Full text of "Partick Past and Present"

See other formats

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.

We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at |http : //books . google . com/

3^J^2±2^hl.

Sarbart Co I lege ILibrarg

I'kUM l-HE GIFT OF

ALEXANDER COCHRANE

OF BOSTON

FOR BOOKS ON SCOTLA^TD AND
SCOTTISH LITERATi;aK

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by VjOOQ IC

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by VjOOQ IC

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Ij Digitized by VjOOQIC

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

■»' % - s » ■! ^ .

Digitized by

Google

•/

i ' '4 Z- .*■ ' •■ ^ ^

Digitized by VjOOQ IC

PARTICK-PAST
AND PRESENT

CHARLES TAYLOR

GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH

WILLIAM HODGE & COMPANY
1903

Digitized by

Google

iu^<\x\.:i"\.^

PKINTBD BV WILLIAM HODGB AND CO., GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH

Digitized by

Google

Dedicated to
PROVOST WOOD

AND THE

MAGISTRATES AND COMMISSIONERS

OF PARTICK

A SOUVENIR OF THE BURGH ATTAINING

ITS JUBILEE

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

CONTENTS

Roman Period, i

Reformation Times, lo

The Mills of Partick, 17

The Village, 30

Bits of Old Partick, 43

Old Partick Inns, 54

Old Partick Institutions, - - - - 64

Social and Religious Life of Old Partick, 74

The Burgh, 85

Victoria Park, 96

Shipbuilding, no

Moral and Religious Effort, - - - 118

Educational, 129

New Partick, 144

Old Partick Men, 154

Appendix, 161

Index, 175

Digitized

d by Google

Digitized by

Google

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Alexander Wood, Esq., Provost of Partiok,

1902, Froniispiece

YoRKHiLL House, facing page 5

Portion of Clyde in 1654, - - - -

Regent Mills,

Old Bridge and Bishop Mill, Partick, •
Granny Gibb's Cottage, and Sawmill

Ferry Road, -

Old School of Partick, - . . -

Partick Dead Bell,

Fossil Grove, Victoria Park,
OiJ> U.P. Church, Byars Road, •

23
45

61
67
83

lOI
131

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

PREFACE

It is over twenty -five years since the
late Mr. James Napier published his
'* Notes and Reminiscences of Old Par-
tick," and the volume, being now out of
print, is rarely to be met with, except
in the possession of private collectors.
Mr. Napier, who knew the history of
his birthplace well, brought his work
down to the sixties and seventies of last
century, and there are many alive who
still remember the quiet and suburban
aspect of this western suburb at that
period, and who may have witnessed its
rapid extension in more recent times to
the present year when the burgh attains
its jubilee.

In these circumstances I have deemed
the present a fitting opportunity to issue
xiii

Digitized by

Google

PREFACE

the following chapters, in which I have
endeavoured, in a general manner, to sum-
marise the main features of Mr. Napier's
work, and bring his history down to the
present time. What threads of the his-
tory of Partick I may have left aside
may perhaps be taken up at some other
time by a future historian, and weaved
into the web of the further history of
the burgh.

Readers who may desire to possess a
further knowledge of any of the various
subjects herein mentioned, are referred
to the following authorities : — ** Napier's
Notes and Reminiscences of Partick,"
Glasgow Regality Club Papers, Glasgow
Protocols, Baker Incorporation Records,
United Secession Church Records, Govan
Parish Records, Govan School Board
Records, Transactions of the Philosophical,
Geological, and Archaeological Societies of
Glasgow, Historical Sketches of Dowanhill

Church by the late Rev. T. M. Lawrie,
xiv

Digitized by

Google

PREFACE

and Reminiscences of Partick by the Rev.
Henry Anderson.

My thanks are due to Mr. W. G. Smeal,
Mr. F. T. Barrett, Mr. John IngHs, Mr.
James Donaldson, and others, for the help
I have received in verifying many facts
and dates regarding the history of ■* Partick,
Past and Present " ; and to my friend, Mr.
John Aitken, photographer, Partick, for
the photographs he has supplied me with
to illustrate the volume.

C. T.

Partick, Aprils 1902.

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK-PAST AND PRESENT

ROMAN PERIOD

On the north-east bank of the Kelvin, and
just overlooking its junction with the
Clyde, there stands Yorkhill House on the
extreme western portion of the Overnew-
ton estate. In early spring and summer
the house and its surroundings still possess
a faint shadow of their former sylvan
beauty, and are reminiscent, in a frag-
mentary way, of how Dumbarton Road
was adorned on either side, all the way
from Glasgow to Partick, some eighty or
ninety years ago.

Built about the year 1805, Yorkhill
House was till 181 3 occupied by its
owner, R. F. Alexander, a Glasgow
merchant, when it was sold to Andrew

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Gilbert, whose niece became the wife of
John Graham Gilbert, the celebrated
painter. Mr. Graham Gilbert, who con-
tinued to reside here till his death in
1866, was a collector as well as a painter
of pictures, and Glaswegians will remem-
ber with gratitude that the entire collec-
tion was bequeathed by his widow to
the Corporation of the City of Glasgow,
and now forms part of the treasures
which adorn the walls of the Corporation
Gallery of Art. The year after Mr.
Gilbert's death some workmen, while
engaged trenching ground for a new
garden on the Yorkhill estate, came upon
a variety of Roman remains. Among
these were a few coins, one of which
bears the image and superscription of the
Roman Emperor Trajan, who reigned
from A.D. 98 to A.D. 117. The coin is of
brass, and, though it had lain embedded
in the soil for at least 1600 years, is still
in a state of good preservation. These

Digitized by

Google

ROMAN PERIOD

remains were, by permission of Mr. D.
M. Crerar - Gilbert, exhibited in the
Bishop s Palace collection of antiquities
in the Glasgow Exhibition of 1888, and
again in the Exhibition of 1901. They
included —

Coin — Great brass of Trajan. Obverse, a lau-
reated head of that Emperor in profile to the right :
inscription (translated) — "To the Emperor Caesar
Nerva Trajan Augustus Germanicus, Dacicus, High
Priest, invested with Tribunitian power." Reverse,
much corroded, but a draped female figure can be
faintly traced sitting on a chair, and looking to
the left, holding a garland.

A bronze coin, much worn.

Silver coin.

Bronze or copper coin, both sides quite flat

One large thumb ring in bronze.

A small quantity of wheat.*

Eleven fragments of four separate vessels.

Six fragments of glass, part of a small vase.

The discovery of these remains may be
assumed as fair evidence that Romans
really lived on the site of Yorkhill grounds,
and ai-e certainly the first recorded " find *'

* Wheat did not then grow in Caledonia, and would have to
be imported.

Digitized by

Google

-Itt'.t:; — .\-^t .i-x:^ present

^J-.i^ -::i:r:rr :f rie city of

-' — u. - - r-rr.Ui^ Tnip of this

\ '."scr^^-irz*-! Tr :ne Egyptian

"- ~r "^: -nr- . *.:r. ifc^ a local

- "^ '^z irxir. wrile the

,. .r.^ .-ciii.:r ic Vanduara

.. j..--*_ r^ ^^_^*-n: ct Cale-

. . . - rrn::^-^ blank. It

. r T- j..^ -"^ Vrr-ifnZ outpost

r-r -*r^7^fr camp at

- r..-- ,:vwi.'^ vdr rie latter
r . ^ : rrti Jlyie. or by

.,- »o' vr.jch branched

- . . -r. ani is still recog-
T r ^^rrr. nsjnie of Cause-

-- '^ T^-ve is more than

^ **^^^c^^ -camp was

^ » "^ -^r^r.^w rr£?eC3yde

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

in the immediate vicinity of the city of
Glasgow.

Referring to a curious map of this
country constructed by the Egyptian
geographer, Ptolemy, a.d. 150, a local
antiquarian points out that, while the
well-known Roman station at Vanduara
(Paisley) is indicated, the region of Cale-
donia at Yorkhill is a complete blank. It
may have been that the Yorkhill outpost
was subordinate to the larger camp at
Paisley, and communicated with the latter
by means of the ford in the Clyde, or by
the vicinal military way which branched
off from the main line, and is still recog-
nised under the modern name of Cause-
wayside, an old street in Paisley.

The idea of the outpost is more than
probable, for the Paisley camp was
intended to guard the shallow of the Clyde
opposite the line of the Antonine wall,
which, in its westward course, comes
very near the brink of the river, the
4

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

ROMAN PERIOD

Yorkhill outpost on the opposite side
guarding the mouth of the Kelvin. The
garrison at Yorkhill was probably com-
manded by a centurion, and composed
of picked soldiers for outpost duty. It
may be asked, however, why place
a fort so far within the Antonine
wall, which afforded ample protection
from the inroads of the natives in
this northern Roman province? The
answer is, that at the time the coin of
Trajan found at Yorkhill was struck, and
the probable erection of the castellum on
that commanding spot, the military curtain
which connected Agricola's row of forts
between the Clyde and the firth had not
been constructed. The space between
these forts — about two miles — was there-
fore quite open, and afforded opportunity
for the fierce hostile natives to make
sudden raids into the Roman district. It
was not till the time of Antoninus Pius,
two reigns later than Trajan, that these
S

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

openings between the forts were closed
by the great rampart and fosse which
became known as the Antonine wall. The
large camp at Paisley owed its origin to
the same circumstance, and was continued
till a late period of the Roman occupation
to overawe the warlike people of a wide
range south and west.

When the Romans effected a landing on
our island, and had pushed their way
northwards to Caledonia, great military
roads were constructed throughout the
country, and two walls or lines of defence
were built, one between the Forth and the
Clyde, the other between the Solway and
the Tyne. One of these great roads,
starting from the place now known as
Carlisle, passed in a northerly direction
through what to-day we call Carstairs,
Carluke, Motherwell, Tollcross, and Park-
head to Glasgow Cross. At this point
one great road continued westward,
following the Clyde, and, skirting the

Digitized by

Google

ROMAN PERIOD

edge of the Yorkhill outpost, crossed
the Kelvin by a ford or bridge, and
followed the Clyde to Dumbarton.
This road made a convenient military
way, protected on the north by the ram-
part or wall between the Forth and
Clyde, traces of which are still visible
at Castlehill, Bearsden, Croy, Barrhill,
and DuUatur, and by which direct and
safe communication could be kept up
towards the south, and, if need be, to
Rome itself. It was not enough to
depend merely on the protection of the
wall itself; every available point was
fortified, not only on the line of the
wall, but also on the south side of it, for
again and again the northern tribes broke
through and pushed themselves south-
wards. Ultimately the Roman legions,
annoyed at these incessant attacks, with-
drew to the southern barrier which they
had erected.

In the latter end of the fourth century
7

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

the Romans once more invaded and
occupied the country between the northern
and southern walls, and the old work of
ceaseless inroads by the natives of the
north again began. The Caledonians,
perpetually on the watch for an oppor-
tunity, again and again ravaged the
southern districts, and returned to their
mountain fastnesses laden with plunder.
The time, however, came when, the
Roman Empire falling into decay, the
soldiers were required for her own defence
against the fierce barbarians who, issuing
in prodigious swarms from the frozen
regions of the north, rolled their living
tides over the sunny plains of southern
Europe. The last of the legions was
recalled, and the Roman soldiers who
manned the rampart, or paced the vallum,
or guarded the fort were never again seen
on Scottish ground. Their departure was
so sudden that in many cases they were
unable to carry away their possessions^
8

Digitized by

Google

ROMAN PERIOD

altars, stones, vessels, implements, and
even sums of money were hid in the
ground, as if they expected soon to
return.

The Romans had left our country, but
they left a deep and lasting impression
of themselves behind. They taught our
rude progenitors how to make roads,
build bridges, and cultivate soil. The
permanent occupations of the soldiers of
some station or fort attracted peaceably-
disposed natives, who in many cases
intermarried and formed the nucleus of
small villages, which have in time grown
to be important towns — thus we have
Paisley, Crawford, Lanark, Castlecary ;
and it is not too much to assume that,
if there was no village at Partick before
the Romans converted Yorkhill into a
station, there would soon rise up a village
on the banks of the Kelvin, and close to
the Roman fort for protection.

Digitized by

Google

REFORMATION TIMES

At the beginning of the Roman invasion
the original tribes of North Britain were
divided into independent factions, each
governed by its petty chief or king, and
each at war with its neighbour. A new
foe, however, had made its appearance,
and a tacit bond of union was formed
among the Caledonian tribes against this
enemy, to be maintained so long as the
invaders were in the country. Their
departure was but the signal for fresh
invasions by Saxons and Normans, who
brought with them new habits, new laws,
new forms of government ; and then
sprang up a series of petty kingdoms,
of which Clydesdale or Strathclyde formed
one.

During the next five hundred years

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

REFORMATION TIMES

Scotland, as a kingdom, was being ham-
mered into shape, but we have no trace
of what part, great or small, Partick
played in this great epoch. There is
no mention of the name till the 7th July,
1 1 36, when David, King of Scotland, **the
sair sanct to the crown," granted lands at
" Perdyec " to the church of St. Kentigern
in Glasgow. In 1152 Herbert, Bishop
of Glasgow, granted by charter to the
church at Glasgow lands in Partick and
adjacent islands ** between Guvan and
Perthic." One of these " inches *' or
islands parted the waters of the Clyde,
at the mouth of the Kelvin, and was
called the '' Water Inch " ; another was
further down and was named *' Whyt
Inch," from which the western district
of Partick, "Whiteinch," has its name.

In 1277 the grant of wood by the lord

of Luss for the repairs of the church at

Glasgow is dated at Partick, where he

was no doubt on a visit to the Bishop

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

of Glasgow, who had a manor or castie
at Partick. The lands referred to in the
grant by King David in all probability-
included the Partick mill, which was
called for many a day the "Archbishop's
mill" or ''Bishops mill." In 1483, in a
charter disposing of certain lands, Partick
once more appears, and in 1555 it is again
mentioned in a charter to John Stewart,
fifth Provost of Glasgow. In the tenth
century a man named Craig, who was
employed in the Partick mill, was re-
buked for non-attendance at the kirk on
the Sabbath day !

In these several notices the name
''Partick" is never found in the modern
spelling, but in various forms, such as
Perdyec, Perthic, Perthwick, Perthik, and
Partic. From the middle of the tenth
century it has slowly assumed a more
definite form, finally compelled by general
use into its present spelling. Much in-
quiry has been made, much speculation

Digitized by

Google

REFORMATION TIMES

advanced, and many answers offered as
to the origin and etymology of the name
of Partick, but without any definite con-
clusion.

In saying that the Bishop of Glasgow
had a residence or manor-house (which,
however, is not to be confused with the
old Castle of Partick),, we have the
authority of the author of ** Parochiales
Scotiae." He says, ''The bishops had a
residence in Partick before 1277. In
1362 the compromise of a dispute between
the Lord Bishop and his chapter took
place at the manor-house of Perthic."
In 1508 James Beaton, Bishop-elect of
Galloway, being elected to the Arch-
bishopric of Glasgow, continued to use
the manor - house of Partick as one of
his residences, but on the breaking out of
the Reformation in 1560 he wisely retired
to France, carrying with him all the
records, writs, charters, crucifixes, chalices,
candlesticks, etc., of the Cathedral of St.
13

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Mungo. These he retained till his death
in 1603, when he bequeathed them to the
Scots College in Paris. Napier, in his
** History of Partick," says, '*We have
read that the Bishop secreted the sacred
relics belonging to the Cathedral in the
meal mill in Partick till an opportunity
was afforded him of removing them, with
himself, to France, and it is said that he
fled from his manorium in Partick."

It seems rather strange that no trace
or vestige is left of this bishop's manor
or castle. An old record says **that it
is supposed to have stood on the bank
which overlooks the junction of the Kelvin
and the Clyde." There did stand, in the
early part of last century, on the west
bank of the Kelvin, and just about where
to-day the North British Railway passes
over it, the ruins of an old building which
some authors have called the Bishop's
Castle. Chalmers, in his " Caledonia,"
says that ** Archbishop Spottiswood, who
14

Digitized by

Google

REFORMATION TIMES

greatly repaired our Cathedral and the
archiepiscopal palace, also built in 1611
a castle at Partick, to serve as a country
seat for the archbishops, as one of his
castles had been destroyed at the Reforma-
tion." In saying this, however, he is now
found to have been mistaken. Laurence
Hill has shown, beyond doubt, in his
*' Hutchesoniana," that the ruin popu-
larly known as the Bishop's Castle was
erected by no bishop at all, but by a
man now well remembered for his phil-
anthropy, George Hutcheson of Lambhill,
one of the founders of the Hutcheson
Hospital, though it is not improbable that
the site, or even some of the stones of
the old manor-house belonging to the
bishops, may have been utilised by George
Hutcheson.

