastation of many of those beautiful structures of
the middle ages, in most cases replaced by Protestant
churches that architecturally were beneath contempt.
Andrew Melville urged the Glasgow magistrates to order
the destruction of the cathedral, and they at length
consented. Masons and other workmen were assembled
to begin the work of demolition, but the Crafts of the
118 LANARKSHIRE
city took arms and swore that he who cast down the
first stone should be buried under it, nor would they be
pacified till the workmen were dispersed. Thus Glasgow
Cathedral escaped untouched, almost alone of all the
cathedrals of Scotland. The building remained in a
dilapidated condition till 1854, when the Commissioners
of Woods and Forests undertook its restoration, and
under their care it was put in its present state.
St Bride's Church, Douglas, belongs to the Middle
Pointed or Decorated Period. Although the church
existed in the twelfth century, the present building is
much later. In 1307 the old church was attacked by
Sir James Douglas, and the English garrison who were in
it at the time were slain. The present church was built
about the end of the fourteenth century. The architec-
ture is very simple, but the church is interesting for the
monuments it contains. The oldest is ascribed to the
Good Lord James, the friend of Bruce, although some
authorities hold that it dates to a still earlier time. It is
surrounded by a finely cut canopy. A silver case is still
preserved containing all that is left of the heart of the
Good Lord James. His bones also are said to have been
brought home from Spain and buried here.
"The Banys haue thai with thame tane
And syne ar till thar schippes gane
Syne toward Scotland held thar vay,
And thar ar cummyne in full gret hy.
And the banys richt honorabilly
In-till the kirk of dowglass war
Erdit, with dule and mekill car."
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 119
Another monument is to Archibald, the fifth earl, who
died in 1438. The base of the monument is ornamented
with sculptured foliage, which seems to have been done
about the middle of the fifteenth century. A third
monument, inferior in design and execution, is to James,
seventh earl of Douglas and his wife. This was James
the Gross, who died in 1443. Remains of the earlier
Old Church, Bothwell
church still exist in fragments of capitals of Norman
design.
St Bride's Collegiate Church, Bothwell, is another
example of the same style. It was founded in 1398 by
Archibald, Earl of Douglas, surnamed the Grim, who
was the lord of Bothwell Castle. Here the Duke of
Rothesay was married to the earl's daughter in 1400.
120 LANARKSHIRE
The church is a simple oblong building divided externally
by buttresses. Above the entrance doorway is a remark-
able arch of elliptic form. The roof is protected by
overlapping stone slabs which are carefully curved so as
to throw the water away from the joints. The church
contains some fine monuments and several ancient carved
stones.
The Church of St Nicholas, Biggar, is a representative
of the Third Pointed Period, and was founded in 1545 by
one of the powerful Fleming family, then Chancellor of
Scotland. Like many others of this style the doorway is
surmounted by a round arch. The walls are buttressed
on the outside and there is a battlemented tower. One
unusual feature is that the pointed windows are set in a
rectangular recess, probably due to the square Renaissance
forms then being introduced.
The Reformation put an end to mediaeval ecclesiastical
architecture in Scotland. A few churches were certainly
erected under the influence of the Episcopalians, but
the Presbyterians attempted to eliminate everything that
savoured of the old forms, and to this end were content
to erect buildings that had absolutely no claim to respect
so far as their architecture was concerned. One interest-
ing example of a seventeenth century spire, a type few of
which now remain in Scotland, is the Tron Steeple,
Glasgow, erected in 1637. It seems to be an imitation
of the steeple of Glasgow Cathedral, modified, however,
according to the style of the time. The wide arches at
the base are modern.
In the eighteenth century there was in England a
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 121
distinct revival of the interest in architecture, and particu-
larly in classical styles. This awakened feeling hardly
stirred in Scotland till the nineteenth century. We are
told that in the eighteenth century the Scottish churches
u were disgraces to art and scandals to religion. They
were mean, incommodious and comfortless ; the earth of
the graveyard often rose high above the floor of the
church, so that the people required to descend several
steps as to a cellar, before they got entrance by stooping
into the dark, dismal, damp and hideous sanctuaries." At
the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, a great
change for the better began to take place. Architects
made a special study of old buildings and old styles, and
this combined with the rapidly increasing wealth of the
country was soon reflected in many noble, ecclesiastical
buildings. The great and wealthy industrial communities
of Lanarkshire can now without exception boast of
modern churches that will bear comparison with those
of mediaeval times.
17. Architecture — (6) Castellated.
Bothwell Castle, situated on a high promontory on the
north side of the Clyde, is perhaps the most magnificent
ruin in Scotland, and is undoubtedly the finest example of
the castles of the thirteenth century. It encloses a large
courtyard surrounded by high walls, strengthened at the
corners with towers. In places the walls are sixty feet in
height and more than fifteen feet thick. The splendid
122 LANARKSHIRE
donjon, which dominates the building, dates probably from
the second half of the thirteenth century. The whole
structure is built of red sandstone in regular courses, and
the earlier parts particularly bear witness to the wonderful
care and skill expended on the building. In the north-
west tower there is a drawbridge of a kind unique in
Scotland. It was constructed to cut off the tower from
Bothwell Castle, interior
attacks from the inside^ and was counterpoised for easy
lifting. The great hall, the chapel and other buildings
were probably erected about 1400 by Archibald the Grim,
Earl of Douglas. Round the red towers of the castle
linger memories of some of the most famous names in
Scottish history. Edward I and Edward III of England
both lodged within its walls. One of its owners was
ARCHITECTURE— CASTELLATED 123
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who married Queen
Mary. The present owner is the Earl of Home.
Directly opposite the castle stand the ruins of Blantyre
Priory. Only two gables and a vault are left of the
priory founded in the thirteenth century by Alexander II,
and gifted to the monks of Jedburgh, who found at times
a refuge there when the Border was troubled. It stands
on a steep bank; and Wallace is said to have leapt through
a window over the cliff, thus eluding his pursuers. Tra-
dition tells also of an underground tunnel beneath the
river connecting it to the castle on the other side.
The end of the thirteenth century is marked by a
great change in the style of the castles of Scotland. The
War of Independence completely exhausted the resources
of the country, and consequently we find that large and
massive buildings such as Bothwell Castle were no longer
erected. Their place was taken by strong, square towers,
fashioned after the model of the Norman keeps. These
are specially characteristic of the fourteenth century, but
continued to be built at much later dates, and from the
simplicity of the design it is often difficult to determine
the exact age. In the fifteenth century it became custo-
mary to build the castle round a central quadrangle or
courtyard. In addition, a separate tower or keep is often
found, capable of being defended although the rest of the
castle should be captured.
One of the best known of fifteenth century castles is
Craignethan Castle, near Crossford, the " Tillietudlem
Castle" of Old Mortality. It has a beautiful situation
above the Nethan Water, about a mile from the Clyde.
124
LANARKSHIRE
The keep of the castle is certainly older than the other
portions, and is built on a plan very unusual in Scotland.
At first the keep was probably the only part erected, but
later the extent of the building became considerable. The
castle has been held in turn by the Hamiltons, the Hays,
Craignethan Castle
and the Douglases ; and Queen Mary is said to have
occupied it for some time before the battle of Langside.