The original contract and specification

for building this castle between George

Hutcheson of Lambhill and William

Miller, mason in Kilwinning, dated 9th

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

and 14th July, 161 1, was, by permission
of Dr. W. H. Hill, exhibited at the
**01d Glasgow" Exhibition of 1894.
It is endorsed — " Contract betwix me
and ye masoun in Kilying anent the
bigeing of the House of Particle,"
the standard of measurement being
stipulated to be *'the said Georges awin
fute." The castle existed as an abode
till about the year 1770, but in 1783,
being roofless and in ruins, its hoary old
stones were appropriated by the laird of
the neighbouring farm of Merkland, who
doubtless found that time convenient to
build to himself a new house. All traces
of manor-house, castle, or farm are now
entirely gone.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

Looking to the great natural advantages
of an unlimited water supply, it is no
matter of surprise that many, many years
before the Reformation Partick should
have been proud of her mills ; indeed,
it is more than probable that, with the
grant of land to the See of Glasgow,
King David did not forget to include
in the royal charter the gift of at least
one meal mill. In the rental book of
Cardinal Beaton, a.d. 1517, there occurs
the following entry : — *' Eodem die,
Donald Lyon entallit in the new walk-
myll off Partik in the new towne/' In
the margin Partick is spelled "Partyk.".
The aforesaid Donald Lyon was probably
the father of Archibald Lyon of the Clay-
slap Mills.

B 17

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Cleland, in his " History of Glasgow,"
writes : " Before the Reformation the
bakers of Glasgow were in use to grind
at the town mills at Partick, and also
at a small mill which then belonged to
the Archbishop, and subsequently to
the Crown.

" The mill belonging to the Church
was situated a little to the east of the
town's mill, and had nearly gone into
decay. These mills, being of small
dimensions, were barely sufficient to
supply the inhabitants, and by no means
capable of producing an extra supply on
an emergency.

** In the year 1568 the forces of the

Regent Moray, who successfully opposed

those of Mary Queen of Scots at the

battle of Langside, were quartered at

Glasgow and neighbourhood. On this

occasion the bakers were called upon

for an extraordinary supply of bread for

the troops, which they accomplished by
18

Digitized by

Google

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

uncommon exertion in bruising and bolting
grain, not only in the mills, but also in
their own houses, so mueh to the satis-
faction of the Regent, that he gave them a
grant of the Archbishop's Mill, which had
now become the property of the Crown,
and a piece of land adjoining it, which was
annexed to the royalty of Glasgow in the
first session of the first Parliament of
Charles IL The Regent, returning to
Glasgow and offering up public thanks for
his victory, expressed his obligations to the
Magistrates, Council, and heads of corpora-
tions for their fidelity and bravery, arid
desired to know if in return he could be of
any service to the Corporation, Matthew
Fawside, Deacon of the Incorporation of
Bakers, with an eye to the prosperity of
his craft, informed the 'Good Regent'
that, if he had no objections, a grant of
the mill at Partick to his Incorporation
would be considered a public benefit
The Regent was as good as his word,
19

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

and a grant of the mill and certain lands
was given."

For many years this story of Cleland*s
has been a tradition among the B^ker
Incorporation of Glasgow, but from time
to time doubts regarding it have been
expressed, till at last the tradition dis-
appears before well-authenticated proofs.
In an interesting paper read before the
Glasgow Archaeological Society, Mr,
James White claims to show conclusively,
first, that the mill of Partick (now the
Bishop Mills) was the Bishop's Baronial
mill; second, that the New Walk Mill of
Partick in the Newton of 1517 was
changed into Archy Lyon's Mill, and
latterly named Clay slap Mills ; third, that
the ancient wheat mill was built by the
Bakers after they got the right and ground
on which to build, and is now known as
Regent Mills ; and, fourth, that the Walk
Mill of Partick is now the Scotstoun

Mills.

Digitized by

Google

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

Among the titles in possession of the
Bakers* Incorporation is a disposition
dated 5th October, 1653, ^Y ^^e Deacon,
with the consent of the masters and others
interested, proceeding on the narrative
that "the disponers intended to erect
another wheat mill on the water of Kelvin;
and in order to raise funds for that purpose,
they dispone to John Glen and Bessie
Gray, his spouse, one * mill-day' of the
mill acquired by them from the heirs of
William Fawside."

From 1653 to 1828 the mill was carried
on, repaired, and altered. In 1828 exten-
sive alterations again took place, and
the mill continued to prosper till 1886,
when it was burned down. The old
foundation stone, however, was recovered.
The plate, now preserved in the Regent
Mills, has on one of its sides the inscrip-
tion which we give on the following
page :—

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

By the favour of Almighty God.

This Compartment or Division of the Mills of

Partick, belonging to

The Incorporation of Bakers in Glasgow,

Being now to be rebuilt on the Site of

The "Ancient Quheite Mill of Partick,"

Donated in the Year 1568

His Highness, James, Earl of Moray, Regent

of Scotland, to

The Bakers of Glasgow,

In reward for their Zeal in the cause of the

Protestant Reformation, and

For their spirited and well-timed assistance to

him and his Forces

At the eventful and decisive Battle of Langside,

This foundation stone was laid by

William Smith, Esq., late Lord Provost of

Glasgow,

And a Member of this Incorporation,

On the 23rd day of May,

Anno Domini 1828,

In the ninth year of the R^ign of our

Most Gracious Sovereign,

George The Fourth,

In presence of the Deacon, Collector, Master

Court, and Building Committee,

And also in presence of

A number of the other Members of the

Incorporation ;

Which undertaking

May the Supreme God

Bless and Prosper.

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Rei^ent Milli^.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

On the other side of this plate is a list of
the office-bearers of the Incorporation in
1828.

By 1884 new methods of making flour
had come into vogue, and unless the
Incorporation of Bakers were prepared to
throw out all the old machinery and intro-
duce new rollers, they would have to face
an increasing loss in working their mill, so
they wisely resolved to let the mill, in which
they were successful. At the fire, how-
ever, two years afterwards, it was agreed
to dispose of the site to the present
proprietors. The foundation stone of the
previous mill, with the contents of the
bottle deposited therein, was re-deposited
in the stone of the new Regent Mills by
Mr. John Ure, an old deacon of the
Incorporation, and an ex- Lord Provost of
Glasgow, to whom the Bakers had feued
the site of the old mill, and by whom
the present stately-looking buildings were
erected. Some idea of the difference
23

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

between "a day's milling" at the mill in
1653 ^^^ **3. day's milling" to-day may
be gathered from the fact that the present
output of the Regent Mills is 1000 bolls of
wheat per day.

Milling at Partick seems at first to have
been lucrative to the Bakers' Incorpora-
tion, for in addition to their mill at Bun-
house they next acquired the Clayslap
Mills. These mills were situated on the
Kelvin, in what is now known as the
West-end Park, and opposite the Uni-
versity. They were in existence in I5i7f
and were long known as "Archy Lyon's
Mills." In 1577 they passed into the
possession of the Corporation of Glasgow,
but were again sold to the Bakers' Incor-
poration on the 7th May, 1771. The titles
included "all and haill that mill situated
on the water of Kelvin, of old called
Archibald Lyon's mill, with the mill,
houses, yard, and piece called Shillhill
belonging to the same, with the ditch,
24

Digitized by

Google

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

aqueduct, dam and inlair, passages, ser-
vices, ways and haill pertinents lying
within the Lordship, Barony and Regality
of Glasgow, and Sheriffdom of Lanark ; as
also all and haill that rood of land or
thereby acquired by the Magistrates and
Council of the said city from John Craig,
portioner of Nethernewton, being part of
the said land of Nethernewton, which lies
adjacent to the Malt or Meal Milne and
Waukmilnes, and other lands belonging to
the said city of Glasgow."

After remaining in the hands of the
Bakers' Incorporation for 103 years, the
Clay slap Mills were again conveyed to
the Magistrates of Glasgow for the sum
of ;^i3»5oo. They were ultimately taken
down in the laying-out of Kelvingrove
Park, the only vestige of the name left
to-day being the small portion of the old
road which led down from Dumbarton
Road to the mills, called the Clayslaps
Road.

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

On the west bank of the Kelvin— the
Partick side — and just opposite the
Regent Mills, stand the Scotstoun Mills.
Originally the mills were divided into
two, the Wauk Mill and the Wee Mill, and
they received their new name when the
Scotstoun family became the proprietors.
These mills have from time to time
undergone many changes, enlargements,
and improvements, till the present five-
storeyed and well-constructed edifice was
finished and fully equipped for the
requirements of the firm, which, we are
told, averages some 4000 bolls of grain
per week.

"The Bishop's Mill'* stands on the
east side of the Kelvin, a little below
the Regent Mills. This mill, Mr. James
White maintains, was the Mill of Partick,
otherwise known as the Archbishop's
Baronial Mill, and was supposed to have
been built before 1136, and in all
probability was included in the lands
26

Digitized by

Google

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

granted by King David to the city
of Glasgow.

When, in 1571, the Castle of Dum-
barton was taken by Captain Crauford
he received as his reward a gift of the
mill of Partick, one of the most valuable
possessions of the Cathedral in those
days, and by far the largest payer to the
Cathedral in the old victual payment. In
return Crauford granted a bursary to the
University in 1576, and in 1577 he
enlarged the old bridge at Partick which
crossed the Kelvin at his mill. The
Bishop of Glasgow, however, still hungered
after his mill, and besought Crauford to
give it up. So warmly did the Bishop
press his suit that Crauford actually gave
way in April, 1599, and formally re-
conveyed the mill to his lordship.

Early in 1608 the city of Glasgow found

itself in debt, and the only way out of it

seemed to be to get a monopoly of the mills.

The whole city. Dean of Guild, merchants,
27

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

and others, therefore loyally agreed to be
thirled in that year; but when the city
leased the mills they were not allowed
to multure from the tenants grinding at
the mill

Bishop's Mills represent what are
known as the old mills of Particle^ and,
as recorded above, have existed for many
centuries in one form or another. The Slit
Mills, which were situated on the east side
of the Kelvin, and exactly opposite where
the castle stood, were constructed about
the year 1738, for the purpose of slitting
and grinding iron- Napier, in his history,
says, "The Slit Mills were, shordy after
1780, converted into grain mills. A
great portion of them was burned in
181 5, and immediately rebuilt" Latterly
they were more advantageously used as
a shipbuilding yard. From Kelvindale
to Kelvin-mouth the banks of the Kelvin
at one time literally bristled with mills —

paper mills, flint mills, snuff mills, risp
28

Digitized by

Google

THE MILLS OF PARTICK

mills, wheat mills, barley mills, and slit
mills; a worthy neighbourhood of mills
it was in the olden days, and a set of
worthies the millers.

In the Incorporation records of 30th
January, 1680, we note that, as a warning
against the drinking habits of the village,
it was enacted " that no freeman go out of
the mills with any of the miliars the time
the mills are going, to drink in ale-houses,
under the pain of ;^20 Scots." In 1754
"William Watson, one of the millers at
Partick, was fined, by having his wages
reduced from id. stg. to ^d. per load of
wheat grinded, for allowing the gudgeon
of the nether mill wheel to become over-
heated for want of creash and oyle,
whereby the axle-tree took fire."

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

Dr. Strang, in his most delightful
volume on "Old Glasgow Clubs," thus
describes the village of Partick in the
early days of the nineteenth century : —
" Among the many rural villages which at
one time surrounded Glasgow, perhaps
none surpassed Partick in beauty and
interest. Situated on the banks of a
limpid and gurgling stream which flows
through the centre, and beautified as of
yore with many fine and umbrageous trees,
and above all ornamented with an old
hoary castle, with whose history many
true and many more fabulous tales were
associated ; and when to these were added
its dozen or two comfortable, clean
cottages, and its picturesquely planted
mills, historically linked with the generous
30

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

gift of the successful opponent of the
lovely Mary at Langside, all combined to
render the locality one of the most
favourite of suburban retreats. It was, in
fact, the resort of every citizen who
enjoyed a lovely landscape, an antiquarian
ramble, or a mouthful of fresh air. At
that time there was only a straggling
house or two on the one side of the
turnpike road from Anderston to the
Crow Road. Particle was then truly in
the country. Its thatched and white-
washed cottages, with its ruinous castle,
were such as to evoke the admiration of
every tasteful limner, and its river, while it
suggested a theme for the poet s lyre,
offered at the same time an attraction for
the angler's rod."

That was in the year 1810. For many
years thereafter, however, Partick pos-
sessed its ** village " aspect, as may be
seen from Dr. Andrew Macgeorge s sketch,
dated 1827, of Yorkhill estate. Old Dum-
31

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

barton Road, and the old Bunhouse
Tavern. Twenty years later Fairbairn's
pencil shows us Old Particle Bridge, with
the stepping-stones over the Kelvin,
and the Clyde at the Kelvin mouth, while
later still the drawings of Old Particle by
the late William Simpson, in ** Glasgow
in the Forties," give point to all that Dn
Strang has to say of the suburban beauty
of Particle in the olden time.

In those days there were no tramways,
no railways, no subways, and no passenger
boats plying to and from Glasgow. Com-
munication with the city was maintained
with becoming dignity by omnibus every
few hours,, the fare being fourpence. It
is curious to note that throughout the
suburbs of Glasgow Partick struck the
first blow at the peace and quietness of a
rural Scottish Sabbath-day. She was
foremost in running an omnibus to
Glasgow! The story goes that a number of
gentlemen resident in Partick, who were
32

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

connected with different religious denomi-
nations in Glasgow, clubbed together to
run an omnibus to and from the city every
Sunday. The omnibus was hired for a
fixed sum for a certain period, and as the
money was paid in advance, tickets were
issued in accordance with the amounts
subscribed for, the contract obliging the
contractor to run the 'bus in all weathers,
passengers or no passengers. At the
same time the driver was prohibited from
taking up chance ** fares" by the way, so
that our worthy forefathers salved their
consciences in the knowledge that so long
as no money changed hands on the
Sabbath-day there was no harm done.
They further whitewashed themselves in
the eyes of the straiter-laced by making
ample provision for the attendance at
church of both driver and guard. Further,
the outside of the conveyance was dis-
figured in a way that would have lacerated
the dainty feelings of present-time adver-
c 33

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

tisers. In those days there were, of
course, no advertisements either inside or
outside 'buses, but this particular coach
carried, in a shamefaced sort of way no
doubt, a huge board with the legend,
painted in offensively large letters, ^* For
Church," displaying thereby, like some of
our present-day charity organisations, an
eager zeal, if worldly desire, to profess
itself purely undenominational. But then
in those days the word *' Church " had not
the same easy adaptability it has acquired
in our own time.

The late Rev. T. M. Lawrie, of Dowan-
hill church, tells us, in his Reminiscences,
that he had a distinct recollection of the late
Dr. King of Glasgow writing him in the
year 1847, ** to inquire if lodgings could be
got in Particle as summer quarters for
himself and his family," so rural and
salubrious did Particle then seem to be.
One could hardly imagine a minister, or
anybody else for that matter, spending his
34

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

month's holidays amid the smoke and din
of the Particle of to-day.

The Rev. Henry Anderson, who came
to Particle in 1844, says, in his *' Notes of
a Pastorate of Fifty Years," that '*the
Gilmorehill of these days was a small
estate with a country house. There was
a quarry where the grass grows in front
of the Western Infirmary and near that
palatial structure, the University. There
was also a quarry on the south side, right
opposite, which gave the name of Quarry
Land to the buildings there. The houses
between Wallace Place and Church Street,
and those similar on the south side, with
their lower roofs of two storeys, are a
specimen of the comfortable dwellings of
these days. There were some in Bridge
Street, Kelvin Street, and the Old Dum-
barton Road, to the foot of Orchard
Street; also along the Dumbarton Road
to the east side of Orchard Street. The
porter lodge of Dowanhill House was
35

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

west of Wallace Place. There was a
boundary wall to StewartviUe House
porter lodge ; then another to Muirpark
porter lodge, where the old trees were,
and the crows and their nests."