Another interesting castle of the fifteenth century
overlooks the town of Strathaven. It is situated on a
rocky hill nearly surrounded by the Powmillan Burn, a
tributary of the Avon. The castle was built by the
ARCHITECTURE— CASTELLATED 125
grandson of the second Duke of Albany, who in 1457
became Lord Avondale. It seems to have been oblong
in plan with two towers at diagonally opposite corners,
although only one round tower and fragments of the walls
remain. There are large port-holes for the mounting
of guns.
Covington Tower is another example of the simple
keep of the fifteenth century. The walls are eleven feet
thick, and the tower must originally have been a fine
specimen of the massive work of the time. The estate
was obtained in the fifteenth century by the Lindsays,
and was held by them till the seventeenth century.
Lamington Tower is traditionally associated with Wallace,
for it is said that he married Marion Bradfute, the only
daughter of the Laird of Lamington. The existing tower,
however, is not older than the sixteenth century. Craw-
ford Castle or Tower Lindsay is noticed in Scottish
records as early as the twelfth century. It is situated
near the Clyde, commanding the road up Glengonnar
Water into Dumfriesshire. The castle was a favourite
resort of James V as a centre for hunting. The ruins
that still exist probably date from the reconstruction of
the castle by the first Marquis of Douglas, about the
beginning of the seventeenth century.
Douglas Castle was the scene of many of the most
famous exploits in Scottish history. It had been seized
by the English, but was recaptured by Sir James Douglas
in 1307. Not wishing to be besieged in it by the English,
he removed all the valuables, piled up the provisions and
wine in the cellars, slew his prisoners and added their
126 LANARKSHIRE
corpses to the heap, cast the dead horses on the mass, and
threw salt over all. He then set fire to the building with
its dreadful " Douglas Larder." No trace remains of the
original castle, the " Castle Dangerous " of Sir Walter
Scott. The solitary tower of an old castle that still exists
is probably not earlier than the seventeenth century. In
1755 a fire destroyed the whole structure except the
tower.
18. Architecture— (c) Municipal and
Domestic.
The Glasgow Municipal Buildings were finished in
1889 at a cost of over half a million sterling. The style
is the Italian Renaissance, and the buildings are four
storeys in height with a domed tower at each corner and
a central tower rising to a height of 237 feet. The
windows and other parts are elaborately ornamented with
columns, and figure sculpture has been used to a large
extent. The result, while extremely rich, perhaps errs
on the side of over-elaboration. The interior is as mag-
nificent as the exterior. A splendid marble staircase leads
from the entrance hall, and the corridors and walls are
pillared and panelled with marble and alabaster. In the
banqueting-hall is a fine series of panels painted by the
most eminent Scottish artists and representing scenes in
the history of Glasgow.
The town hall of Rutherglen is a remarkably imposing
structure for the size of the town. It is late baronial in
ARCHITECTURE— MUNICIPAL, ETC. 127
style and bears a square clock tower with turrets. The
tower forms a conspicuous land-mark for many miles
around.
There are many interesting dwelling-houses in
Lanarkshire, but space will permit the mention of only
a few especially notable either architecturally or for their
historic associations. Provand's Lordship is the oldest
George Square and Municipal Buildings, Glasgow
house in Glasgow and one of the oldest in Scotland.
This interesting link with the past is situated in Castle
Street on the west side of Cathedral Square. It was the
town manse of one of the prebendaries of the Cathedral
who was Laird of Provan, and is said to have been built
in the fifteenth century. It has of course suffered con-
siderable alteration ; for example, the present level of the
128
LANARKSHIRE
street is five feet above the old ground floor of the house.
The interior still retains many of the old features. It is
said that Queen Mary stayed here when Darnley lay sick
in Glasgow.
Gilbertfield is an interesting old mansion standing
about two miles south-east of Cambuslang. It was built
in 1607 on a simple L plan and was designed both for
Provand's Lordship. Oldest house in Glasgow
comfort and strength. For many years it was the
residence of William Hamilton, of Gilbertfield, the friend
and correspondent of Allan Ramsay.
Part of Bedlay House near Chryston dates from about
the end of the sixteenth century. It is a quadrangular
structure with high-peaked, crow-stepped gables, and two
round turrets. It once belonged to the Earls of Kilmar-
ARCHITECTURE— MUNICIPAL, ETC. 129
nock, the last of whom was executed after the rebellion
of the '45.
Hamilton Palace lies between the town and the river
Clyde. The first castle of the Hamiltons in this vicinity
was the royal castle of Cadzow, obtained from Robert the
Bruce. Queen Mary resided there before the battle of
Langside, and the Regent Murray therefore burnt the
castle to the ground after the battle. Thirteen years
later, in 1581, a new castle was erected on the site of the
modern palace. The oldest part of the present building
dates from this time, but large additions were made in
1705. Further buildings were added in 1822 by the
tenth duke, and the structure is now a most imposing
one. The interior is as grand as the exterior, and until
recently contained the finest collection of art treasures in
the country, but most of these were sold in 1882. The
grounds are magnificent, and include Cadzow Forest with
the interesting white cattle. The present owner is the
thirteenth Duke of Hamilton.
Douglas Castle stands on the site of the " Castle
Dangerous" of Scott, of which no trace remains. Ad-
joining the present building is a tower of an old castle, but
considerably posterior in date to the historic pile burnt by
the Good Lord James. After the conflagration of 1755,
the last Duke of Douglas kept before him the prophecy
that as often as Douglas Castle should be razed it should
rise from the ruins with increased splendour. Accordingly
in 1762 the present magnificent mansion was erected, and
it is only a fraction of what the Duke intended it to be.
The grounds and surroundings are particularly fine. The
M. L. Q
ARCHITECTURE— MUNICIPAL, ETC. 131
estate now belongs to the Earl of Home, a descendant of
the nephew of the last duke, who died childless in 1761.
Mauldslie Castle is situated three miles from Carluke
on the north bank of the Clyde. It is a large and
imposing building with round, flanking turrets and a
massive square tower. It was built for the fifth Earl
of Hyndford in 1793, but its present owner is Lord
Newlands. Mauldslie was originally a royal forest com-
prising most of the present parish of Carluke, but it was
gifted in portions to several nobles by Robert the Bruce.
The father of Lord Newlands acquired part of the estate
some time after the death of the last Earl of Hyndford.
IQ. Communications - Past and
Present.
Since the beginning of history Clydesdale has been
one of the main routes between England and the Low-
lands of Scotland. The barrier to communication is the
Southern Uplands. But this area of high ground is deeply
scored by the Clyde and the Annan, and the head waters
of these streams come very near each other. They are
joined by a pass a thousand feet above sea-level, and
therefore from the earliest times to the present we find
a tide of traffic ebbing and flowing along this channel.
Two thousand years ago a Roman road was built along
this route ; to-day the London express passes over Beattock
Summit and roars down Clydesdale within a few hundred
feet of the old road by which the Roman legions marched.
9—2
132 LANARKSHIRE
Again, Scotland is more easily crossed from the Clyde
to the Forth than at any other place, and therefore we
find communication established between Glasgow and the
east coast for many centuries. Glasgow stands at the
convergence of many of the natural routes of the west of
Scotland. The two already mentioned cross at Glasgow.