Dowanhill House and the houses
referred to by Mr. Anderson between
Wallace Place and Church Street still
remain, but StewartviUe House and Muir-
park House are now only remembered in
the names of the streets called after them.
StewartviUe House was then occupied
by Mr. Campbell, of the firm of Messrs.
J. & W. Campbell & Co., of Glasgow ;
and Muirpark House was built and
occupied by Mr. Thomas Muir, who
named the mansion after himself. Mr.
Muir was a practical philanthropist, and
interested himself very much in the
welfare of the poorer villagers of Partick.
He was a member of the Unitarian
Church of Glasgow.

On one occasion, at least, we are told
36

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

the master of Muirpark House received
as his guest Joseph Hume, but as this
visit was of a purely private nature no
record has been handed down to us of
what may have passed between the
economist and the philanthropist on that
memorable day.

The year 1820 will not be soon
forgotten by the descendants and disciples
of the Radicals of that troublous time,
for it was in that year that James Wilson,
weaver, of Strathaven, was tried for treason,
and Thomas Muir of Muirpark was one
of the jury that sentenced him to be
hanged.

To illustrate the growth of the village
and burgh during the past eighty years,
the census returns for that period are
subjoined : —

In 1820 the

populatii

was 1,23s

n 1834

»i

1,842

„ 1841

3»i84

» 1851

S.043

., 1861

10,917

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

In 1871

the population was 17,693

„ 1881

» , i>

33i962

„ 1891

» »

36.538

„ 1896

» >i

45.525

„ 1897

Ji »

47,800

„ 1901

99 99

54.274

Prior to the development of shipbuild-
ing and other trades in Partick, and the
migration of city people in search of
western suburban residences, the life of
the village was peaceful and quiet, the
villagers pursuing their several callings as
millers, masons, weavers, tailors or farmers
in uneventful monotony. Sixty years ago
there was but one doctor, while two bakers
and one butcher had little ado to supply
the daily wants of the villagers. In the
matter of weekly half-holidays the butcher
was ahead of the times by nearly half-a-
century and more, as he seemed to think
little of shutting shop for half-a-week at
a time, and so forcing his customers into
unwilling abstinence, or maybe to trudge
all the way to the city for their necessaries.
38

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

In Edinburgh at the present day (1902)
there is a rudimentary attempt to rouse
the town at half-past five by means of a
doleful tolling of the Tron Kirk bell!
The engaging simplicity of the magistrates
of our ancient neighbour will in no degree
be lessened when we here record the fact
that in the early days of Particle the
inhabitants of the village were awakened
half-an-hour earlier by sound of drum.
At nine p.m. the peaceful villagers
were warned in like manner by Sandy
(Alexander Stewart) and his drum that
it was time to go to bed. All public
matters, such as sales of property or
goods, or when the bakers had their pies
ready, or the butcher his meat cut up,
were intimated by ringing the village bell.
At a later date the drum and bell were
reinforced by the addition of a bugle,

Sandy's beat, night and morning, was
east from his house, down the knowe,
over the bridge and back, up Bridge
39

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Street and East Dumbarton Road to the
Mile Road, returning to Dowanhill Avenue,
and home by what was then known as
Cooperswell Road. One night in the
month of October, 1828, Sandy started
on his usual round at 9 o'clock. Meeting
some friends, however, at the end of the
bridge, the entire company, of course,
immediately adjourned to the nearest inn
for refreshment suitable to the occasion.
" Forbes Mackenzie " was not yet, and
it was one o'clock in the morning before
Sandy resumed his drum and sticks,
which he forthwith used with unwonted
vigour. The rattle of the drum roused
Joe Duff, the bugler, who instantly sprang
from bed, dressed, and sallied forth, bugle
and all, so that the sleeping village was
soon alive with little crowds of lads and
lasses hurrying to the Pointhouse Ferry,
en route for the silk factory at Govan.
Then, after the poor ferryman had been
knocked up, the mistake was discovered,
40

Digitized by

Google

THE VILLAGE

and it is said the whole of Partick
''slept in" that morning.

The post-boy in Partick in 1831 was
John Inglis, who is still alive. Bom
in Partick in 18 19, where his father was
a weaver, John received a good educa-
tion in the village school, which then
stood in Kelvin Street. The letter-
bag for Partick and district was handed
in every morning at one o'clock from
the Glasgow and Dumbarton post-gig
to the toll -keeper at Sandyford toll,
and called for by the young postman at
7 a.m. Eighteen letters were considered
a good delivery for the district, which
included Partick, Balshagray, JordanhiU,
Scotstounhill, and Yoker. All letters
were paid for in cash before delivery, a
letter from London costing is. i^d., from
Edinburgh 8^d., from Kilmarnock 7^d.,
Glasgow 2d. Letters beyond the village
of Partick were charged id. a mile —
a marked contrast, certainly, to Mr.
41

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Henniker-Heaton's postal triumph of to-
day.

At that time a favourite paper with
Partick people was the Saturday Posty
price 7d. per copy, and on Saturday
evening seven friends would club one
penny apiece in old Inglis' house for a
copy of the paper with all the week's
news. John was the messenger, and
was invariably bid **to be back quickly."
The plan he adopted to help his speedy
return was to " ca* the gir' " from start
to finish, which, of course, ensured at
least a trotting pace all the way.

In 1833 Inglis' father removed to Glas-
gow, where John was apprenticed to a
firm of engravers and lithographers in the
Trongate, in whose service he remained
for the long period of fifty -seven years.

Digitized by

Google

BITS OF OLD PARTICK

With few exceptions the last vestiges of

old historical landmarks in Partick have

passed away. In a former page we

mentioned the old Castle which stood

on the banks of the Kelvin, immortalised

by Hugh Macdonald in his " Rambles

round Glasgow.'*

Lo ! Partick Castle, drear and lone,
Stands like a silent looker-on

Where Clyde and Kelvin meet.
The long, lank grass waves o'er its walls.
No sound is heard within its halls
Save noise of distant waterfalls

Where children lave their feet.

One bit of Old Partick — the ancient
bridge across the Kelvin, moss-grown
and hoary — has at last given way to the
ruthless hand of modernity and improve-
ment, and is now no more. Whether this

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

was the first bridge thrown over the river
at that spot we cannot tell, though one
may well imagine some rude structure of
wood giving place in ancient days to the
stone arches of the old bridge. When
or by whom the bridge was founded
it is impossible to say, but this we know
that in 1577 it was repaired and enlarged
by Captain Thomas Crawford of Jordan-
hill, a Provost of Glasgow. In Crawford's
** History of the Shire of Renfrew," we
are told that he ** built a great part of
the bridge of Partick over the river
of Kelvin, consisting of four arches, on
which are his name and arms, and the
following inscription : —

He that by labour does any honestie,

The labour goes, the honour bides with thee ;

He that by treason does any vice also,

The shame remains, the pleasure soon a' goes."

When the bridge was removed in 1895
by the Caledonian Railway Company, to
make way for the present iron structure,

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

to
pq
O

Digitized by

Google

BITS OF OLD PARTICK

the memorial and other stones were placed
in the Kelvingrove Museum for preser-
vation.

Crossing the bridge to the north
or Particle side, and turning westwards
along Castlebank Street, we come to a
small street or lane which runs up to
Dumbarton Road called Kelvin Street
(formerly named the " Goat "), and a bum
ran down the side of it to the Kelvin.

At the foot of the street and facing
Castlebank Street stood an old building
— a two-storey thatched house, part of
which still stands — known as the old
Police Oflfice; and next to it, on the
same side of the street, may be seen
to-day the old Quakers' Burying
Ground. A square plot of ground,
simple, unadorned, and enclosed by a
stone wall, it was granted to the Society
of Friends of Glasgow for a burying place
on 19th June, 1733, by William Purdon,
portioner in Partick, and, by the usual
45

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

irony of fate, the first person buried in the
ground was this same William Purdon's
wife, known in the village as "Quaker
Meg." Burials were made in this graveyard
up till nth December, 1857, when they
were discontinued. The future historian of
this strange and fast disappearing sect will
find some interesting data in the list of
interments in this same ground, now in
possession of the Society of Friends of
Glasgow. A Quaker's funeral being a
kind of show for the villagers, the walls
were usually crowded by men, women,
and children, who did not always observe
an edifying or even respectful silence
during the interment. The Society of
Friends have now granted the property,
in perpetuity, to the Commissioners of
the burgh of Partick, to enable them
to utilise a portion of it in effecting an
improvement in the line of street, on
condition that they keep what remains
of it in good order, and that the sum of
46

Digitized by

Google

BITS OF OLD PARTICK

IS. be paid annually to the Friends'
Society of Glasgow.

The family of Purdons were great
folks in Partick in olden days ; they
'* owned siller and land forbye." One
of them in 1790, along with other two
Partick bodies named William Robb
and Allan Craig, granted the land
in Kelvin Street for the building and
playroom of the old subscription school.
The original title-deed is subscribed on
23rd June, 1790, and gives not only a
list of subscribers, but instructions regard-
ing trusteeship, selection of schoolmaster,
and the kind of education to be given
to the children. Here for many years
before the days of School Boards the
youth of Partick were duly instructed in
'* the English language, writing, and
arithmetic '* ; and it speaks much for the
excellence of the training given in this
school that the neighbouring farmers and
gentry sent their children to the old
47

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

subscription school to receive their first
elements of education. Indeed, there are
not a few in the Partick of to-day, not
to mention those who have gone to other
lands, whose memories of happy youth and
school companionship still cling to the spot
where the old school once stood

One bit of Partick linking the past
with the present is the old U.P. Church
at the corner of Byars Road and Dum-
barton Road, though prior to the year
1824 there were no churches or places
of worship of any kind in the village.
Members of the Established Church, who
are usually steady church-goers, crossed
the Clyde at the ferry, and worshipped
in Govan Parish Church. During the
great frosts of 1784 and 1826 zealous
church folks and others were able to
cross the frozen Clyde on foot. Many
of the villagers belonged to the Relief
Church, and were ministered to in Ander-
ston by Dr. Struthers, a great and learned
48

Digitized by

Google

BITS OF OLD PARTICK

preacher, whose ** History of the Relief
Church" is a tribute to his scholarship
and piety. The adherents to the United
Secession cause attended Dr. Mitchell,
Cheapside Street, Anderston, while the
"Auld Lichts" walked to East Campbell
Street, Glasgow, and occasionally to
PoUokshaws.

Attempts were made by the Baptists and
then the Congregationalists of Glasgow
to plant missions in the village, but the
stations had ultimately to be given up.
In 1823 a meeting of the villagers was
held with the view of receiving a regular
supply of religious ordinances, and a peti-
tion, signed by 142 persons, was sent to
the United Secession Presbytery of Glas-
gow, and the prayer of it was granted. Next
year another petition was granted, that
"the persons worshipping in the Mason
Lodge, Partick, be received into the
fellowship of the church" under the name
of the United Secession Church of Partick.
D 49

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Their next step was to build a church,
and a site was secured in 1824 at the
corner of Byars Road, and the present
building erected. On the ist December,

1825, the congregation met to elect a
minister, when they unanimously chose a
Mr. Ebenezer Halley of Kinross, who,
however, declined the call. Next year,

1826, another meeting was held, and a
call presented to the Rev. John Skinner
of Auchtermuchty. The call was accepted,
and the ordination took place on loth
April, 1827. The following is the excerpt
from the Glasgow Presbytery record: —

"The United Associate Presbytery of Glasgow
met, etc. Adjourned constituted to the church.
Mr. Shoolbraid, after prayer and praise, preached
from James i. 21, last part, 'Receive with meekness
the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.'
Mr. Wilson, who was appointed to preside in the
ordination of Mr. Skinner, stated the design of the
meeting, and recapitulated the steps which had
been taken previous to the appointment of the
ordination. The questions of the formula were
proposed to Mr. Skinner, and to all of them he
returned satisfactory answers. The congregation

Digitized by

Google

BITS OF OLD PARTICK

expressed their adherence to the call in the usual
form, and he was then, by prayer and fasting, with
the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, set
apart to the office of the holy ministry and the
pastoral charge of the Associate Congregation of
Partick. Prayer being ended, the members of the
Presbytery gave him the right hand of fellowship,
after which suitable exhortations were addressed to
him and to the congregation. Public worship was
then concluded with prayer and praise and pro-
nouncing the blessing."

Mr. Skinner laboured in this church for
twelve years, thereafter going to America,
where he died in 1864. His successor, the
Rev. T. M. Lawrie, says in his ''Sketches"
that Mr. Skinner was ** a braw man,
handsome, aristocratic in look and bear-
ing." The late Dr. Joseph Brown, who
knew Mr. Skinner, says, ** He was a
very well-favoured man, very much the
gentleman, and highly polished in his
address."

Mr. Lawrie was ordained to the pas-
torate of the Partick church on 3rd March,
1 84 1. Here he preached till November 4,
SI

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

1866, when the new church of Dowan-
hill was opened, where he ministered
till his death in 1895. In his jubilee
address, given in 1890, he said, speaking
of his first church in Partick, " The
building itself was a curiosity in its way.
The congregation occupied only the
gallery. The open space between the
galleries was floored over and fitted up
with pews, while the underground area
was utilised, partly as a joiner's shop and
partly as a hall for religious meetings and
for our Sabbath schools. We worshipped
in that upper room for five or six years,
but the place became too strait for us, and
we set about enlarging it. The floor of
separation was removed, and the whole
edifice converted into a church, such as it
remains at this day." The church was
called the United Secession Church of
Partick till the union of this body with the
Relief Church in 1847, when the name
** United Presbyterian Church " was given
52

Digitized by

Google

BITS OF OLD PARTICK

to the new denominatioru This old
church was demolished so lately as
December of last year (1901). At the
time the first Secession Church was
built in Partick a number of the Relief
adherents formed themselves into a con-
gregation and built a church ; indeed, both
churches were built simultaneously and
finished within a few weeks of each other.
After the Union of 1847 the one church
was called the East U.P. Church and the
other the West or Newton Place U.P.
Church.

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INNS

If in the year 1824 Par tick, with a
population of over one thousand souls,
was void of church or mission -hall, the
finger of scorn could not be raised against
it in the matter of houses where " paying
guests " were received, for we are told
that in and around this little hamlet there
were no fewer than seven public inns or
ale - houses ! Beginning with " Granny
Gibbs*' at the outside of the village,
there was the **01d Inn," which stood
near the foot of Kelvin Street, in Castle-
bank Street ; the ** Old Masons* Lodge
and Inn," the principal inn of the village ;
the **Ark," which stood at the north-
west entrance to the old bridge, and the
** Bridge-end Inn," which stood on the
S4

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INNS

opposite side of the road; the **01d
Bun and Ale House," situated on the
Old Dumbarton Road, near the Bun-
house mills ; and the " Old Wheat Sheaf
Inn,", at the top of the brae on the road
from Partick to Glasgow, at the comer
of the Clayslaps Road. Strictly speaking,
the **Bunhouse" and the "Old Wheat
Sheaf" were outwith the recognised
boundary of Partick, and were perhaps
on that account better patronised than
others lying nearer the homes of their
patrons. The Rev. Mr. Leishman, in his
article in the Statistical Account, says
that the **inns and ale-houses of Govan
and Partick were so numerous as to form
a great moral nuisance ; their pestiferous
effects on the health and virtuous habits
of the people were only too apparent."
Mr. Leishman was minister of Govan,
and we may take it that he knew what
he was writing about.

The "Old Wheat Sheaf Inn," swept
55

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

away during the operations of the Glas-
gow City Improvement Trust a few years
ago, was a quiet, old-fashioned ale-house,
and occupied a favoured spot amid the
delightful green dells of the Kelvin, and
seemed a natural resting-place for travel-
lers to and from Glasgow.

Another well-known and much -fre-
quented tavern, the "Old Bun and Ale
House," stood in front of the old Bun-
house mill, and belonged to the Bakers*
Incorporation of Glasgow, about half-way
down the hill, on the right-hand side of
the Old Dumbarton Road. Over the
door was the date 1695, with a repre-
sentation of the implements of the baker's
trade. In 1849 the building had fallen
into such decay that the Dean of
Guild Court condemned it as dangerous
to the lieges, and had it demolished
forthwith. On the south-east corner of
the new building is a tablet bearing
the legend — ** Bunhouse was rebuilt 1850,
56

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INNS

John Forrester, Deacon; Peter M*Arthur,
Collector."