The fertile Ayrshire plain is joined to the Clyde basin
by a low valley that runs past Beith, Lochwinnoch and
Paisley and points towards Glasgow. A second easy
route from Ayrshire by the gap in the lava hills at
Neilston and Barrhead is directed straight towards
Glasgow. The western Highlands are practically shut
off from the Lowlands by land, but they are easily
accessible by sea, and the natural route from the west
is up the Firth of Clyde and so into the heart of the
Lowlands at Glasgow.
Clydesdale is connected with Tweeddale by the low
valley of Biggar, and with eastern Ayrshire by a more
difficult route up the Avon Water and another up the
Douglas Water. Man has taken advantage of all these
natural thoroughfares, and therefore we find both roads
and railways running along these routes. A glance at
the physical map on the cover will show at once how the
valleys have controlled the directions of the roads and
railways.
Although communication in Lanarkshire has been
kept up for many centuries along the routes indicated,
yet proper roads are of comparatively recent origin. In
former times wheeled traffic was hardly possible, and
most of the trade was done by pack-horses. It was not
COMMUNICATIONS 133
till the middle of the eighteenth century that a stage-
coach ran between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and its
average rate was less than four miles per hour. There
was no coach communication between Glasgow and
London till within 12 years of the nineteenth century.
Until 1797 the letters to Glasgow were carried by a
post-boy on horseback. Before the Clyde was deepened
so that boats could come to Glasgow, the goods were
carried from Dumbarton or Port Glasgow on pack-
horses. The state of the Glasgow streets and roads may
be imagined when we know that until 1777 only two
men were employed in keeping up the "streets, causeways,
vennels and lanes, the highways and roads, within and
about the city, and territories thereof."
The passing of the Turnpike Roads Act in 1751
marked the beginning of a new era. In Lanarkshire
Telford's Glasgow to Carlisle road became a model for
future engineers. One of the most remarkable of
Telford's achievements was the carrying of the road over
Cartland Crags by a viaduct 130 feet high. The main
artery of the county may be considered the road from
Glasgow up the Clyde valley. Of the greatest importance
also are the main roads from Glasgow to Edinburgh, one
passing by Bathgate, the other by Shotts and Midcalder.
The latter road is joined at Midcalder by the highway
from Lanark to Edinburgh. Below Glasgow a highroad
runs on each side of the Clyde connecting Lanarkshire
with the most important towns of Dumbarton on the
north and Renfrew on the south. The county is joined
to Ayrshire by highroads running up the valley of the
134 LANARKSHIRE
Avon and the valley of the Douglas. Nithsdale may be
reached from the Clyde by a road from Elvanfoot over
Leadhills and Wanlockhead, or by a road up the Powtrail
Water and over the Dalveen Pass. Eastwards Tweed-
dale can be reached easily by the route from Symington
along Biggar Water to Peebles. Minor roads form such
a complicated network as to baffle description.
The main railway lines form almost a duplication of
the most important roads, and the reason for this has
already been indicated. There are certain natural routes
through the county, and the work of the engineer of
both road and railway has consisted largely in taking
advantage of these easy routes. The first railway in
Lanarkshire to give communication from one end of the
county to another was the Caledonian Railway opened
in 1847 fr°m Carlisle to Glasgow and Edinburgh, the
divergence taking place at Carstairs. The line crosses
Beattock Summit from Annandale and joins the Clyde
at Elvanfoot. From this point for a long way, railway,
road and river go side by side, crossing and recrossing like
the strands of a cord. From Carstairs the main line
passes through Wishaw, Motherwell, Uddingston and
Cambuslang to Glasgow. The Caledonian main line to
Edinburgh goes up the Clyde valley to Bellshill, then
crosses the moors by Shotts and enters Linlithgowshire
just west of Fauldhouse. The North British main line
takes an easier route to the north by Falkirk, Polmont
and Linlithgow, entering Edinburgh from the west.
Another Edinburgh line passes by Coatbridge and Bath-
gate.
COMMUNICATIONS 135
Main lines run west down the Clyde on both sides
of the river. The two roads already mentioned from
Lanarkshire to Ayrshire by Avondale and Douglasdale
are accompanied by railway lines, and a line from Elvan-
foot goes towards Nithsdale as far as Wanlockhead. The
easy route from Clydesdale into the Tweed basin by the
Biggar valley is -utilised by the Caledonian line to Peebles.
The dense population and the heavy mineral and goods
traffic in the lower and middle wards have necessitated
the building of almost innumerable lines of railways, lying
over the lower part of the county like a spider's web of
which the centre is at Glasgow.
A short portion of the Forth and Clyde canal lies in
Lanarkshire. It passes through the north-west corner of
the county taking advantage of the Kelvin valley. The
Monkland Canal lies wholly in Lanarkshire. It starts
from a branch of the Forth and Clyde canal at Port
Dundas, Glasgow, runs east into the parish of old Monk-
land, passes through Coatbridge and terminates in the
North Calder Water. The project was suggested in
1769, in order to ensure for all time a plentiful supply of
coal to Glasgow. The canal was surveyed by James
Watt and after some difficulties, chiefly of finance, was
finished in the last decade of the eighteenth century. It
was taken over by the Caledonian Railway along with
the Forth and Clyde canal in 1867.
The palmy days of canal traffic both for passengers
and goods have passed away. As railways were extended
the importance of canals declined. The complete explana-
tion of this is by no means easy. It has been attributed
136 LANARKSHIRE
to their passing into the control of railway companies, but
this explanation is not satisfactory. The smallness of the
vessels in use and the consequent additional handling of
goods undoubtedly militate against the greater use of canals
in these days, when the whole tendency is to handle and
carry goods in as large amounts as possible. With the
adoption of improved methods of traction there seems no
good reason why the importance of canal traffic should
not to some extent be restored.
20. Administration and Divisions.
The county of Lanarkshire as an administrative unit
probably dates from the time of David I, when the
sheriffdom was inaugurated. At first the position of
sheriff was hereditary and was held by one of the power-
ful families of the county. The Douglas family held the
office for some time, for a period also it formed one of
the hereditary titles of the Hamiltons. It was not till
1747 that appointments to the office were made in the
modern method. Hamilton of Wishaw tells us that the
sheriffdom originally included Renfrewshire until the two
were separated by King Robert III in 1402. The county
was originally divided into two wards, an upper ward, the
capital of which was Lanark, and a lower ward, the capital
of which was Rutherglen. In the middle of the eighteenth
century the county was divided into an upper, a middle
and a lower ward, the head towns of which were respec-
tively Lanark, Hamilton and Glasgow. Since that time
the middle ward has again been subdivided for adminis-
ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS 137
trative purposes, the chief towns being Hamilton and
Airdrie.
The county possesses a lord-lieutenant, a vice-lieutenant,
and a large number of deputy-lieutenants and justices of
the peace, but the most important administrative body is
the county council, which is composed of 70 elected
members. Glasgow of course is not included in the
county, as in 1893 ]t was constituted a county of a city
with the lord-provost of the city as lord-lieutenant. The
law is administered by a sheriff-principal and five sheriff-
substitutes for general work along with two resident
substitutes. The police force is a county constabulary,
except in the large towns, most of which have their own
separate forces.
The upper ward contains the following parishes :
Biggar, Carluke, Carmichael, Carnwath, Carstairs,
Covington, Crawford, Crawfordjohn, Culter, Dolphin-
ton, Douglas, Dunsyre, Lamington and Wandel, Lanark,
Lesmahagow, Liberton, Pettinain, Symington, Walston,
and Wiston and Roberton. The middle ward contains
the parishes of Avondale, Blantyre, Bothwell, Cambus-
nethan, Dalserf, Dalziel, East Kilbride, Glassford,
Hamilton, New Monkland, Old Monkland, Shotts, and
Stonehouse. In the lower ward are the parishes of
Gadder, Cambuslang, Carmunnock, Cathcart (part),
Eastwood (part), Govan, Rutherglen, and the parishes
of Glasgow.
The county is represented by six members of Parlia-
ment, the districts being North-east Lanark, North-west
Lanark, Mid-Lanark, South Lanark, Govan, and Partick.
138 LANARKSHIRE
In addition Glasgow returns seven members, and the
burghs of Rutherglen, Hamilton, Airdrie, and Lanark
unite with burghs outside the county in returning two
more. Rutherglen has a share in the member for Kil-
marnock Burghs, and the other towns mentioned combine
with Falkirk and Linlithgow in returning the member
for Falkirk Burghs.
The County Councils were established in 1889, and
look after the finances, the roads and bridges, the public
health, and the general administration. The parish
councils administer the poor-laws, the unit of poor-law
administration being the parish. The control of the
insane is vested primarily in the Commissioners of Lunacy,
and for each county there is a Lunacy Board. There are,
finally, a number of burghs largely independent of the
County Council. The burghs of Lanarkshire are Airdrie,
Biggar, Coatbridge, Glasgow, Govan, Hamilton, Lanark,
Motherwell, Partick, Rutherglen and Wishaw, and of
these Glasgow, Lanark, and Rutherglen are royal burghs.
The burghs are managed by town councils, which
administer the property of the burghs, impose the rates
necessary for upkeep, and make bye-laws for the regula-
tion of the trade of the town and the conduct of the
inhabitants. Town councillors are elected for three years
and one-third of the council retires annually. The coun-
cillors elect among themselves magistrates, who, besides
performing other duties, act as judges in the cases that
come before the ordinary police-courts.
It must not be forgotten that there is still a con-
siderable amount of overlapping and confusion in the
ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS 139
administrative divisions, not only of Lanarkshire but of all
the counties of Scotland. The registration county is not
the same as the civil county; the ecclesiastical parish
differs from the civil parish ; the district under municipal
authority has no fixed relation to any of these areas. For
example, a householder in the west of Glasgow may help
to elect a town councillor for Glasgow, may vote for the
School Board of Govan ; and may have as his parlia-
mentary representative the member for Partick, although
the three towns are municipally absolutely distinct.
In 1889, under a Local Government Act, the Boun-
dary Commissioners rectified some of the most glaring
anomalies, and transferred certain areas from one parish to
another, and in other cases from one county to another.
The ecclesiastical divisions, however, in many cases still
fail to harmonise with the civil divisions. For example,
several of the parishes of Lanarkshire are in the synod of
Lothian and Tweeddale, while the rest are in the synod
of Glasgow and Ayr.
Since the Education Act of 1872, the management
of education in Scotland has been entrusted mainly to
School Boards, of which Lanarkshire has 49. Education
is compulsory for children between the ages of five and
14 years, and is free to all. Above the primary schools
there are two classes of higher schools, called intermediate
and secondary. The former schools provide a three years'
course, and the latter at least a five years' course of edu-
cation after the elementary stages. Pupils who have
passed through a secondary school with credit are quite
able to go with profit directly to the University.
140 LANARKSHIRE
The County Council is also interested in secondary
education, and is empowered to give grants to schools
and to assist pupils by bursaries or otherwise. The two
Glasgow training colleges for teachers, which were for so
many years managed by committees of the Established
Church and the Free (later United Free) Church, have
now passed into the hands of a provincial committee,
elected or nominated by various representative bodies.
21. The Roll of Honour.
In addition to one or two superlatively great men,
Lanarkshire has produced a large number of persons who
fall just short of that class, but whose names are neverthe-
less household words. There are at least two names that
might legitimately be placed in the first of these classes.
In the records of exploration no name stands higher than
that of David Livingstone, and in the history of British
physical science Newton alone takes rank before Lord
Kelvin. It is a matter for further satisfaction to think that
each of them was not only a genius in his own line, but
also a genuine benefactor of mankind. Kelvin was not
born in Lanarkshire, but his whole education and life-work
were bound up inseparably with Glasgow University.
We can hardly claim for Lanarkshire any of the
giants of pure literature, although the number of well-
known names is very large. Nor, strange to say, have
the many and exquisite beauties of Clydesdale inspired
any literature of the first rank. One of the earliest of the
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 141
county's famous writers was William Lithgow, who was
born at Lanark in 1582. He travelled on foot all over
Europe and North Africa, covering more than 36,000
miles, and on his return composed his best-known work,
The Rare Adventures and Paineful Peregrinations of William
Lithgow. He died in his native town about 1645. Allan
Ramsay was born in 1686 at Leadhills, where his father
was mine manager. He describes himself as
" Of Crauford-muir, born in Leadhill
Where mineral springs Glengonir fill
Which joins sweet flowing Clyde."
Ramsay was 15 years of age when he Jeft Leadhills, and
his career afterwards was bound up with Edinburgh.
John Wilson was born at Lesmahagow in 1720. He
was parish schoolmaster at Lesmahagow, Rutherglen,
and Greenock. The last appointment he obtained only
by promising to abandon "the profane and unprofitable
art of poem-making." His best-known work is Ihe
Clyde^ a long poem of nearly 2000 lines, of considerable
merit and containing many interesting descriptions.
Smollett was born in Dumbartonshire, but Glasgow has
many claims on him. He was apprenticed to a Glasgow
apothecary, and he drew on his Glasgow experiences for
many of the characters in his novels. Adam Smith was
not a native of Lanarkshire, but his connection with
Glasgow University forms a strong link binding him to
the county. He was educated at the college in Glasgow,
and came back in 1751 to fill in succession the chairs of
Logic and Moral Philosophy before retiring to his native
142 LANARKSHIRE
Kirkcaldy to produce his great work, The Wealth of
Nations. On his election as Lord Rector of Glasgow
University, he wrote "No man can owe greater obliga-
tions to a society than I do to the University of Glasgow."
The author of Te Mariners of England was born in
Glasgow in the vicinity of the High Street, and was
educated at Glasgow University. All his life Campbell
had a strong affection for his birth-place. "I was better
pleased," he says, uto look on the kirk-steeples and whin-
stone causeways of Glasgow than on all the eagles and
red deer in the Highlands." In the height of his fame
he was three times elected Lord Rector of Glasgow
University. Lanarkshire has a claim on De Quincey,
from the fact that he resided in Glasgow between 1841
and 1843, and later on f°r shorter periods. He had
lodgings in Rottenrow and Renfield Street. His greatest
friends in Glasgow were Lushington, the professor of
Greek, and Nichol, the professor of Astronomy, for De
Quincey was at this time intensely interested in the latter
subject.