Dr. Strang, in his *' Glasgow Clubs,"
tells us that, ** between the year iSioand
1830, there existed and flourished an old
club called the * Partick Duck Club,* which
met on Saturday afternoons in the old
Bunhouse Tavern. One of its most
popular presidents was a Mr. M*Tyre or
MacTear ; so frequently did he attend
and do the honours at the * Duck Club,'
and so fond was he of ducks redolent
with sage and onions, served with . Par-
tick peas, and done to a turn by the
landlady of the inn, that a local poet
said —

'The fowls of Partick used to ken him.
It's even been said they used to name him.
The ducks they quacked through perfect fear,
Crying, "Lord, preserve us, there's MTear."'

" And no wonder," continues Dr. Strang,
** for no sooner was the rubicund beak of
the worthy convener espied by the blue
57

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

and white swimmers of the mill - dam
than it was certain that the fate of those
now disporting would become, ere another
Saturday, that of their late jolly com-
panions, who at that moment were suffer-
ing martyrdom at the auto-da-fe in the
kitchen of the Bunhouse.

** Though the ducks, as may reasonably
be supposed, quacked loudly in anticipa-
tion of their coming fate, yet the convener,
having no sympathy with anything akin
to the melting mood except what was
produced by the sun's summer beams,
was deaf to pity," M'Tear seems not
only to have been chief enemy to the
Partick ducks, but also chief lode-star to
the Duck Club, for with his disappear-
ance the Saturday feasts in the Bunhouse
came to an end.

Prior to the erection of the Trades*

Hall in Glassford Street, Glasgow, the

meetings of the Bakers' Incorporation

were held in halls, in hospitals, even in

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INNS

bakehouses, long before local authorities
had the right to pry among the sacks,
sometimes at the Partick mill, and not
infrequently at the *' Bun and Yill House."
Items of business were here considered,
and accounts paid, accompanied by refresh-
ments, charged against the Incorporation
under the convenient heading of "expenses
at a meeting," of which the following are
specimens : —

13 Nov 1776. Spent with masters and com- * «« ».
mittee qualifying millers, -090

„ „ „ Cash to millers for drink at

qualifying, - - -030

2 May 1778. Paid at a meeting of deacon
and masters consulting
about making a mill at
Clayslaps, - - - o 15 7

Besides owning a public - house, the
bakers of Glasgow possessed, of all things
in the world, a pear tree, which they
thoughtfully rented to the highest bidder.
Referring to the balance sheet of 1788,
we find that the sum of 3s. 4d. is set
59

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

down against expenses for refreshments
at the *' shaking of the pear tree."

At the Partick end of the old bridge
there were two inns — **The Ark" and
the *' Bridge-end Inn." In 1790 the tenant
of the **Ark" was a man called James
Lapsley, who had the good sense to
bequeath ;^io to help the subscription
school in Kelvin Street. Napier says
that James Lapsley "was long held in
remembrance for his romancing propen-
sities, his wife confirming them by, * It's
a gude's truth, James Lapsley.*" James,
on one occasion, was telling some of his
customers a remarkable story, for the
truth of which he referred to his wife
for corroboration. She had been in the
kitchen, and returning to the room at the
critical moment was appealed to in the
usual formula, to which she instantly
responded with, '* It's a gude's truth,
James Lapsley ; but what was you

speaking about?" Before the old bridge
60

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Xi
5

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INNS

was widened a pontage used to be levied
on cattle passing to certain fairs. The
last man to collect these dues was one
Matthew Semple, who lived in this same
inn.

Seventy years ago one of the most
popular of the Partick inns was old
'* Bridge-end Inn " ; and more weddings,
balls, and dinner parties were held in this
place than in all the other inns together.
Widow Craig, the mistress of this famous
inn, was a comely, motherly specimen of
the old-time hostess, and prided herself on
the spotless cleanliness of her house no
less than on her catering. She was keenly
alive to the fame of the "Bunhouse,"
and vied with her rival in the excellence
of her dinners of duck and green peas.
There was the '*01d Inn" in Castlebank
Street and the old '* Masons' Lodge and
Inn," but both have succumbed to the
destroyer, though the last-named house
will be remembered by the " Merry
6i

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Masons " as the lodge room of their late
brethren of Partick.

On the south side of the Dumbarton
Road and a little to the east of the
Sawmill Road there stood, so late as 1896,
one of the very oldest of Partick land-
marks, "Granny Gibbs Cottage." In
olden times it was much frequented by
West Highland drovers, who rested there
with their cattle or sheep on the way to *
the Glasgow markets. In these days
there were no ships, no steamers, and
no railways, so everything perforce was
brought to Glasgow by carrier or drover-
Monday was market day, and many a toil-
worn and weary drover arrived at the
cottage on Saturday with his flock of
sheep, which were carefully enclosed in
Granny Gibb's pen till the dawn of
Monday, for Granny was a strict Sabba-
tarian and would allow no person to come
or go on the Sabbath-day. Many of her

customers resented this interference and
62

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INNS

sometimes insisted on setting out for
Glasgow on Sabbath evenings, but Mrs.
Gibb was obdurate and enforced her law
with impartial vigour. Indeed, the wags
and other easy-minded people of the day
used to say that it was due to the strict
Sabbatarianism of Granny Gibb that the
market day of Glasgow was changed from
Monday to Wednesday.

Granny Gibb s husband was a vintner
of Partick, who built the old cottage in
1796. After his death Mrs. Gibb removed
to a tavern near Partick Cross, but in a
year or two returned to her cottage, where
she died. The cottage served its day
exactly one hundred years, and on its site
is now a modern tenement of houses,
known as numbers 671 to 673 Dum-
barton Road,

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INSTITUTIONS

Board schools and old - age pension
schemes were unknown to our forefathers
in Partick, yet they were careful to see
that the young were wisely educated and
the old tenderly cared for. Besides the
subscription school in Kelvin Street,
there was another school established in
the village called the Mission House
School, and by means of it hundreds of
Partick children obtained the advantages
of a fair education. Many poor boys,
besides, were, by means of this Mission,
placed in situations and circumstances
from which they rose to good positions
in life. According to the constitution of
this society, its object was to educate
children whose parents were not able to
pay the fees charged in ordinary day
64

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INSTITUTIONS

schools. The branches of education
taught were reading, writing, and arith-
metic, the Bible, and the Shorter
Catechism ; and it has been said that
no public efforts on behalf of the youth
of Partick effected such an amount of
good as this school.

The points aimed at in the education of
the young at the Mission School were
primarily sound intellectual and moral
training, and solid religious instruction —
a curriculum that would be very hard to
beat in primary schools of our own
day. '* I am sure," says the Rev. Henry
Anderson, "Scotsmen have not been
dwarfed in their intellect and energy
by any religious instruction they received
from the Bible and the Shorter Catechism.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, and I hope the wisdom of our
schools will never want that true begin-
ning. Our School Board deserves our
thanks for carrying out this religious in-
E 6s

Digitized by

Google

^- -T!; Hit *^:ilL.XS

:^ nefi

'^^erfn

^■r- J- %:UT

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

struction." The same writer, contrasting
the education of olden times with that
given to-day, asks, *' What are the results
from the great advantages children enjoy
now? I was once going to Dunfermline
to preach, and at North Queensferry two
persons came into the compartment.
Their conversation was about schools. I
ventured to put in a word, being then
in the School Board for the fourth period,
and asked, what effect this new system
had compared with the old system ? The
answer was, *Well, I think the children
are just learning impudence.' I answered,
* That is a heavy indictment' "

The religious part of the work done by
this ''Mission House School" is now
carried on successfully by the M'CoU
Mission of Partick, while the secular part
of the education of the young fell into line
with the other schools under the Govan
School Board.

Another old institution, or rather indi-
66

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Old School of Partick.

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INSTITUTIONS

vidual, of Particle who directed the minds
and lives and often the destinies of many
young people was William Galbraith, a
simple-minded, kind-hearted man, with a
strong affection for young people. William
was a weaver, and his shop a favourite
rendezvous for boys, who used to love to
listen to the teachings of the kindly man.
By and by the honour fell to him of
establishing the first Sabbath evening
school in his native place, and there single-
handed he laboured lovingly and long
among some of the roughest boys and
girls of the village. The experiment and
success of the Sabbath evening school was
followed by the opening of Sabbath morn-
ing meetings, and later by the starting of
the Sabbath Morning School Library, the
first of any kind in Partick.

Passing from youth to old age, it is

interesting to know that in 1758 a number

of persons residing in and about Partick

associated themselves into a friendly society

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

called the " Partick Community." In 1804
Its articles and regulations were revised,
and its boundaries limited to one and
a-half miles from the old Bridge of
Partick. Article 8 stipulated that

Every member of the community who is clear in
their books, and who has been at least one year a
member, shall, upon his falling into sickness, or any
other bodily ailment which shall render him in-
capable of following his daily occupation, be entitled
to four shillings sterling weekly while in that situa-
tion. Superannuated members, viz., such as by
reason of old age, or other infirmities, are not able to
support themselves, though they may work a little,
shall be entitled to one shilling and sixpence weekly
while in that situation ; but if they fall into sickness
or distress, so as to confine them to their bed, in
that case they shall be entitled to four shillings
sterling weekly while they continue in that situation.
And on the death of any member taking place who
resides within the bounds of the officer's warning, and
application being made to the managers either before
or within ten days after the interment of such member
by his widow or relations, they shall be paid one
guinea towards defraying the expense of that
member's funeral. And the widows of free members,
while they continue such, and of a good character,
shall have paid them thirty shillings sterling annually ;
but if there should be more than fourteen widows
68

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INSTITUTIONS

upon the community at one time, in that case
they shall receive the annual aliment of twenty-one
pounds sterling equally among them. And it is speci-
ally provided that in case of any member being badly,
or otherwise entitled to aliment, whose residence is
without the bounds of the officer's warning, his rela-
tions, or him, shall be allowed six weeks (and those
forth of Scotland six months) to transmit their appli-
cations, upon which the supply aforesaid shall be
remitted them the same as if they had been within
the boundaries ; provided always a certificate be pro-
duced (signed by the minister and two elders of the
parish where such applicants reside) that he or they
are in the situation set forth in the application, and
are of an honest character and reputation. And all
the aforesaid aliments, when applied for as said, are
cheerfully to be paid without making the unreason-
able distinction of poor or rich members or widows.
Declaring always that no member who did not, or
member's widow whose husband did not pay his
quarter accounts, and all other dues to the com-
munity, for at least the space of one year after his
entry thereto, or was in arrears at his death, shall not
be entitled to the foresaid aliment. Applicants
always paying postage of letters and all other inci-
dental charges.

We have been favoured with a copy of

the original charter of this society. It

runs as follows: —

Know all men, by these presents, that we, James
69

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Robertson, shoemaker in Partick; George Park,
meal merchant there; John Nisbet, mason there;
John Craig, smith there; Thomas Miller, tailor
there; John Purdon, weaver there; Robert M'Indoe,
weaver there; Robert Miller, shoemaker there;
Henry Comer, flesher there ; Andrew Smith, school-
master there; Wm. Wilson, smith there; James
Robertson, weaver there; John Fleming, weaver
there; John Purdon, of Bridge-end there; James
Colquhoun, tailor there; David Carse, tailor there;
James Purdon, farmer there ; James Fleming, servant
there; Wm. M*Culloch, tailor there; John Petterson,
farmer in Whiteinch; James Jackson, farmer there;
Robert Algie, farmer in Easter Scotstoun; Wm.
Purdon, farmer in Sandyford ; Archibald Dick,
weaver in Byars; Robert Johnston, farmer there;
and Matthew Montgomery, farmer, Balshagray, —
Considering the good and well of the poor, and the
other good and worthy consequences which attend
friendly association, have associated and hereby
associate ourselves into a friendly community, and
bind and oblige us, and each of us, strictly to fulfil
and perform the rules and articles underwritten,
which we have calculated for the order of our said
community, namely, that there be a Preses or overs-
man chosen yearly upon the last Friday of June,
by voice of the whole Society; that there be six
masters chosen yearly upon said day, three by the
Preses and the other three by the community, who
with the Preses are to represent the community;
that whether the Preses be chosen in the town or
70

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARtiCK INSTITUTIONS

in the country, he shall be obliged to choose part
of his masters in the town, part in the country.
That there be a collector chosen yearly upon said
day by voice of the whole Society; that none be
admitted freemen, but by the authority of the Preses,
and plurality of the masters ; that each freeman pay
into the common box one shilling sterling yearly,
at the time and by the proportions following, to
wit : — Three shillings scots, quarterly, beginning the
first quarter's payment upon the last Friday of Sep-
tember, and so to continue upon the last Friday of
each third month thereafter ; that each freeman pay
into the common box one shilling sterling for each
apprentice he has; that each freeman pay all his
quarters' accounts at the expiration of each year,
otherwise to have no vote, and if it happens that
any of the members of the said community shall
not pay up their quarters* accounts for a course of
a year, then, and in that case, upon him or them
paying up all bygone dues shall be received again
into the said community.

That no freeman curse or swear in presences (sic)
of the Preses and masters under a penalty of 6d.
sterling, to be paid into the common box for each
transgression. That whoever be chosen Preses the
common box shall not be removed from Partick,
and if the Preses do happen to live at any place a
considerable [distance] from Partick, then and in
that case he shall be obliged to depute one in his
place, at, or near to, the town so as he may be
easily got when wanted; that a clerk and officer
71

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

be chosen yearly by voice of the community, and
that what indentures betwixt any of the members
of the community and apprentices and journeymen
shall be wrote by the clerk of the said Society;
and this year we chose by plurality of votes the
above James Robertson, shoemaker, Preses; and
the above designed George Park, John Nisbet,
John Craig, Thomas Miller, John Purdon, and John
Petterson, masters; and the above designed Robert
M'Indoe, collector; as also the above designed
Andrew Smith, clerk; and Wm. M'CuUoch, officer;
and lastly we consent to the registration hereof, ad
futuram rei tnemoriam^ in judge books competent
for that effect and constitutes.

In witness whereof these presents written on
stamped parchment by the above Andrew Smith,
clerk, are subscribed by us at Partick, this isth
day of August, one thousand seven hundred and
fifty-eight years before these witnesses, James Hill,
weaver in Partick, and John Miller, shoemaker
there.

[Here follow twenty-six signatures.]

The copy of the articles and regulations
before us vsras printed in 1804, and it gives
the names of the office-bearers, among
whom is Robert Hill, the officer. ''Roberts
great days," says Napier, "v^rere the days
when the deacon or preses or office-
72

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK INSTITUTIONS

bearers were elected. After the election
the whole society marched in procession to
the house of the newly-elected deacon.
In front went the village drummer, making
a great noise, and giving warning to the
villagers to look out for the new deacon.
After the drummer came Robert Hill, the
officer, with the society's box slung over
his back. Next followed the late and
new deacon, followed by the other mem-
bers. It was always expected that the
new deacon would do the honours of the
day, and keep up the credit of the
society."

The Partick Community has long ceased
to exist, but the charter, collecting-book,
and box are still in existence, and are
now in the possession of Mr. Rait, Par-
tickhill, through whose kindness we have
been enabled to give a copy of the char-
ter. A copy of the rules will also be found
printed in full in the Appendix.

Digitized by

Google

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE
OF OLD PARTICK

To appreciate the social and religious life
of the village in olden times, we must
imagine ourselves spending a year in
Particle. With the close of the last day
in December, things were put past for
the year; all local and out -door work
was suspended, houses were white-washed
and cleaned, people went to bed before
twelve o'clock, and, indeed, it was con-
sidered unlucky not to be in bed before
the New Year came in. On New Year's
morning first -footing began, and to visit
a friend empty-handed was to wish him
ill-luck during the coming year. On
giving or receiving a refreshment, it was
part of the programme of good wishes
for the year **to tak' it a' oot." During
74

Digitized by

Google

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

the day neighbours and friends in the
village exchanged complimentary visits,
and in the evening family reunions took
place. Sons and daughters who worked
from home, or if married in the village
and had families, all gathered under the
paternal roof, and spent the evening in
the old home with song and story and
innocent fun and frolic. There were
exceptions, of course, to these festivities,
though Mr. Skinner, in 1 831,, in his
cautiously- and charitably -worded state-
ment to the Glasgow Presbytery on the
social, moral, and religious life of the
people under his charge, while lamenting
cases of intemperance in Partick, con-
sidered that, in proportion to the popu-
lation of the village, these cases were
not more numerous than in other villages.
Indeed, the respectability, quietness, and
good behaviour of the majority of the
Partick people amply turned the scale
against these isolated cases. Attendance
75

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

at religious ordinances in church were
regular, and family worship was maintained
by large numbers of his people morning
and evening, and on Sabbath-days.

'* Sixty years ago," says James Napier,
"any person passing through the village
at nine o'clock, either morning or evening
of a Sabbath day, would never be out
of hearing of the psalm -singing of the
different families at family worship."

After the New -Year festivities were
over, people settled down again to work
at the mills, the looms, and the neigh-
bouring farms, till the next cessation
from labour, the spring Fast -day.

Partick, along with Glasgow and other
places in Scotland, had two Fast -days
each year, one in spring and the other
in autumn. These days were strictly
kept as a Sabbath-day — all labour was
suspended, all shops and schools closed.
In 1837, when three denominations were
represented in the village, forenoon and
76

Digitized by

Google

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

afternoon services were held in all the
churches on the Fast-day, and were well
attended. Tokens of admission to the
sacramental table on the following Sunday-
were usually distributed on that day. In
1844, when the Free Church had found
a footing, and called the Rev. Henry
Anderson, he said, **Our Fast-days were
looked upon as great days, just as the
great day of atonement. The attendance
on a Fast-day was like a Sabbath. There
was an elder from Renfrew who some-
times came up to assist the elders, who
said our Fast-days in Partick were great
times."

Fast -days in olden times were not
always necessarily connected with sacra-
mental occasions. Public Fast -days on
particular events have been publicly and
nationally proclaimed, and in 1832 (March
21) a public fast, a day of humiliation and
prayer, was authorised to be held on
account of the violence of the plague of
77

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

cholera throughout the country. The
Particle churches observed this Fast-day,
although the Secession and Relief congre-
gations said that, while they did not
acknowledge the king's authority in
spiritual affairs, yet that on the ground
of the aspect of Divine Providence, and of
the people's being prohibited pursuing
their worldly employments on the day
appointed by the Government, the day
would be observed as a day of fasting and
humiliation.

It is interesting to note in this protest
the difference between an *'Auld Licht"
and a *' New Licht." An "Auld Licht"
dissenter recognised the right of the nation
to proclaim a "fast," and the raison detre
of the Established Church of Scotland ;
the '*New Licht" dissenters (United
Secession and Relief Churches) recognised
no kingly authority to proclaim fasts, and
that no Church should be established by
law.

Digitized by

Google

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

During the scourge of cholera in 1832,
Partick was much affected. Consequently
all coming and going, or visitation of
friends and families, was suspended, and
a death-like stillness possessed gentle and
simple, weaver and miller, young and old.
A short time before the outbreak of the
cholera a brass band had been established
in the village, and had been of great
service at public gatherings, processions,
Reform Bill agitations, and the like. One
night, during the height of the plague, to
the horror of the stricken villagers, the
band paraded the streets with the innocent
hope of cheering up their kinsfolk and
friends. The playing was continued every
alternate night, and some superstitious
people, noting that the cholera disappeared
very soon thereafter, suggested that the
brass band had played the plague away.

In the month of July, Partick people
observed the Glasgow Fair as a holiday
time, but Cook's excursions to London and
79

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

elsewhere being then unknown, and coast
residences not yet in vogue, Partick
bodies were very well content to stop at
home and spend their holidays among
themselves.

From time to time travelling shows
visited the village, and lads met their
lasses around some of the wells in the
summer evenings, or by the banks of the
Kelvin or Clyde, while balls and weddings
were mostly held in the winter time.

Eighty years ago all the villagers of
Partick were known to each other, and
much neighbourly kindness was mani-
fested. Every family had a good-sized
garden attached to its house, and many
people kept their own cow. These all fed
in one part of the meadow, and were
looked after by a cowherd, who was some-
thing of a musician, for we are told that he
summoned his charges in the morning by
a rousing blast on his horn.

The habitations of the villagers for the
80

Digitized by

Google

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

most part consisted of a "but and a ben,"
with the byre at the back or end of the
house.

The weavers in Partick were, like the
weavers in most other Scotch villages and
towns, great Radicals, and deeply inte-
rested in all political movements, especially
Reform Bills. Indeed, so keen for the
fray was one young fellow that he was only
restrained by the persuasion of his mother
from joining the fight at Bonnymuir.

Few have ever heard of a Tory weaver,
yet history records this wonderful specimen,
and from no less a village than Partick.
He gloried in the punishment of the
Radicals of 1822, and walked all the way
to Stirling to witness the execution of
Baird and Hardy.

Rents were paid at Candlemas and
Lammas, when it was customary for the
lairds, who factored their own property in
those days, to entertain their tenants with
some suitable refreshment The last
F 81

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Friday in March was observed by the
Masons as their annual parade day, a
great event for the lads and lasses of
the village. Another great feast in the
village was the Deacon of the Bakers'
election day, usually held at the beginning
of August. In this event the villagers
were ever eager to show their interest,
and used to discuss for days beforehand
the chances of their favourites.

At the time of which we are writing
the only men who could securely tie the
marriage knot were the ministers and
clergy, and as there were then no
clergymen resident in Partick, betrothed
ones to complete their happiness had
perforce to make their way to the
minister s house either at Govan or Ander-
ston. After the ceremony the party quickly
returned to the village and duly celebrated
the occasion in feasting and fun. The
day after the wedding, which constituted

the honeymoon, was usually spent in
82

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

P^rtick Dead Bell,

Digitized by

Google

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

Glasgow, and on the Sabbath-day follow-
ing the new couple were carefully ** kirked "
in the parish church, and let us hope lived
happy ever after.

One of the most dismal duties of the
bellman was to announce the death of a
villager by the ringing of the Dead Bell.
After this had been duly done, he had
next to open the door of each house,
requesting at the same time **the favour
of your company to attend the funeral of
A. B., to-morrow, at two o'clock." The
interments usually took place at Govan or
Anderston, the coffin being carried on
spokes all the way to the churchyard.
The Dead Bell of Partick, dating from
1726, was for many years lost sight of
till discovered in Edinburgh by a Paisley
gentleman, when it was presented to the
Partick Curling Club, in whose possession
it now is. The drinking habits so common
long ago at funerals in Partick and else-
where have now happily passed away, as
83

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

well as the free tables for refreshments
that were usually set both outside and
inside the house in which the deceased
lay.

From the autumn Fast-day to the New
Year there was no break in outdoor or
indoor labour, and Christmas was utterly
unknown in Partick till a very recent
date.

Digitized by

Google

THE BURGH

The forces that make for peace seemed
to be signally present in the Partick of
1838, for her records show that, with a
population of nearly 2000 souls, she had
little need even for the service of the
solitary policeman who seemed proud to
be her sole guardian. But those were
halcyon days indeed, soon to become a
memory only, for in 1843 disturbers of
the peace and other lawless characters had
grown so rank that the ** one-man force"
had frequently to summon aid from the
neighbouring station of Anderston to
watch and even patrol the village.

The next step on the road to local

government was taken in 1846, when a

number of the well-to-do villagers and

residenters agreed to erect a few lamps at

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

suitable places to light the roads and
streets in the winter time. The cost was
defrayed by voluntary subscription, and
the management of affairs was left in the
hands of a committee. With the forma-
tion of this committee we have the
beginning of the burgh of Partick. The
committee soon had plenty of other work
thrust upon it in the form of complaints as
to nuisances, smells, and bad drainage.
These matters were also aired in the
Glasgow newspapers, and meetings were
held in the school-room in 1851 and
1852, the outcome of which was the
drawing up of a petition to be presented
to the Sheriff that Partick and neighbour-
hood be constituted a populous place,
that it should adopt the General Police
Act of Scotland, and that the Sheriff call a
public meeting to be held in the Free
Church school of all householders of ;^io
rent and upwards who resided within the

proposed boundaries of the burgh. This
86

Digitized by

Google

THE BURGH

meeting was held on the 17th June, 1852,
and on that date the burgh was formed,
and the following gentlemen there and
then elected Commissioners : —

David Tod, Iron Bank.
John Buchanan, Dowanhill.
Robert Patterson, Partickhill.
Moses Hunter, Hamilton Crescent.
John Walker, Jun., Castle Bank.
A. C. Shank, Turnerfield.
James Napier, Hamilton Place.
Robert Kay, Partickhill.
John White, Scotstoun Mills.
George Richmond, Partickhill.
David Ralston.

Three of these were then chosen as
magistrates, viz., David Tod, John
Buchanan, and Moses Hunter, the first-
named being Provost. The newly-elected
commissioners had a wholesome know-
ledge of what was expected of them ; no
promises were made, no guarantees given ;
but they knew their first objective, and
courageously seized the pestilent hydra with
an iron hand. So effectively did they and
87

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

their successors work that with an ever-
increasing population the death-rate was
rapidly decreasing. For example, in 1852,
the date of the raising of the burgh, the
population was 5000 and the death-rate
34 per 1000. In 1872, with 17,000
inhabitants, the rate had fallen to 21, and
in 1896 there were 45,000 people within
the burgh, while the mortality had been
reduced to 13 per 1000. At the present
day Partick stands about the lowest in the
mortality tables of Scotland, as may be
seen from the following figures : — Glasgow,
213 per 10,000; Perth, 184; Dundee,
199 ; Paisley, 196 ; Aberdeen, 184 ;
Greenock, 196; Edinburgh, 192; and
Leith, 186. The health of Partick should
show even better results when the new
sewage scheme is carried out, however
expensive it may be. Indeed, the ques-
tion of rational expense need never be
discussed when the welfare of a com-
munity is at stake, and there is no such
88

Digitized by

Google

THE BURGH

thing as a cheap municipal blessing;
There seems little doubt also that the
introduction of the Glasgow Loch Katrine
water service had a great deal to do with
the decline in the mortality rate, as prior
to that time the burgh drew its chief
supply from the Kelvin. Often, however,
when the river was in flood the water was
totally unfit for domestic purposes, awid as
the water of the public and private wells
was little better, and indeed often
dangerous, the little community was sorely
stressed from time to time.

Fifty years ago a quartette of burns
coursed freely around and through the
village, but instead of purifying the air
with limpid waters, they were little better
than so many open sewers, and a fruitful
source of epidemic to the young burgh.
One of these bums ran alongside the Crow
Road; 'another, called Hay Burn, skirted
the west side of Partickhill, both falling
into the Clyde; a third, passing down
89

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

the east side of Partickhill, crossed the
Dumbarton Road, and found its way to
the Kelvin; and the fourth came from
the east of Dowanhill, and, falling into
the Kelvin near the Old Bridge, was
called the Brewster Burn. These have
all now been covered over, and form
part of the sewage scheme of the
burgh.

Like the sensible men they were, the
newly-elected burgh commissioners were
content to hold their first meetings in a
humble room in Dumbarton Road. They
next held their deliberations in the Police
Buildings, and since 1872, when the
buildings were erected, in their own Burgh
Chambers. The following are the names
of the gentlemen who have occupied the
Provost's chair : — Messrs. Tod, White,
Robinson, Arthur, Hunter, Thomson,
Ferguson, Kennedy, Sir Andrew MacLean,
Caird, and Wood. The first burgh
treasurer was Mr. Paisley, and he was
90

Digitized by

Google

THE BURGH

succeeded by Mr. George Wilson, who
died in December of last year.

Up till 1874 the villagers were happy
in the use of oil as an illuminant, but
the new commissioners were not content
to travel in the old rut, and they very
readily availed themselves of the benefits
offered by the Partick, Hillhead, and
Maryhill Gas Company to introduce the
new light into the little burgh. In 1891
this company was taken over by the
Glasgow Corporation.

Communication with the city by tram
was established in 1872 from the Cre-
scents to Whiteindh terminus.

From time to time negotiations have
been carried on between the Corporation
of Glasgow and the burgh of Partick
with a view to amalgamation, but up
to the present time the attempts have
only resulted in heaping expense on both
corporations.

The following were the terms submitted
91

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

at last conference by the Glasgow Cor-
poration : —

1. The present area of the burgh of Partick (sub-
ject to any slight adjustment of boundaries which
may be mutually agreed to) shall be divided into
two wards, each having three representatives.

2. The ratepayers in Partick shall be entitled to
a deduction of 20 per cent, from the city and police
rates for five years from unification.

3. The Corporation shall, within three years from
unification, provide suitable public baths for Partick.

4. The burgh buildings, police buildings, eta, in
Partick shall be retained for municipal and public
purposes.

5. A Police Court shall continue to be held in
Partick.

6. The burgh officials shall, in so far as not con-
tinued by the city, be allowed compensation, in terms
of the Boundaries Commissioners' report, or as other-
wise arranged.

7. The committee explamed that the policy of the
city was to pave all streets on which the traffic was
heavy, and that they have no doubt that the Dum-
barton Road would be paved if it came under the
jurisdiction of the city, but that in the meantime
they could not undertake to pave that road and the
portions of Crow Road and Byars Road referred to
without further consideration.

8. If the Commissioners can now condescend upon
any specific piece of ground for an open space which

Digitized by

Google

THE BURGH

they consider suitable, and which might be purchased
at a moderate price, the Corporation committee would
be prepared to consider it.

9. The differential rate in the city on rents under
;£'io shall be extended to Partick, and that the water
and gas rates and arrangements as to stair-lighting
shall be the same in Partick as in the city.

10. The special sewer rates in the several drainage
districts in the burgh shall continue to be levied
till the capital sums expended in the construction
of such sewers remaining unpaid at the date of
unification have been repaid — provision being made
that owners who may build and take advantage of
the sewers in the burgh before repayment of such
capital expenditure shall pay a reasonable sum for
the use of said sewers, and relief from such sewer
rates being given to owners who have, at their own
expense, formed sewers, or have paid for an agreed-on
number of years for the existing sewers.

11. As regards the lighting of private streets, the
arrangements which exist in Glasgow shall apply to
Partick, but that the position of certain private
streets under the Burgh Police Act, 1892, should
be further considered.

12. The city shall take over the debts, obligations,
and contracts of the Commissioners.

13. The city shall take over all streets and pave-
ments taken over by the Commissioners before
annexation, or which the Commissioners may then
be under agreement or obligation to take over.

14. All rates and assessments payable by the rate-

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

payers of Partick may be paid therein, and that the
local collector, in conjunction with the Partick repre-
sentatives, shall have power to deal with the appeals
in the same way as the city collectors.

15. In the event of an arrangement being arrived
at between the city and burgh, and being approved
by the ratepayers in Partick, the terms agreed upon
shall be embodied in a bill.

16. The deputation explained that there was no
access between the Partickhill portion of the burgh
and the Crow Road district, and asked that the
Corporation should undertake, in the near future,
to provide such an access. The committee explained
that that was a proposal they could not in the
meantime bind themselves to undertake, but they
would endeavour to deal with the matter, if possible,
in the event of annexation taking place.

It was agreed that the deputation should
consult their Commissioners regarding the
suggested arrangement, and thereafter
communicate their decision.

The terms are similar to those offered
in 1897, with the exception that no pro-
vision is made for divisional management
of the city.

Comparing the statistics of 1838 with
^those of the present day, instead of one
94

Digitized by

Google

THE BURGH

policeman we have i chief constable, i
superintendent, 2 inspectors, 3 detectives,
8 sergeants, 60 constables, and the popu-
lation we find has leapt from 2000 to
54,274, while the valuation of the burgh
is represented by the magnificent sum of
;^298,2ii. Of hackney carriages there
are 18, of public-houses 41, of licensed
grocers 25, besides 4 brokers and 12
chimney sweeps. There is also an
efficient fire brigade consisting of one
superintendent and eighteen men. In
1 90 1 there were no fewer than 2083
offences reported to the police, and the
fire brigade responded to 132 calls.

The commissioners have just erected
electricity works and refuse destructors at
a cost of ;^6o,ooo. These were opened
February 19, 1902.

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

The fine British principle that "all work
and no play makes Jack a dull boy"
seems to be well understood by the
provost and magistrates of Partick, for
their first care in this direction has been
to provide ample playground for the young
folks of the town. Meadowside Park,
lying between Hayburn and Merkland
Streets, was purchased from Sir William
Hozier and the Railway Company at a
cost of over ;^5ooo, and formally opened
by the provost and magistrates on 30th
November, 1896. The grounds are taste-
fully laid out with flowers, plants, and
shrubs, and one corner is well provided
with swings and other amusements dear
to the hearts of the little ones.

In the matter of recreation — tempered
96

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

with muscular development — the police-
men have not been forgotten, for mainly
through the exertions of Captain Cameron
of the police force, a handsome gym-
nasium was erected in 1897, a little to
the east of the recreation grounds, at a
cost of about ;^iooo. Though primarily
for the use of the police force, the
gymnasium has been generously thrown
open to all the young men of the burgh —
a privilege they have not been slow to
take advantage of.