John Gibson Lockhart, the biographer of Scott, was
a Lanarkshire man, born in Cambusnethan manse, near
Wishaw. His life-work, however, was done in Edin-
burgh and London. He occasionally collaborated with
Christopher North in the Noctes Ambrosianae\ and the
latter, too, had close associations with Glasgow, as he
was educated at the University, and always looked back
to the time he spent there as the happiest of his life.
Sheridan Knowles, the dramatist, was for some years a
teacher of elocution in the Trongate, Glasgow. His
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 143
best-known play Virglnius was produced for the first time
in the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, in 1820, and its success
there induced Macready to stage it at Covent Garden,
London, where it immediately made the author famous.
Thomas Campbell
Sir Archibald Alison, author of The History of Europe,
was appointed Sheriff of Lanarkshire in 1834, and there-
after resided at Fossil House, Glasgow. He was elected
Lord Rector of the University in succession to Macaulay.
Michael Scott, the author of Tom Cringle s Log and The
144 LANARKSHIRE
Cruise of the Midge, was a Glasgow man, having been
born at Cowlairs. He was buried in Glasgow Necropolis.
The kindly Dr John Brown, author of Rab and his Friends,
was another Lanarkshire man who gravitated to Edin-
burgh. He was born in his father's manse at Biggar, but
when he was eleven years of age the family removed to
the capital, which was his home for the rest of his
life.
Alexander Smith, the author of Dreamtborp and A
Summer in Skye, was born at Kilmarnock, but was edu-
cated and went to work in Glasgow, and it was in this
city that he began to contribute his poems to the local
press. Smith knew Glasgow thoroughly, and one of his
verses on the city is worth quoting.
"Draw thy fierce streams of blinding ore,
Smite on a thousand anvils, roar
Down to the harbour-bars ;
Smoulder in smoky sunsets, flare
On rainy nights, with street and square
Lie empty to the stars.
From terrace proud to alley base
I know thee as my mother's face."
William Black, the popular novelist, was born in
Glasgow in a house in the Trongate, and before going
to London he wrote for a time for The Glasgow Weekly
Citizen. Robert Buchanan and he were close friends in
Glasgow, where both determined some day to be famous.
Though the link is much slighter, it is worth recalling
the fact that James Boswell was educated partly at
Glasgow University. It was at the famous Saracen's
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 145
Head inn that he and Dr Johnson stayed when passing
through Glasgow on their tour in Scotland.
In science the two most illustrious names connected
with Lanarkshire are James Watt and William Thom-
son, Lord Kelvin. Neither was born in Lanarkshire,
but the life work of each was done in Glasgow. James
Watt came from Greenock in 1754, and found employ-
ment in the little shop of a mechanic calling himself an
"optician." Here Professor Anderson handed him the
model of the Newcomen engine to mend, and so origi-
nated one of the greatest discoveries in the history of the
world. It was on Glasgow Green that Watt was walking
one Sunday afternoon in 1765, pondering over his engine,
when just as he got to the herd's house the " idea of a
steam condenser flashed upon his mind."
For 67 years Lord Kelvin lived in Glasgow, and by
his long series of brilliant researches in every department
of physical science caused the name of his university to
be renowned throughout the civilised world.
William Cullen, the celebrated physician, was born in
Hamilton and educated at Glasgow University. He was
the first holder of the chair of medicine there. The
medical faculties of Scottish universities have always
been particularly strong. Two of their most famous sons,
William and John Hunter, were born in Lanarkshire at
Long Calderwood, near East Kilbride. William Hunter
was the first professor of anatomy to the Royal Academy,
London. His magnificent collections in literature and
science were bequeathed to Glasgow University, where
they form the most important part of the Hunterian
M. L. 10
146 LANARKSHIRE
Museum. Another distinguished holder of a medical
chair was Joseph Black, the famous chemist. He was
born in France, but for ten years he was professor of
medicine in Glasgow Univerity. He showed the dis-
tinction between air and carbon dioxide ("fixed air" it
was then called) and made the great discovery of latent
heat.
It is now generally admitted that William Symington
was the first man successfully to originate steam naviga-
tion. He was born in the village of Leadhills, and his
little whitewashed cottage can still be seen there, with
the fine obelisk behind it erected to his memory. Of him
Lord Kelvin said, "Symington was the real discoverer and
the practical originator, the engineer who foresaw that
good was to be done, who understood how to make the
machine to do it, and who had the true engineering and
mechanical principle for doing it in the right way." In
1802, several years before Bell or Fulton was successful,
Symington's stern-wheel steamer the "Charlotte Dundas"
gave a successful demonstration on the Forth and Clyde
canal.
Sir A. C. Ramsay, one of the most brilliant of the
many famous geologists that Scotland has produced, was
a Glasgow man; and it was at the British Association
meeting in Glasgow, in 1840, that he first attracted the
attention of men of science to his work. He afterwards
became Director-General of the Geological Survey of
Great Britain.
Lanarkshire has taken such a prominent place in the
industrial history of the country, that we might expect
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 147
that in the field of applied science her sons would be in
the van, and this we find to be the case. In the mining
and metal industries particularly, there are several names
of more than local reputation. The smelting of iron was
revolutionised by the introduction of the hot blast, sug-
gested by James B. Neilson, manager of the Glasgow
gasworks. It was David Mushet again who in 1801
pointed out that the miners were throwing away under
the name of "wild coal" a very valuable iron ore, the
blackband ironstone. Mushet was born near Edinburgh,
but was employed in the Clyde iron works. By dint of
severe application he became one of the foremost authori-
ties on iron and steel in the country.
James Young, the founder of the important oil-shale
industry of Scotland, was born in Glasgow in 1811. He
was an assistant in the old Andersonian College, Glasgow,
and it was there he obtained the knowledge of minerals
that enabled him to create the paraffin industry of this
country. Another famous Glasgow chemist was Charles
Macintosh. While experimenting with the naphtha
obtained by the distillation of coal-tar, he discovered a
method of dissolving india-rubber and thus of making
cloth waterproof. The invention was patented in 1823.
MacArthur, one of the discoverers of the method of
recovering finely divided gold by the cyanide process, was
a Glasgow man.
The name of David Livingstone will always stand
for what is best in the Scottish character. He combined
determination to succeed, eagerness for learning, and
nobility of mind with natural aptitude for his life-work
10—2
148 LANARKSHIRE
to such a degree, that we may say without exaggeration
that his gifts as an explorer rose to the height of genius.
The house in Blantyre where he was born still stands,
although the mill where he worked and snatched a
David Livingstone
sentence from an open book as he passed to and fro is
now dismantled. Like Young, he obtained his early
scientific education in the Andersonian College.
The two most famous soldiers associated with the
county are Sir John Moore and Colin Campbell, Lord
THE ROLL OF HONOUR
149
Clyde. The former was born in Glasgow just east of the
Candleriggs, the latter in High John Street off George
Street. Another distinguished Lanarkshire soldier was
General Roy, born in Carluke parish. His fame, how-
Sir Colin Campbell
ever, rests chiefly on his work as a surveyor. He was
one of the early pioneers of that magnificent organisation,
the Ordnance Survey, and wrote also a standard work
on Roman Military Antiquities in Britain. The famous
General Wolfe lived for some time in Glasgow at Cam-
150 LANARKSHIRE
lachie House. He was not favourably impressed by the
citizens, for he described them as "excessive blockheads,
so truly and obstinately dull that they shut out knowledge
at every entrance."
The names of some well-known divines are linked
with Glasgow. Bishop Elphinstone, the founder of
King's College, Aberdeen, was a Glasgow man. He
became Bishop of Aberdeen and was largely instrumental
in introducing printing into Scotland. It is supposed that
John Knox studied at the university, although there is
considerable doubt on this point. The famous Andrew
Melville was Principal immediately after the Reformation.
Zachary Boyd was minister of the cathedral when Crom-
well visited Glasgow, and so soundly rated the General that
he narrowly escaped being pistolled. Dr Chalmers lived
in Charlotte Street near Glasgow Green, and his famous
astronomical discourses were delivered in the Tron Kirk.
The house of his hardly less famous assistant, Edward
Irving, was in Kent Street, a stone's throw from his own
dwelling.
22. THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF
LANARKSHIRE.
The figures in brackets after each name give the population
in 1901, and those at the end of each section are references
to the pages in the text.
Airdrie (22,288), Gaelic ard ruith, high pasture run,
was a mere hamlet until the rise of the coal and iron industry
made it a large and prosperous town. Some historians believe it
to be the site of the great battle between the Pagans and the
Christians of Strathclyde, in which the pagan chief was slain and
his bard Merlin forced to flee, while the victor recalled the good
St Mungo back to Glasgow from his exile in Wales. It stands
on the highroad between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and is con-
nected to the latter town by the Monkland Canal. There are
several important coal and iron mines in the vicinity. In addition
to foundries and engineering shops there are works for calico-
printing, paper-making, cotton and wool manufacturing, oil-
refining and fire-clay making. Airdrie was the first town in
Scotland to adopt the Free Library Act of 1856. Its academy has
a high reputation, (pp. 26, 33, 55, 137, 138.)
Baillieston (3784) perhaps takes its name from the bailie"
who managed the estate of Monkland for the monks of Newbattle,
or from the Baillie family, prebendaries of Glasgow Cathedral.
It is a little coal mining town just over six miles east of Glasgow.
A confectionery work and large nurseries give employment to
numbers of the inhabitants, (p. 50.)
152
LANARKSHIRE
Bellshill (8786) is a mining town in Bothwell parish, nine
miles from Glasgow. The coal and iron industries are its chief
support. It is a long straggling town, with a first-class school,
Bellshill Academy, (p. 134.)
Biggar (1366), Norse— bygg gar«r, barley-field, is a
little town on Biggar Water, a tributary of the Tweed. It is an
old historic town and has been a burgh since the fifteenth century.
Its parish church was founded in 1545. In its churchyard lie the
The Cadger's Bridge," Biggar
Gledstanes of Libberton, the ancestors of William Ewart Glad-
stone. In the vicinity was Boghill Castle (now destroyed) the seat
of the powerful Flemings, who settled here in the twelfth century.
Blind Harry tells of a great battle fought on Biggar Moss in
which Wallace and his men slew 11,000 Englishmen. The
Cadger's Bridge is supposed to have obtained its name from the
tradition that Sir William Wallace crossed it in the disguise of a
cadger in order to reconnoitre the English camp. (pp. 12, 14, 17,
3J> 55» 58, 106, in, 120, 132, 138, 144.)
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 153
Blantyre (2521) stands on the right bank of the Rotten
Calder, just over six miles from Glasgow. It is a mining town,
and is surrounded by coal and iron workings. The town is
famous for having been the birthplace of David Livingstone. In
the vicinity is Blantyre Priory, (pp. 24, 56, 123, 148.)
Bothwell (5179) stands on the right bank of the Clyde,
about six miles to the south-east of Glasgow. The charming
surroundings have made it a popular residential town. There are
" Roman " Bridge near Bothwell
ruins of an old church founded in 1398 by Archibald the Grim,
Earl of Douglas. Joanna Baillie, the poetess and correspondent
of Scott, was born at the manse in 1762. Bothwell Brig was the
scene of the defeat of the Covenanters in 1679. Across the
Calder there is an old single-span bridge, believed to be of Roman
workmanship. The lands of Bothwell were originally possessed
by the Murrays, from whom they went to the Douglas family
in 1361. Bothwell passed out of their possession for a time, but
154 LANARKSHIRE
was regained by Archibald Douglas, fifth Earl of Angus. The
present proprietor is the Earl of Home, whose mother was heiress
of the last Lord Douglas, (pp. n, 22, 24, 39, 55, 65, 102, 119,
121.)
Calderbank (2077) is an industrial village two miles from
Airdrie. It depends to a large extent on the finely equipped steel-
works of the Calderbank Company.
Cambuslang (12,252) is prettily situated on rising ground
about three miles from Glasgow. There are several coal-pits in
the neighbourhood and the Steel Company of Scotland has large
works at Newton. Of late years it has become popular as a
residential suburb of Glasgow. Above the town is Dechmont
Hill, where in pagan times the Beltane fires were lit. The town
is known for the famous " Cambuslang Wark," which took place
in 1742 — a gigantic religious revival, (pp. 56, 128, 134.)
Carfin (2115) is a large village a little less than two miles
north-east of Motherwell, of which it may be considered almost
a suburb. The inhabitants are chiefly colliers engaged in the
neighbouring pits.
Carluke (4740) stands on the right bank of the Clyde just
over two miles from the river, and about twenty miles from
Glasgow. Its situation is magnificent, overlooking all the lower
basin of the Clyde. The fruit-growing industry is carried on all
round it, and there are jam factories in the town. In the
seventeenth century it was quite an important place, but later it
declined greatly. In the last century it has prospered largely
owing to the neighbourhood of mines. Several valuable minerals
are worked in the vicinity. At the present time its advantages as
a residential place are recommending it to many Glasgow business
men. (pp. 33, 35, 40, 44, 55, 131.)
Chapelhall (2030) adjoins Calderbank and, like it, is
dependent on the steel works and coal-pits of the Calderbank
Company.
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 155
Cleland (with Omoa) (2729) is a large village three miles
to the east of Motherwell. It is engaged chiefly in coal-mining.
Coatbridge (36,991), just two miles from Airdrie, has
sprung into importance owing to the development of the coal and
iron in the vicinity. It is the iron-smelting town of Lanarkshire,
and has in its neighbourhood more blast-furnaces than any other
town in Scotland. In addition to the making of pig-iron there
are malleable iron works, steel works and rolling mills. Other
industries are the making of boilers, tubes, heavy metal goods of
every description, ordinary bricks and fire-bricks. To the west
of the town lived the blind poetess, Janet Hamilton. The
Coatbridge Technical School is an important centre of industrial
education, (pp. 26, 33, 71, 134, 135, 138.)
Glasgow (761,709) is by far the largest and most important
commercial town in Scotland, and in point of size is the second
city of the kingdom. Its rapid growth has been due largely to its
favourable position. Before the coming of the Romans much of
the present site of Glasgow must have been under water, for
canoes have been found buried in the silt hundreds of feet away
from the present banks of the river. The position of the end of
the Roman wall, however, shows that by that time the level of the
land stood approximately the same as now.