Another great breathing space, the
** Victoria Park," so named by consent of
Her late Majesty Queen Victoria in
honour of her jubilee, was opened on 2nd
July in that memorable year (1887).
Since 1867 it had been a dream of the
Partick municipal authorities and local
philanthropists to provide the people of
Partick and neighbourhood with a suitable
park, and after due deliberation the com-
missioners in 1885 entered into negotia-
G 97 •

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

tions with Mr. James Gordon Oswald, of
the Scotstoun estate, for certain lands
lying in the western part of the burgh
near Whiteinch. At first it was arranged
that 30 acres of this land should be feued,
but latterly it was thought advisable to
include over 16 acres in an easterly
direction, making the park in all half-a-
mile long by 250 yards broad. The
terms were considered favourable, viz., £$
per acre per annum for the first ten years,
and jC^o per acre per annum thereafter in
perpetuity.

The work of laying out the park was
commenced in 1886, and provided work
for a great many of the unemployed
during that year of trade depression.
From first to last nearly ;^40oo was
distributed in wages in the making of
carriage drives, walks, and lakes. The
old Whiteinch quarry, lying conveniently
within the area of the park, supplied both
the soft whinstone for the bottoming and
98

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

the sharp whinstone for metalling the
drives and walks.

At the eastern end of the park, in
Balshagray Avenue, is the principal gate-
way, and to the credit of the ladies of
the burgh it should be recorded that the
cost of the structure (;^2cx>) was entirely
raised by them in voluntary subscriptions.
On the centre of the shaft of the outer
pillars is a medallion of Her Majesty,
with the words ** Queen's Jubilee " ; on the
inner shafts are the burgh arms, and the
motto " Industria Ditat." A centre of
attraction in the park is the artificial lake,
about four acres in extent and three feet
deep. In the summer time it is in high
favour for model yacht racing. From the
west end of the park, where the ground
gently rises, a good view of the surround-
ing country can be had, and immediately
behind the little eminence is the quarry
containing the famous " Fossil Grove."

The occasion of the opening of the Park
99

Digitized by VjOO^IC

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

on 2nd July, 1887, was observed as a
general holiday in the town, the procession
from the Burgh Hall including the
provost, magistrates, and commissioners,
the local corps of 1st L.R.V. and 6th
L.R.V., the burgh police force, the fire
brigade, and employes from the various
shipyards and works in the neighbourhood,
Foresters, Gardeners, Free Masons, and
Shepherds. The products of the Scots-
toun mills were shown in the procession ;
and on a specially-fitted lorry was given a
representation of flour-milling by hand as
practised by our forefathers, while an
attempt was made to depict the process
mentioned in Scripture of **two women
shall be grinding at the mill." On
entering the Park the procession made its
way to the platform at the west end,
where Sir Andrew Mac Lean, Provost of
Partick, in the course of a few remarks,
declared the Park open, wishing the

inhabitants pleasure in the use of the new
100

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

acquisition to the burgh, and hoping it
would be a thing of beauty and a delight
for generations to come. Other speakers
followed, and the proceedings were
brought to a close by the singing of the
National Anthem. In the evening the
shops, houses, streets, and buildings in
and around the burgh were brilliantly
illuminated in honour of the event.

The " Fossil Grove ** already referred to
has attracted the attention of a number of
geologists, and a paper on the subject was
read before the Geological Society of
Glasgow on 12th April, 1888, from which,
with the Society's permission, the following
excerpt is taken : —

On the north side of the Dumbarton Road, near
Whiteinch and Partick, there is to be seen in the
Lower Balshagray grounds a small ridge or knoll
running east and west, crowned by a group of
stately trees rising above the level tract of land,
which here to the north bounds the river Clyde, its
height above the present sea-level varying from 20 to
25 feet. The ridge is composed in its upper part of
beds of intrusive dolerite, which are here seen to be

lOI

Digitized by

Google

f.%2m^^bmmmat^ij^.iAMsAi.

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

intercalated with carboniferous sandstones and shales,
the igneous rock being traceable westwards for nearly
two miles, when it again disappears under the
overlying strata of the district. The knoll now lies
within the area of ground rented by the burghs
of Partick and Whiteinch as a public park, and is at
its south-western extremity. In former years a
quarry had been opened in the upper bed of dolerite,
the rock being used for macadamising purposes on
the neighbouring roads. Since it came into the hands
of the Partick and Whiteinch Commissioners a great
deal of work had been expended in dressing up and
planting the rocky slopes of the old quarry; and
while employed last winter in cutting a road along
the hollow of the quarry, the workmen exposed the
strata in which a number of fossil trees were found to
be embedded. These strata underlie the upper bed
of dolerite now largely quarried away, and consist
of gray sandy shales, flaggy sandstones, and dark
carbonaceous shales, in the bottom of which the
erect stems of the fossil trees are seen to be rooted.
When the workmen came upon the upper end of the
stems the excavation was carefully continued down-
wards until both trunks and roots of five large trees
were laid bare. Four of these stand close to each
other, the fifth and largest being some distance apart
at the western end of the excavation. It is very
probable that other tree stems exist in the immediate
proximity, as the sandstones and shales are found to
be continuous on either of the sides of the cutting
for the roadway, those on the north side being seen

I02

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

to extend under the overlying dolerite, which has
here not been quarried away. Other five trees
have recently been exposed standing near the others,
besides two prostrate stems, which are seen lying
across the section in the cutting.

The geological horizon of the group of strata in
which these trees are found lies in the middle and
lower divisions of the Fossil coal and ironstone series,
and which extends from this point eastwards under
the city boundaries, where it underlies the Millstone
Grit and Upper Coal measures, the beds in question
being some 500 fathoms under the Upper Red
Sandstone, which lies over the higher beds of the
Lanarkshire coal-field.

The occurrence of erect stems of fossil trees,
apparently on the same geological horizon as those
above mentioned in the old quarry at Victoria Park,
has been formerly recorded from several localities to
the north-west of Glasgow. The most recent was the
discovery in the Gilmorehill quarry, where six erect
stems, standing close together, were exposed in the
year 1868 during the working of the sandstone for the
new buildings of the University. The strata in which
they were found were identical in character with
those seen in Victoria Park quarry. As a notice of
the strata of the Gilmorehill quarry, and of the erect
fossil trees found there and at other localities within
this district, formed the subject of a paper read to this
Society by one of the authors twenty years ago
(Transactions, vol. iii., 1869), it is unnecessary to
repeat what is there stated regarding either this group

103

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

of strata, its geological horizon, or its fossils, beyond
the following short quotation where mention is made
of the trees : — In the working of the upper bed of
sandstone the quarrymen came upon the erect stumps
of five or six large fossil trees. They appeared to be
Sigillaria, and measured from 20 inches to 2 feet
in diameter. They seem to have been broken or to
have decayed to within a few inches of the ground,
and were composed of shaly sandstone, similar to the
surrounding rock. The trees stood some three or
four feet apart, and the roots of the one were seen in
some cases interlacing with those of the others.
While the remains of this old forest of the coal period
were allowed to stand they formed a very interesting
object in the quarry, but they were ultimately
removed in the working of the sandstone. Remains
of large erect stumps of fossil trees from this neigh-
bourhood are recorded in the writings of Dr.
Buckland, Mr. Smith of Jordanhill, and Mr. John
Craig, mineral surveyor. Dr Buckland states, in his
"Anniversary Address to the Geological Society of
London," 1840 : — " At Balgray, three miles north of
Glasgow, I saw in the year 1824, as there still may
be seen (1840) an unequivocal example of the stumps
of several stems of large trees standing close together
in their native place in a quarry of sandstone of the
coal formation." These trees have now all been
removed, but their position was, we believe, nearly on
the same geological horizon as the trees found in the
sandstone of the Gilmorehill quarry. It is therefore
interesting to find them scattered over a considerable
tract of country.

104

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

What we shall now endeavour to notice further
regarding the new discovery at Victoria Park will
be some of the more local conditions that the section
presents and the proofs it affords of the great
antiquity of the strata. There is nothing abnormal,
however, in this section as to the conditions under
which the trees originally existed. They evidently
formed a portion of one of those widely-extended
coal forests which, over this district, flourished on
this horizon in Lower Carboniferous times. In the
strata underlying and overlying the beds containing
the fossil trees, we have clear evidence that this
region was then one of the gradual and slow depres-
sions which probably extended over the whole area
of our coal-fields, and also over much of the country
beyond. There is also further evidence that this
general depression continued until more than 3000
feet of strata were deposited above the particular
horizon in which these trees now lie. The evidence
for this assertion, as to the great accumulation of
strata and the downward movement of the beds, is
revealed by the nature of the strata themselves.

It is now generally admitted by geologists that all
our beds of free or cherry coal, whether thick or
thin, were derived from growths of vegetation which
flourished on the tracts of land where these coal-beds
now exist. On the other hand, the strata of sand-
stone, limestone, and shale which alternate with these
coal-beds, as clearly attest, in their contained fossils,
what were the conditions, lacustrine or marine, under
which their sediments were deposited. The coal-beds

105

Digitized by CjOO^IC

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

mark the periods of former land surfaces, during
which the underlying crust remained stationary, whilst
the sedimentary strata mark the periods of depression
when the land went down under water, either of lakes
or of the sea.

It may be interesting here to note the often-repeated
occurrence of old land surfaces which exist, in the
form of coal-beds, in the Possil group of strata lying
between the horizon of the Lower and Upper Marine
of Limestones near Glasgow. In the Gilmorehill
quarry already referred to, seven seams of coal were
exposed in a thickness of 70 feet of strata. Mr.
James Duncan of Twechar has sent us journals of
bores put down through the same group of strata
further to the east, in the Kelvin Valley, near Kilsyth,
which show at least forty seams of coal, occupying
horizons in the strata which lie under the upper or
Arden limestone of the district; and over that, in
descending series, of the Garibaldi ironstone, which
is also worked in the Jordanhill and Knightswood
pits, in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Park, the
distance, or thickness of strata between the limestone
and ironstone, being 207 fathoms, or 1242 feet.

The seams of coal are generally thin, but several
have been found of workable thickness within the
district, such as the Shirva coal, which runs from
5 to 6 feet thick in the neighbourhood of Kirkin-
tilloch and Kilsyth, and which is there worked along
with other of the thinner seams. The whole of these
beds of coal indicate periods of repose, of longer or
shorter duration, in which the land remained station-

106

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

ary, but they likewise mark as many periods of
subsidence, when the land went down. When both
are looked at and considered together, they represent
a very lengthened period of time, as the Fossil group,
which, it must be remembered, only forms the lower
division of the 3000 feet of coal measures formerly
mentioned, once lay, we have every reason to believe,
over the horizon of the trees now exposed in the
quarry at Victoria Park. There is, however, a fur-
ther period of time represented by the above section
— ^the period required for the denudation of the whole
of the coal measures which once lay over these beds
-in this district. Which of these periods was the
longest, that represented by the slow growths of
numerous coal seams and 3000 feet or thereby of
various intercalated sedimentary strata, or that during
which the whole of this amount of strata has been
removed by denudation, after the elevation of the
region above the present sea-level? We are afraid
that none of these points will ever be satisfactorily
determined, as the periods of deposition and that
of denudation seem each so great as to lie almost
beyond the grasp of the human mind.

Of the ten trees which have now been exposed at
Victoria Park only the lower portion of the stems and
the roots nearest to them have been preserved. One
of the stems is, as already mentioned, much larger
than any of the other nine, and stands apart in the
western end of the excavation. It is of an oval form,
and measures across the stem, which has decayed to
near the level of the roots, about 4 feet by 3 feet in

107

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

diameter. The other trees, which have their stems
preserved to heights of from a to 3 feet above the
roots, have diameters varying from 20 inches to
nearly 3 feet, about the same size as the Gilmorehill
trees. They are seen to have been buried near their
roots in a dark carbonaceous shale, containing numer-
ous fragments and impressions of plant remains. A
more arenaceous shale of lighter colour surrounds the
upper portion of the stems. It may be here noted
that the heights to which the stems have been pre-
served were in all probability determined by the depth
of sediment which had accumulated around their
bases ere the trees themselves had decayed down-
wards to their present level. Above this level the
strata in the quarry were found to be quite continuous
over the upper ends of the stems.

The erect stems of some twelve or fourteen fossil
trees belonging to the Lower Carboniferous Period,
which were discovered by Mr. E. A. Wunsch, F.G.S.,
in a coast section in the Island of Arran, where they
had grown on two or three distinct horizons, had the
lower portion of their stems entombed in beds of
volcanic ash, which determined the heights to which
they were afterwards preserved. In a paper by Mr.
Wunsch, with a diagrammatic sketch showing the
trees in position (Transactions, vol. ii., p. 98), he says,
" The height of the trunks is limited by the thickness
— about 3 feet — of the enveloping bed of ash, in
which they seem to have been buried suddenly. At
the same time numerous branches must have been
broken off, and covered up by the ash around the
108

Digitized by

Google

VICTORIA PARK

steins of the trees." We are inclined to believe that
the preservation of erect stems of trees in any strata in
which they may be found is always due to the material
having been accumulated around their bases ere the
trees themselves had decayed down to the levels at
which their stems are now found standing. These
stems, it must be remembered, generally existed as
hollow moulds, which only represented the external
form and the surface markings on the trees, but not
the wood itself j this having decayed in most instances
ere their interiors became filled with the sandstone or
shale, as the case may be, which now forms what are
known as " casts " of the stems.

109

Digitized by

Google

SHIPBUILDING

Whether it be true or not that Glasgow
has flourished by the preaching of the
Word, it is certainly an ascertained fact
that it has largely increased and flourished
by the deepening of the Clyde. It might
have had extensive factories and vast
mineral fields in its immediate vicinity,
but even with these it would never have
risen to be the second city of the
Empire without free access to the ocean.
Thanks, however, to the energy and
enterprise of the citizens of old Glasgow
and the Clyde Trust, their labours
in providing for shipping enterprise
have been amply rewarded. Though
history cannot tell us when the Clyde
was first navigated, it was certainly sailed

upon, and probably fished, long before
no

Digitized by

Google

SHIPBUILDING

the Roman invasion, and undoubtedly
the ancient Caledonian paddled his canoe
on convenient reaches of the river.

During dredging operations in 185 1 an
oak-trunk canoe was found on the north
bank of the Clyde, near the mouth of
the Kelvin, measuring 12 feet, with a
breadth of 2 feet, and a depth of i foot
10 inches. Early in the following year
another was unearthed at Clydehaugh
from its bed of finely - laminated sand,
12 feet below the surface, and about
25 feet from the lip of the ancient channel
of the stream. It also is formed out of
an oak trunk, and measures 12 feet by
2 feet 5 by 2 feet 6 inches." About mid-
way between the bow and stern there is
a small rest for the end of a transverse
seat. This rest has just been left as a
projection by the savage when scooping
out the boat, and forms an integral part
of the gunwale. The breadth of the
seat has been 4^ inches. This canoe
III

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

differs from the others in the formation
of the stern, which, in these, was shut
in by a movable board, placed in ver-
tical grooves down the sides of the
vessel, and fixed in a horizontal one
across the bottom, to enable the canoe-
men to draw it out when ashore, and
run off the water shipped instead of
canting her. But in this Clydehaugh
specimen both ends of the tree have
been left uncut — that is to say, the
artificer has economised the tree, and
dispensed with the movable board by
fashioning a permanent stern out of the
root. The bow is not unlike that of
the ordinary fisherman's coble, and has
a snout-like appearance without any cut-
water, as in some of the other specimens.
In the same year, and within 50 yards
of the same place, a second canoe was
discovered, considerably smaller, though
not so well preserved. Its length is 14
feet 10 inches, breadth 2 feet, and depth
112

Digitized by

Google

SHIPBUILDING

14 inches. The oak from which it has
been fashioned has been about 4^ feet
in circumference, and in general appear-
ance it resembles the one previously
unearthed, except that the stern is open,
with the usual groove for a vertical board.
One remarkable circumstance connected
with this canoe is that there was found
lying under the stern a thin piece of lead
8 inches long by 5 inches broad, and
perforated with holes for pegs or nails.
These holes are square. It would seem
as if this plate had been fixed on the
bottom of the boat, but for what purpose
we know not. Not long afterwards three
more canoes were dug out from Clyde-
haugh, ja few yards from where those
above mentioned were found. They
were lying in the same extensive bed
of laminated sand, at a depth of about

15 vertical feet. One was much decayed
and damaged, but the remaining two are
in excellent preservation. When first

H 113

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

seen both were lying flat in the sand,
as if they had sunk in smooth water,
and been gradually silted up. The prow
of the largest — probably a war canoe of
the tribe — was pointing to the north-west,
in the general direction of the river; the
smaller one, which is not unlike a punt
to it, was a few feet astern, and lay as
if she had been drifting down the stream
broadside on when she sank. The largest
of these antique boats has something of
grandeur in her proportions ; she is not
at all crank, but broad and substantial,
and is 14 feet long, 4 feet i inch broad,
and I foot 11 inches deep. There is
evidence in the construction of this canoe
that the natives had got beyond the
paddling stage, for we find two horse-
shoe knobs, with the concave facing the
bow, at a convenient distance from the
seat, as if for the rowers to rest their
feet in. The craft is also supplied, at
the bow end, with an oaken plug about
114

Digitized by

Google

SHIPBUILDING

a foot long and as thick as a man's wrist
The plug was in place when the canoe
was unearthed, but to guard against its
loss the fashioners seem to have tethered
it to the canoe by a thong passed through
an eye at the top. This hole in the
bottom would no doubt serve the double
purpose of running off the water shipped
when afloat, and of sinking her when
the knowledge of her whereabouts was
more desirable to her owners than their
enemies.

The smaller canoe is lo feet long,
3 feet 2 inches broad, and i foot deep.
It also is formed of a single oak ; sharp
at both ends, and well scooped out.
This little canoe seems to have met
with an accident, for on one of the sides
there is a piece of wood about a foot
square very neatly fitted over a hole
secured by four wooden pegs, and the
whole made water-tight by the help of
puddled clay packing. The stern is sharp

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

and closed, and, like the larger one, the
sides of the little vessel are perforated
by a series of holes.

At the mouth of the Kelvin, and near
the spot where the canoes were found, a
shipbuilding firm was founded by Messrs.
Tod & McGregor in the year 1835, and
in 1838 they built the Royal Sovereign
and the Royal George^ both iron steamers.
David Tod, the senior partner of the
firm, was born in Scone, Perthshire, in
1796, and died at Partick in 1859. The
firm was amalgamated with that of Messrs.
D. & W. Henderson & Co. in 1873. On
the opposite bank of the Kelvin stood
the Pointhouse inn, ferry, and lands, now
the site of Messrs. A. & J. Inglis' ship-
building yard, founded in 1847. Long
ago the lease of the Pointhouse inn carried
with it the right to the ferry, but in those
days "land values" were not of much
account, for in 1782 the house, land, ferry,

boats and all were offered for sale at the
116

Digitized by

Google

SHIPBUILDING

upset price of ;^4CX)! Subsequently the
land was parcelled out in lots, and fetched
no less than ;^ 14,000 — the ferry becom-
ing the property of the Clyde Trustees.
Besides the shipbuilding firms already
named, those of John Reid & Co., Ritchie,
Graham & Milne, and Barclay, Curie &
Co. have not been behind in extending
the fame of the Clyde.

Digitized by

Google

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS
EFFORT

Touching the religious life of Partick
and the influence of the Established
Church of Scotland in the twenties of
last century, one would have expected
the State Church to lead the way in so
elementary a matter as the possession of
a building of some sort, and a duly
ordained minister for the observance of
its ordinances. Instead of this, however,
the members and adherents of the Church
of Scotland were content to travel, as we
have already said, to Govan, to Anderston,
and even all the way to Glasgow, Sabbath
after Sabbath until the year 1834, when an
extension church was opened in Partick,
though the congregation had to wait for
two years before it was erected into a
quoad sacra charge.

118

Digitized by

Google

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EFFORT

The present pastor, the Rev. John
Smith, B.D., ordained in 1881, ministers
to a congregation of 1 500, takes a notable
interest in educational matters, and has
been for many years chairman of Govan
School Board. Another quoad sacra
charge was erected in 1861, and is
ministered to by the Rev. W. Ross,
B.D. The membership is. 1200.

The congregation of Hyndland Church
did not always worship in the handsome
structure they now occupy, for we are
told that the late Dr. Service first
preached to his people from the pulpit
of an iron building. Dr. Service was
succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev.
Henry Grey Graham. Whiteinch Parish
Church dates from 1873, and its minister,
the Rev. David Ness, M.A., was ordained
in 1894.

In 1900 the membership of the
Established Church had reached such

proportions that the authorities of Govan
119

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Parish Church, in self-defence almost,
actually built and staffed a little church in
Rosevale Street, without hope of reward
of any kind beyond the saving of souls.

As in duty bound, we have given the
place of honour in these humble records to
the Church of the country, though it was
by no means the first to carry the consola-
tions of religion to the people of Particle.
That distinction belongs to the Secession
Church and the Rev. John Skinner, who
was ordained to the charge in 1827, where
he continued a long and successful ministry
till the year 1840. His successor, the
Rev. T. M. Lawrie, of Byars Road
Church, spent half-a-century among his
flock, attaining his jubilee on 31st March,
1890, when he was presented with a hand-
some gift of silver plate and a cheque for
1 300 guineas as a tribute of affection from
his people. He died in 1895, and was suc-
ceeded by the Rev. Wm. Dickie, M.A.

Dowanhill Church, built in 1886 at a
120

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

c
Pi

Ph*

Digitized by

Google

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EFFORT

cost of ;^ 1 2,000, has long been known for
its missionary enterprise, and can point to
Victoria Park United Free Church as one
of its most successful offshoots. Another
branch of Dowanhill is to be found in
Kelvin Street, where mission services have
been carried on for some years. The
membership of Dowanhill Church numbers
1000 at the present time.

When Mr. Lawrie left the old church at
Byars Road for Dowanhill, a number of
the older members remained to encourage
his successor the Rev. Mr. Gibson, and
a few friends secured the old build-
ing with the view of converting it into
a regular charge. The effort was success-
ful, for in a few years Mr. Gibson had
gathered around him a large and increasing
congregation, which was later ministered
to by the Rev. Robert Primrose and the
Rev. Mr. Macfee.

During Mr. Macfee's ministry an appeal

was made for funds for the erection of a
121

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

new church, and so readily did the people
respond that in February, 1899, the
church, which had cost in site and building
about ;^8ooo, was opened for public
worship. The following year Mr. Macfee,
in consequence of ill-health, resigned the
charge and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr.
Mackay, the present minister.

In the year 1827, when the first
Secession Church of Partick was being
built, the residenters of the village who
belonged to the Relief church likewise
resolved to have a building for themselves.
The churches proceeded apace, and were
finished about the same time. The Rev.
Mr. Ewing was the first minister of this
church. He died in 1837, and was
succeeded by the Rev. R. Wilson, John
M'Coll, and M'Ewan Morgan.

The original building was taken down

in 1865, and the present church built in

its place. The present pastor is the

Rev. J. T. Burton. This church, known

122

Digitized by

Google

^:=

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EFFORT

as the Newton Place United Free, has.
distinguished itself for many years in
mission work amongst the poor of Partick.
At the time of the Disruption those
who had separated from the State Church
formed themselves into a little congrega-
tion, and held their services in the
Masons' Hall, Dumbarton Road. There
they worshipped till 1844, when the new
church was opened. The building was
in the Canonmills style, with clerestory
windows. The vestry and session house
were on the right and left respectively of
the pulpit, and there being no hall the
classes were taught in the church. In
September of the opening year (1844) ^^^
Rev. Henry Anderson, chosen from among
the probationers, was ordained to the
pastorate and continued successful labours '
for half-a-century and more. On the
occasion of his jubilee, his congregation
presented him with an illuminated address,
a silver salver, and a cheque for ;^4i4.
123

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

He was succeeded in the charge by
the Rev. David Young, ordained 4th
February, 1898.

In i860 the church was again rebuilt,
the congregation in the meantime finding
accommodation in the schools, of which
there were two — one built in 1846, the
other in 1850. On the advice of H.M.
Inspector these schools were transferred to
the Govan Parish School Board in 1874.

Partick Free High Church was opened
in the year 1869, and the Rev. Dr.
Bremner, the pastor, is a member of the
Govan School Board, and one of the
clerks to the United Free Presbytery of
Glasgow.

Whiteinch charge, under the Rev. Mr.
Coutts, and Broomhill, under the Rev.
James Henderson, M.A., were in 19CX)
opened under the late Free Church
Extension Scheme.

For some years the Congregational
Church has had a small following in
124

Digitized by

Google

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EFFORT

the burgh, but in view of the rapid
extension of the town and a probable
increase in the membership, the first
portion of a prospective church was
erected in 1900 in Balshagray Avenue,
where public worship is held under the
Rev. James Bell.

Dowanhill United Free Church, the
pastor of which is the Rev. Mr. Wallace,
was a territorial charge erected by
Kelvinside Free Church in 1878.

In 1868 the authorities of Claremont
Street (Finnieston) Wesleyan Methodist
Church rented St. Mary's Hall, Dumbarton
Road, where they remained for four years.
They then removed to the Good Templars*
Rooms in Douglas Street. In 1876 they
accepted an offer to have built for them,
on a five-and-a-half years' lease, the brick
church in Crawford Street, now in the
possession of Govan Parish Church. On
the expiry of the lease they were enabled,
by the help of the late Thomas M'MiUan,
"5

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

to build a church on their own account
in Dumbarton Road, where, besides the
church, they have also a well-equipped
school.

In 1845 the Roman Catholics acquired
a property in Bridge Street, where they at
present worship, pending the completion of
the new church at Partickhill, where a
large area of ground has been secured.
The new buildings, when completed, will
form an entire block, bounded by Hyndland
Street, Wood Street, Dowanhill Street,
and Clarendon Street. The site of the
church is at the north-west corner, that
is, at the corner of Hyndland Street and
Wood Street, or, as it is presently called,
Dowanvale Terrace. The principal door-
way will be in Hyndland Street, and the
presbytery or manse will be situated at
the corner of Hyndland and Clarendon
Streets, while the whole of the frontage
to Dowanhill Street will be occupied with

the schools. There will, of course, still
126

Digitized by

Google

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EFFORT

remain a considerable portion of unoccu-
pied ground in the centre available for
use from time to time. The designs for
the church are by Messrs. Pugin & Pugin
of London, the first ecclesiastical architects
in the kingdom. The style is Gothic, and
includes the usual nave and aisles, with
choir stall above the chancel. Accommo-
dation is provided for lOCK) worshippers.
The presbytery adjoins the church; and
the schools close by, without any pre-
tentions to architectural beauty, will be
thoroughly modern in every detail and
provide space for 1200 scholars. There
is also a mission at Partickhill, where
services are held on Sundays and week-
days by the clergy of St Peter's, Bridge
Street.

The Partick and Hillhead Sabbath
School Union, founded in 1872, reports
that, for the moral and religious welfare
of the young, the several churches of all

denominations in the burgh had each
127

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

made every effort to cope with the work
laid to their charge. At fifteen Sabbath
Schools held in the burgh, a staff of 440
teachers had the oversight of 4700 scholars.
The Salvation Army, Gospel Brass Band,
and Temperance Association are active
agencies for good in their own way in
the burgh; while the Young Men's
Christian Association, founded in 1881,
seeks the ** religious, moral, intellectual,
social, and physical improvement of the
young men of Partick and Whiteinch."

128

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

The first School Board for Govan Parish,
which includes the district of Partick, was
elected loth April, 1873, ^^^ ^it the first
meeting of the Board Mr. Alexander
Stephen was appointed chairman and Mr.
John A. Craigie clerk. The old school
in Kelvin Street was then taken over by
the Board and put under inspection. In
February, 1874, the Partick Free Church
School was next taken over and enlarged,
and in the following year Rosevale Street
School was completed by the Board. In
1877 Whiteinch School was opened, and
in the same year the old Partick Academy
changed hands and became Church Street
School, giving accommodation for 2949
children.

In 1873 the following resolution was
I 129

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

adopted by the Board : — '* That in ordi-
nary circumstances religious instruction,
in accordance with the use and wont of
the late parochial schools, shall, subject
to the Education Act of 1872, be given
in all the schools under the supervision of
the Board, and the Bible and Shorter
Catechism be made use of for the purpose
of such instruction." In addition to the
ordinary branches of education taught,
music, drawing, drill, needlework, cooking,
and evening classes for lads and girls
above twelve years of age were added.

The teachers at the various schools
were — Mr. John Blane, Whiteinch; Mr.
John Hastie, Rosevale Street; Mr. Wm.
Bissett, Anderson Street; and Mr. E. E.
M'Donald, Church Street.

In 1 88 1 Mr. Alex. Stephen, with the
view of encouraging the study of the
higher subjects of education in public
schools under the School Board of Govan,
and to help certain scholars on leaving
130

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

the school to complete their education at
the University, offered to the Board the
sum of ;^iocK), the interest of which would
be known as the ** Alexander Stephen
Bursary." Needless to say, the Board
readily accepted Mr. Stephen's gift, and at
the first examination of pupils, held in
1 88 1 by Dr. Morrison, the name of
Robert Kilgour stood highest for Govan,
and Charles S. Maclean for Partick.

Following the rapid growth of the
burgh, the School Board in 1882 were
again faced with the problem of supplying
fresh accommodation, and after futile
negotiations with the directors of the
Partick Academy in Annfield Terrace, a
suitable site was found in Hamilton
Crescent. Here a school was built at
a cost of ;^i8,ocxD, capable of classing
1000 children. On 27th May, 1887, the
establishment was opened with great
ceremony by Mr, Craig Sellar, M.P.

At the instance of H.M. Inspector the
131

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

buildings in Anderson Street were vacated
and the school removed to Stewartville
Street, where a site had been acquired
by the Board at a cost of £3347, the
school and its equipments costing ;^ 16, 620
for the accommodation of 1500 scholars.
The buildings were completed in 1893,
Mr. J. Parker Smith, M.P., presiding at
the opening ceremony.

In 1892 additions were made to White-
inch School, in order to bring it more
into line with the needs of the time.

The Rev. Dr. Bremner, of Particle Free
High Church, was chairman of the Board
from 1 89 1 till 1897, when he was suc-
ceeded by the Rev. John Smith, B.D.,
of the Parish church.

The next great step in the march of
education was the opening of Dowanhill
School, by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, on
2nd April, 1896. As it has been the
most costly, it is undoubtedly the most
important establishment under the Board.
132

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

The site was acquired from the Dowanhill
Estate Company, and extends to 8481
square yards, of which 3944 yards are
in the four streets surrounding the build-
ing, the cost being los. per square yard.
Outstanding features of this school are
the large and open playgrounds, with
ample covered play-sheds under the front
of the main building, and the large open
hall on the ground-floor, from which
class-rooms open out on either side. It
is a three-storey building, and is heated
and ventilated by the latest mechanical
appliances. The accommodation is for
1579 children, and at present there is an
attendance of 1000. The cost, including
janitor s house, but exclusive of site,
sewers, etc., was ;^I9,624 is. 9d.

In the course of his remarks at the
opening ceremony. Lord Balfour said —
"That was the first occasion on which
he had attended such a function as the
representative of the Educational Depart-
133

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

ment for Scotland, and it was an occasion
he would long remember. He did not
think that there was any other district
in Scotland which could with greater
propriety claim the first visit from the
Minister of Education, because they were
equalled by few, and certainly excelled
by none, in the magnitude and complexity
of the problems which they presented for
solution. The circumstances of the district
were in many respects special and remark-
able. There had been a rapid growth
of population, scarcely, perhaps, equalled
anywhere else. He supposed that early
in the century Govan was a peaceful
village, remote from active industry ; it
was now a busy adjunct to the most
populous centre of Scotland, and although
close to the life of that city, it possessed
some special activities and special interests
of its own. He did not venture to say
anything upon questions of boundaries
which might arise hereafter, but, however
134

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

these might stand, there was no question
that in what they had now to administer
they had great and special interests under
their charge. There was one peculiarity
in Govan : that it was probably the largest
parochial organisation in Great Britain.
It combined the characteristics of an urban
population with many of the arrangements
of a parish; but a parish with lyy^ooo
inhabitants was something out of the
common. They were not of the city, and
yet they were not of the country, but they
stood alone. In their educational work
he thought they might claim to have met
successfully the difficulties presented by
the increase of population. They did not
exhaust their efforts upon particular
schools, but they were alive to the
necessity of providing for the poorest
localities as liberally as for the more
favoured."