The real beginning of Glasgow may be correlated with
St Kentigern, generally called St Mungo (loved-one or blessed).
He settled by the banks of the Molendinar, and here took place
his meeting with St Columba about 584. Then for five hundred
years the record of the little place is a blank, till the see was
restored in 1115 with John, the first of the new bishops, who
replaced the early church by a new cathedral. By a charter of
William the Lion, Glasgow was constituted a burgh with the
privilege of holding a weekly market and an annual eight days'
fair. On the burning of the cathedral the present crypt was built
in 1197. The first permanent bridge over the Clyde was built
156
LANARKSHIRE
It had eight arches and was solidly
by Bishop Rae about 1350.
constructed of stone.
The immediate effect of the Reformation on the material
welfare of Glasgow was almost disastrous. The loss to the town
of the wealthy clergy and university students was severe. Yet by
turning the energies of the citizens away from ecclesiastical
matters, in which hitherto they had exclusively been exercised, and
by forcing the city to look round for other openings for industry,
Jamaica Bridge
the effect of the Reformation in the long run was extremely
beneficial.
Glasgow entered into the Darien scheme with great en-
thusiasm; the council invested £3000, many of the citizens
subscribed largely and not a few accompanied the expedition.
The failure of the scheme brought ruin to many families in
Glasgow, and was one cause of the bitter enmity of the city to the
Union of the Kingdoms. It seems strange to read that at this
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 157
time the city was noted for its beauty, being reckoned superior
even to Edinburgh. Defoe states, " Glasgow is the beautifullest
little City I have seen in Britain." Another description was
" a much sweeter and more delyghtful place than Edinburgh " ;
and a third, " the nonsuch of Scotland."
It was not till the eighteenth century, however, that Glasgow
was of any importance as a commercial centre. At the beginning
200,000
1650 1700 1750 18OO 185O 190O
Curve illustrating the growth of the population of Glasgow
from 1650 to 1900
of the century its population was little more than 12,500, and the
total tonnage of its vessels barely more than 1000 tons. It
was the exploiting of the coal and iron wealth of Lanarkshire,
however, that brought Glasgow quite into the front rank of
British cities. The description of the growth of the manufactures
158
LANARKSHIRE
of the county in a former chapter may be taken to apply to
Glasgow. The growth of the city is well illustrated by the curve
of population shown on p. 157. The rise in the eighteenth
century after the Union in 1707 is clearly seen, and so also is the
sudden increase in population towards the end of the eighteenth
and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, due to the industrial
revolution.
Royal Exchange, Glasgow
Glasgow is undoubtedly a well-built city. The material used
is chiefly yellow or white sandstone obtained largely from local
quarries. Of late years the red freestone of Dumfriesshire has
become extremely fashionable. In addition to the Cathedral, the
University and the Municipal Buildings, described elsewhere,
mention must be made of the new Art Galleries and Museum in
Kelvingrove. The building has not only a handsome exterior but
possesses one of the finest collections of paintings in this country.
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 159
Glasgow has a high reputation in municipal matters. Its
water supply from Loch Katrine is not only ample but of
exceptional purity, its electric car service is a model to the world,
and its new sewage schemes are on a gigantic scale. Yet strange
to say it has made no serious attempt to purify its atmosphere.
Undoubtedly one of the most attractive features of Glasgow is the
ease with which one can get out of it. In less than two hours one
can be among some of the grandest and wildest scenery of the
West Highlands, and this can be effected with a comfort, cheap-
ness and celerity probably not equalled by any other town of its
rank in Britain.
In 1450 Bishop Turnbull obtained from Pope Nicholas V a
bull authorising the erection of a university in Glasgow. At first
the classes were held in the Cathedral, but afterwards in a
building in Rottenrow. In 1459 tne University received ground
on the east side of High Street, on which, in the seventeenth
century, were erected the old University buildings.
Like the Cathedral, the very existence of the University was
threatened by the Reformation, for its officers were of course all
churchmen. In 1571 the number of students on the roll was
about a dozen and the annual revenue about £25. Andrew
Melville became Principal in 1574, and by his exertions the
institution was put on a sounder footing.
In 1677 the University received one of its most important
foundations, the Snell Exhibitions, the winners of which still hold
their scholarships at Balliol College, Oxford. Adam Smith and
Sir William Hamilton were Snell Exhibitioners. By the middle
of the nineteenth century the old buildings had become quite un-
suitable. In 1864 the old buildings were sold and land was
purchased at Gilmorehill, a magnificent site in the west end of the
city. The new buildings were designed by Sir George Gilbert
Scott, in the Early English style with Scottish modifications.
The Bute Hall was added by the Marquis of Bute, and the
Randolph Hall by Charles Randolph, the shipbuilder. The
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 161
Students' Union was erected by means of a bequest from
Dr Mclntyre in 1885. The University buildings are grouped
round two quadrangles with a magnificent frontage to the south,
culminating in a spire rising to a height of nearly 280 feet.
Additional buildings have since been added, including two
splendid separate departments for Botany and for Natural Philo-
sophy, and the fine ' James Watt " Engineering Laboratories.
The Library contains about 200,000 volumes. Several of the
University's greatest literary treasures are housed in the Hunterian
Museum, which possesses about 12,000 printed books and six or
seven hundred manuscripts. There are nearly 500 examples of
fifteenth century printing, including thirteen volumes printed by
Caxton. Other treasures are an illuminated manuscript Psalter
of the twelfth century, and two beautiful manuscripts of Chaucer's
Romaunt of the Rose, one of which is the finest extant. Then there
are first editions of Milton's Paradise Lost and Spenser's Faerie
Qjieene ; a First Folio Shakespeare ; and some beautiful examples
of binding from the libraries of Diana of Poitiers, Louis XIII of
France, and other royal book-lovers. The collection of coins and
medals is unrivalled.
Affiliated to the University is Queen Margaret College for
women students, instituted by the munificence of Mrs John Elder
of Govan. The Faculties of Medicine, Arts and Science in the
University itself are open to women. The Glasgow and West of
Scotland Technical College now rivals the University in numbers
and equipment. In the huge new building almost every branch
of science is pursued. The Chemical department has long had an
especially high reputation ; and particular attention is given to
trades classes, such as printing, weaving, bootmaking and bakery.
Since 1885 Glasgow has returned seven members to parlia-
ment, the electoral divisions being Bridgeton, Camlachie,
St Rollox, Central, College, Tradeston, and Blackfriars. (pp.
16, 23, 24, 25, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39, 42, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54,
55, 58, 61, 62, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 90, 91,
M. L. 1 1
162 LANARKSHIRE
92> 93, 96, 98, ioo, 101, 104, 108, 109, in, 113, 115, 116, 118,
120, 126, 127, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141,
142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 150.)
Govan (82,174) is really now a part of Glasgow, although it
still remains a separate municipality. It stretches along the south
side of the Clyde to the west of Glasgow. At the end of the
eighteenth century the population was probably less than 2000 ;
and Govan remained a mere village to the middle of the nine-
teenth century. It is now a great engineering and ship-building
centre. From the famous Fairfield yard, founded by John Elder,
whose father had been associated with Napier in making marine
engines, more men-of-war have been launched than from any
other yard on the Clyde. A fine park and library keep green the
name of Elder, (pp. 6, 73, 77, 137, 138, 139.)
Hamilton (32,775) is prettily situated on the south bank of
the Clyde among very picturesque surroundings and about ten
miles south-east of Glasgow. There are few manufactories of any
importance, although the town is in the heart of the coal-measures
and many of the inhabitants are engaged in coal-mining. William
Cullen the famous physician was born here in 1710. Hamilton
Academy is one of the finest schools in Scotland. Near Hamilton
are Cadzow Castle and Hamilton Palace, (pp. 55, 61, 98, ioo,
101, 129, 136, 137, 138, 145.)
Holytown (4483), eleven miles from Glasgow, is in
Bothwell parish, in the midst of a mineral working district.
Lanark (6567), a royal burgh since the time of David I, was
the ancient capital of the county. It stands in a fine situation
among beautiful scenery, and is a favourite residential town.
William Lithgow was a native of Lanark and is buried there.
New Lanark, a mile away, was the scene of Robert Owen's social
experiments. Lanark is the best centre from which to see the
Falls of Clyde, Cartland Crags and some of the best parts of the
river valley. At the annual horse-races the Lanark Silver Bell is
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES
163
competed for. This is perhaps the oldest sporting trophy in
existence : tradition describes it as a gift from William the Lion,
although it probably does not date back quite so far. (pp. 19, 20,
2I> 26, 55, 58, 65, 84, 98, 100, in, 113, 114, 133/138, 141-)
L/arkhall (i 1,879) stands on the right bank of the Avon, not
far from its junction with the Clyde. It was a small village until
about 100 years ago. The inhabitants are engaged largely in
mining and also in the bleaching industry.
High Street, and Wallace's Monument, Lanark
Mossend (3415) lies between Bellshill and Holytown, and
owes its origin to the coal and iron industry. It contains the
large iron and steel works of the Summerlee and Mossend
Company.
Motherwell (30,418) takes its name from a well dedicated
in early times to the Virgin Mary. The town is entirely a product
of the nineteenth century, as on its site there was previously not
even a village. It stands on the north bank of the Clyde just over
1(54 LANARKSHIRE
a mile from the river and faces Hamilton. In the very centre of
the coal-mining- district, Motherwell is one of the most important
towns in the kingdom for the manufacture of iron and steel. The
Glasgow Iron and Steel Company, the Dalzell Steel Works, the
Etna Iron and Steel Company, the Lanarkshire Steel Company
(the two last mentioned at Flemington), and many others are
engaged in the making of steel ingots, sheets, bars, rails, girders,
boiler-plates and every conceivable article of steel. Roof and
bridge work is an important branch, and another is the making of
cranes. In the vicinity are also fire-clay works, boiler works,
rivet and bolt works, and engineering works of every description.
The town lies on the main Caledonian line to England and is an
important railway centre, (pp. 55, 58, 60, 72, 73, 75, 88, 134,
138.)
Newarthill (2156) is a large village three miles to the east
of Motherwell. Its inhabitants are engaged chiefly in the sur-
rounding collieries.
Newmains (2755) is a little town in Cambusnethan parish,
two miles north-east of Wishaw, engaged in coal-mining and iron-
working. The Coltness Iron Company possess the most important
works in the vicinity.
Newton (2139) is a little town just over five miles to the
south-east of Glasgow. The Steel Company of Scotland have
large works here ; and there is also a large nail-factory, (p. 72.)
Partick (54,298) is now really a part of Glasgow, although it
still remains a separate municipality. The town is very ancient and
has had ecclesiastical associations with Glasgow for many centuries.
In the twelfth century lands at Perdeyc were granted by David I
to the Bishop of Glasgow ; and later there was a bishop's residence
at Perthik. Until sixty years ago Partick was a little country
village, but the wave of industrialism extending from Glasgow-
has now completely penetrated and surrounded it. Its ship-
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES
165
building yards fringe the north bank of the Clyde, and the town
continually resounds with the clatter of the riveters' hammers.
There are extensive flour-mills near the Kelvin. At the west end
of the burgh is Victoria Park, a public pleasure-ground that
contains one unique feature. This is the Fossil Grove, a number
of trunks and roots of fossil trees belonging to the Carboniferous
System, (pp. 137, 138, 139.)
Strathaven Castle
Rutherglen (17,220) was for long the most important town
in lower Lanarkshire. Even in 1402, when the county was
divided into two wards, Rutherglen was considered the chief town
of the lower ward. Its jurisdiction extended over Glasgow, and
the Bishops of Glasgow had considerable difficulty in obtaining
freedom from the exactions of the neighbouring town. It is said
166 LANARKSHIRE
that Rutherglen was constituted a royal burgh in 1126 by
David I ; certainly a charter granted by Robert the Bruce quotes
a confirmation of this by William the Lion. Part of the old
church still remains, one of the few fragments of Norman
architecture left in Lanarkshire. John Wilson, the author of the
descriptive poem, The Clyde, was a teacher in Rutherglen for some
time. Rutherglen stands at the western extremity of the coal-
measures, and has large chemical works, tube works, rope works,
dye works and brick works, (pp. 84, 94, 96, 101, 113, 126, 136,
138, 141.)
Shettleston (12,154), once a weaving village, is a little
colliery town, three miles to the east of Glasgow. In recent years
it has grown in favour as a residential suburb.
Stonehouse (2961), on the right bank of the Avon Water,
stands high in a fine, healthy situation. It is a town of recent
growth and was formerly a weaving village. It is situated near
good seams of coal and limestone, (p. 33.)
Strathaven (4076) is a weaving town on the left bank of
Avon. Placed as it is six hundred feet above sea-level and on the
edge of the Lanarkshire moors, the locality is an ideal residential
one. It is an old town that grew up under the protection of the
Lords of Avondale, the ruins of whose castle are still conspicuous,
(pp. 32, 124.)
UddingSton (7463) is prettily situated about seven miles
east of Glasgow, of which it is largely a residential suburb.
There is also an industrial population, chiefly miners. The town
possesses jam and confectionery works, (pp. 109, 134.)
Wishaw (20,873), fifteen miles from Glasgow, although a
large town to-day, was sixty years ago a mere village of 3000
inhabitants. It is one of the most important coal towns in the
kingdom. Its industries also include iron and steel making,
foundry work, railway-waggon building, and fire-clay making,
(pp. 2, 134, 136, 138, 142.)
DIAGRAMS
167
Scotland
30,902 sq. m.
Lanarkshire 809 sq. m.
Scotland
4,472,043
Lanarkshire
1,339,289
Fig. i. Comparative areas of Fig. 2. Comparison in popu-
Lanarkshire and all Scotland lation of Lanarkshire and
all Scotland
(i) All Scotland (2) Lanarkshire (3) Sutherland
(The dots represent the number of persons in each tenth of a square mile)
Fig. 3. Density of population of all Scotland, Lanarkshire,
and Sutherland
168
LANARKSHIRE
Fig. 4. Comparative areas under different crops
in Lanarkshire
(From Agricultural Returns, 1908)
Fig. 5. Comparative numbers of different kinds of
live stock in Lanarkshire
(From Agricultural Returns, 1908)
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
DA Mort, Frederick
880 Lanarkshire
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