Thornwood School, opened on 2nd
November, 1900, by Sir Henry Craik,
135

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

occupies a site of 7056 square yards,
purchased from the late Mr. Peter
Hutchison at los. per square yard. The
school buildings, estimated to cost
;^ 1 8,940, occupy practically the centre
of a square, and, like Dowanhill School,
are bounded by four streets, giving a free
and open space to the school in addition
to the large playgrounds. The front
playground is set off with rows of trees,
encircled with neat iron railings. The
main building, three storeys in height,
with accommodation for 1348 scholars,
is built of Locharbriggs red stone,
and is simple and uniform in its style
of architecture. The basement floor of
the school contains laundry, manual
instruction workshop, heating ducts,
chambers, etc. The janitor's house is
on the ground floor level, and on this
level the school proper commences, with
separate entrances for boys, girls, and
infants, where, occupying the middle
136

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

portion of the buildings, there is a large
central hall. This hall is open through
the entire height of the building, and is
spanned on the upper floor by a neat
bound roof, filled in with glass for lighting.
There are also on each floor open
balconies, supported by ornamental canti-
levers, round the four sides of the hall.
These balconies give access from the
various floors to the class-rooms of the
several departments. At either end of
the hall are spacious open staircases ; and
on the half-landings, the cloak-rooms and
teachers' rooms are placed alternately.
Electric bells and speaking tubes from
the central hall and headmaster's room
communicate with the various floors, these
special features forming a useful adjunct to
the satisfactory working of the school.
The various class-rooms have been
supplied with furniture and appliances of
the best type. The heating and ventilat-
ing arrangements are on the propulsion
137

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

system. The temperature is raised by-
propelling fresh air, filtered through a
specially prepared hair screen over steam-
heated coils placed in the shafts leading
to the several classrooms. This arrange-
ment allows of each room being inde-
pendently heated. A large air propeller
is driven by a gas engine, which also
drives grindstone, etc., for the manual
instruction workshop. In the laundry,
fitted for sixteen girls, the boiling and
drying are done by steam.

There are at present (1901) twenty-
five schools under the Govan School
Board, seven of which are in Partick,
giving accommodation for over 8000
scholars, all of which are in full occupation,
with the exception of Anderson Street in
Partick, in which a class-room or two
are used occasionally only for manual
instruction of pupils in the neighbouring
schools.

In March, 1895, the question of the
138

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

supply of free books to children attending
public State-aided schools having received
much attention in the district, and been
debated in and out of the Board, a
memorial was submitted to Sir George O.
Trevelyan, then Secretary for Scotland,
praying for an increase of 15 per cent,
to the imperial grant in relief of fees,
and that the supply of school books free
of charge to the pupils be made a con-
dition of sharing in the grant. The
prayer of the petition was not granted,
but in terms of a resolution subsequently
adopted by the Board, it was agreed to
supply free books to children whose
parents declared themselves unable to
purchase the books for them.

Great strides have been made in advance
in respect of higher-grade education in
Partick, secondary departments having
been established in Hamilton Crescent,
composed partly of free and partly of
fee-paying scholars.

139

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

Without doubt, the most important
educational event of the period just closing
is to be found in the appearance of the
Code of 1899, with the radical and, on
the whole, salutary changes it effected in
the mechanism of our educational system.
Circulars issued by the Department during
the preceding year had prepared managers
and teachers for some of the more import-
ant new provisions of the Code, notably
those relating to the merit and labour
certificates, the mode of inspection, and
the institution of the higher-grade depart-
ments. Without discussing the Code in
detail, it may be said generally that the
changes introduced by it have been
accepted by all competent judges as pro-
ceeding on sound educational principles,
and have therefore been most cordially
welcomed It may be interesting to
enumerate some of them : standards are
abolished and scholars are promoted from
class to class according to their individual
140

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

attainments. Perfect freedom, within cer-
tain necessary limits, is given to teachers
in the organisation of the schools and
the classification of the scholars, provided
always that the standard of the merit
certificate is kept steadily in view as the
end to be reached by every scholar, and
that all the work of the school is so
arranged as to lead naturally, and by
carefully graduated stages, up to that
point. Formal examination by H.M.I,
is abandoned ; the inspector may visit a
school at any time, and may then examine
any class in the work it professes, in
order to test its efficiency. Payment by
results finally disappears, and inclusive
slump-sum grants are substituted for the
multiplicity of separate payments which
formerly obtained. Advanced departments
are recognised for scholars who have
obtained the merit certificate, and in these
grants of 50s. per head may be earned.
Higher - grade departments, in which
141

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

science, commercial, classical, and other
special courses of higher instruction may
be followed, are provided for. The labour
certificate examination is substituted for
a pass in Standard V. as the qualification
for leaving school to enter upon employ-
ment. The teaching of drawing is made
compulsory in the case of girls as well
as of boys. No certificated teacher must
have more than sixty scholars habitually
under his charge. In addition to these
there are many minor changes.

The Board carefully considered the
Code, and while they welcomed it as
designed to improve the conditions under
which the work of the schools was con-
ducted, and fitted to promote educational
efficiency, they deemed it their duty to
suggest to the Department modifications
in certain details. They observed that,
while the undoubted effect of the Code
would be to increase the cost of carrying

on the work of the schools, the grants
142

Digitized by

Google

EDUCATIONAL

offered would not equal those which their
schools had been earning under former
Codes, and they strongly urged the
Department to increase the rates of pay-
ment They also deprecated an immedi-
ate and rigid application of the rule
forbidding a certificated teacher to have
more than sixty scholars under his or
her charge, but the Department declined
to make any concession on either point

The Board do not look for great and
immediate educational progress to follow
the introduction of the New Code, but
they expect that ultimately it will help
to produce improved results. After all,
the teacher must remain the most potent
factor in the success of any system that
may be devised, and the new Code is
to be unreservedly commended in so far
as it unfetters the teacher and increases
his personal responsibility.

143

Digitized by

Google

NEW PARTICK

The grounds of Gilmorehill, on which the
University of Glasgow now stands, were
originally known as the lands of Particle,
and the boundary line of Glasgow and
Partick passes between the University
and the Western Infirmary. On the
summit of the hill stood old Gilmorehill
House, occupied by Mr. Matthew Boyle,
and here the present building was erected
in 1870-71. The University of Glasgow
was founded in the year 145O, through
the influence of William TurnbuU, who
was Bishop of Glasgow at that time,
and who obtained a bull from Pope
Nicholas V. conferring money privileges
on it. In 1460 the University received
as a bequest from James First, Lord of
Hamilton, a site in the High Street of
144

Digitized by

Google

NEW PARTICK

Glasgow, together with four acres of
adjacent land. The fortunes of the Uni-
versity seem to have ebbed and flowed
for many years, till 1 560, when they were
reduced to the lowest straits, partly
through the poverty of the University
and partly through the disturbed condi-
tion of the country.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies fortune once more shone, and
numerous donations from the Crown and
private individuals, of land, money, and
books put the College authorities in pos-
session of means to extend their buildings
and teaching staff. For over four hun-
dred years the Old College of Glasgow
continued in the buildings which stood in
the High Street, till compelled through
the life and commerce of the city drifting
westwards to remove to Gilmorehill. In
1864 the old grounds and buildings
were disposed of to the City of Glasgow
Union Railway Company for the sum of
K I4S

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

;^icx),ooo; to this was added a grant
of ;^ I GO, GOO from the City of Glasgow,
and a grant of ;^ 120,000 from the Govern-
ment, enabling the University authorities
to purchase the grounds of Gilmorehill
and erect the present substantial pile of
buildings, from designs by Sir G. Gilbert
Scott. In 1870 the buildings were opened
by the Prince of Wales (now Edward
VIL).

The style of the architecture is mainly
early English, and the ground plan is that
of a rectangle, 600 ft long and 300 ft. broad
The buildings had a handsome addition
made to them in 1884, when the Bute
Hall was erected, the gift of the late
Marquis of Bute. In the same year
there was added the Randolph Hall,
the gift of Mr. Charles Randolph,
shipbuilder. During the past few years
the old gateway which stood at the
entrance to the Old College, High Street,
was taken down and rebuilt by the late
146

: \

Digitized by

Google i: f

NEW PARTICK

Sir Wm. Pearce of Govan, as an entrance
to the University, in University Avenue.
The spire has also been completed, and
a Students' Union erected.

Many famous men have adorned the
professors' and principals' chairs during the
past four hundred years. Adam Smith, for
example, the author of "The Wealth of
Nations"; Andrew Melville, the Reformer;
Robert Baillie, the theologian ; John
Caird, the divine ; Lord Kelvin, scientist.
Attached to the University is the Hun-
terian Museum, containing an interesting
collection of antiquities.

Within the bounds of the burgh of
Particle, and next to the University, stands
the Western Infirmary. As the city of
Glasgow increased in population it was
found that the accommodation of the Old
Royal Infirmary had become totally inade-
quate to the demands made upon it, and it
was deemed necessary to erect another.
For this purpose the University contri-
147

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

buted the sum of ;^30,ooo to purchase
the ground and erect the buildings.

The foundation stone was laid on the
loth August, 187 1, and by 1873-74 the
undertaking had so far progressed that
a dispensary for outdoor and infancy wards
for indoor patients were opened. Since
that date, and through liberal donations,
the buildings have from time to time been
enlarged and improved. The grounds
cover an area of 10 acres, and the total
cost of the site and buildings now amounts
to over ;^ 1 3 5,000.

Immediately to the west of the entrance

to the Western Infirmary is Anderson's

College and Medical School. This is a

western extension of what has been known .

as the Old Anderson College of Glasgow.

John Anderson, son of the Rev. James

Anderson, of Roseneath Parish Church,

was born in 1726, and educated at the

University of Glasgow. At twenty-nine

years of age he was appointed Professor of
148

Digitized by

Google

NEW PARTICK

Oriental Languages, and two years later
Professor of Natural Philosophy, opposite
which title his name appears in Jones*
first Glasgow Directory, published in 1 787.
At his death he bequeathed his estate
to found a school to be called by his name.
In 1829 buildings were acquired in George
Street, Glasgow, and the school, which
at least one of its pupils helped to enlarge,
soon became famous, for it was here
that Dr. David Livingstone, explorer and
missionary, obtained his medical training.
A few years ago the extension in Particle
was agreed upon, and the present build-
ings were erected at a cost of about
;^5ooo. They are convenient for students
and professors who attend the University,
and there is a full equipment of laboratory,
museum, library, reading-room, and class-
rooms.

Westward the course of Glasgow seems
to make its way, and though it has not
formally annexed Particle, it certainly has
149

Digitized by

G^ooqI(^

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

enlarged it, as each year sees an increase
of city people in search of houses.
Twenty-five years ago Partickhill had no
buildings on it from Hyndland Street to
Hamilton Crescent, save Muirpark House
and Stewartville House, and to the top
of the hill nothing could be seen but
luxuriant pasture land, with the summit
crowned with beautiful trees. Hyndland
Road, at one time a favourite walk on a
summer evening to see the sun setting
over Goatfell and enjoy the breeze from
the Kilpatrick Hills, is now a densely
populated district. A few years ago
the west end of Partick terminated at
Meadowbank Crescent, where the Cale-
donian Railway crosses the Dumbarton
Road ; to-day, the extension of houses is
projected a mile or more westwards, and is
now beyond the Whiteinch Burn, the
western boundary of the burgh. Broom-
hill, with its drive, terrace, and avenue,
and select appearance, is being gradually
ISO

Digitized by

Google

NEW PARTICK

hemmed in with tenements and buildings of
all kinds. Thorn wood Hill, too, where for
many years the residence of Mr. Perston
stood, and which was only recently taken
down, is becoming the prey of the builder.
From the top of this hill, and looking
towards the north, we can see the entire
range of the Kilsyth Hills from east to
west, Campsie Glen, and Campsie Fells to
Dungoin. Ben Venue and the adjacent
Loch Katrine *'bens" stand out boldly in
the open space as the eye travels westward
towards the Kilpatrick Hills, with Bears-
den and Castlehill lying in the hollow
between. To the west we have the entire
stretch of the valley of the Clyde — from
Partick and Whiteinch through the estate
of Jordanhill and Scotstounhill, to Dal-
muir, Bowling, and Dumbarton. South-
wards, the eye can discern Renfrew,
Elderslie, Paisley, Goatfell, and Gleniffer
Braes, with Barrhead, Neilston, and its
Pad standing clear against the horizon ;
151

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

i '

and to the east, Eaglesham and Cathkin

Hills, with the whole stretch of suburban

Glasgow lying between, from Ruthergleri

to Craigton Cemetery, and from PoUok- l\

shields to PoUok estate. Without hesita- j-

tion, it can be said there is not a more ; *

healthy place around Glasgow than the

top of Thornwood, and there is no place : '

where a finer range of scenery around our j ;

city can be had. \ ,

The Crow Road, with its green fields v

on either side ; Balshagray Avenue and ;

its mansion house built in 1641, and [

the old beech trees, are year after year
passing away and giving place to churches,
villas, and tenements. Indeed, when the
area of ground immediately to the west of i

the North British and Caledonian Railways \

is built over, the burgh of Partick will
be one large city and the largest burgh in
the world. j

No suburb around Glasgow is so well '|

supplied with the means of communication

152 i

Digitized by

Google

NEW PARTICK

with the city as Partick. The North
British Railway runs 140 trains to the
city daily ; the Caledonian, 70 ; the Sub-
way 270 cars; and the Tramway, 240; in
all 650 conveyances to Glasgow every day,
and for eighteen hours a day, making
an average of about one conveyance every
two minutes, at a cost of i^. Fifty years
ago an omnibus was run to Glasgow every
three hours, and the fare was fourpence.
Regular communication is also established
with the city by the Clutha steamers,
plying between Stockwell Bridge and
Whiteinch.

>S3

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK MEN

A FEW notes on some of the men who,
in their day, were long held in esteem
by the residenters of Partick may not be
uninteresting, James Napier, a member
of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow,
and for many years prominently identified
with industrial chemistry, was born at the
foot of Kelvin Street, Partick, on 29th
June, 1 8 10, his father being a hand-loom
weaver in humble circumstances. Unable
to give their son more than a scanty
education, Napiers parents apprenticed
the lad at an early age to a calico printer
in the neighbourhood. He very soon,
however, felt the need of more learning,
and was swift to take advantage of the
evening classes in the village school.
There he so earnestly applied himself to
IS4

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK MEN

his studies that in a very short time he
absorbed all there was to learn, saved
money, and at the early age of twenty-
one, with an income of 13s. per week,
heroically entered the bonds of matrimony.
Falling into bad health, however, he gave
up his situation, and, applying himself to
the study of chemistry and metallurgy, he
found employment in several places where
his energies and abilities were appreciated
and amply rewarded. In 1852 he returned
to Partick, then growing into a populous
suburb, and, interesting himself in its
sanitary and other affairs, was one of
the men who led the movement which
resulted in its erection to the dignity
of a burgh. Mr. Napier in his leisure
time wrote and published his ** Notes
and Reminiscences of Partick," "Ancient
Workers in Metals," "Old Ballad Folk-
Lore," and many articles of scientific
and commercial interest in various maga-
zines ; in all, the several books and articles
^5S

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

from his pen number thirty- two. He died
at Bothwell on ist December, 1884.

Two years before the village of Particle
had been formed into a burgh, James
Paterson, born in Paisley in 1827, estab-
lished himself in the village as a medical
practitioner, where his skill and the love
of his profession soon brought him to the
notice of a wider circle than his patients-
Among the first appointments the newly-
elected burgh officials had to consider was
that of a reliable medical officer, but with
Dr. Paterson in their midst they had not
far to seek. The post was assigned to
him, and he did not betray the trust For
fifty years he not only went out and in
as a friend and medical adviser of rich
and poor, but with rare and fine tact he
kept himself in touch with the growth of
the burgh, and its varied wants, to keep
it in the best of sanitary and medical
health. He was not only a scholarly,
but an intensely religious man, and was
156

Digitized by VjOOQ IC j .

.^l

OLD PARTICK MEN

elected an elder of Dowanhill Church in
1866. Dr. Patersons figure was familiarly
known and respected for many years in
Partick, and many who knew him cherish
his memory as that of one, who, through
an honourable life of well-doing, attained
the perfect day which the wise man says
is the end of the just. He died on the
1 6th November, 1900, and was buried in
Sighthill Cemetery.

Two days before the death of Dr.
Paterson there also died another well-
known old Partick man. Sir Andrew
Mac Lean. Sir Andrew was born in
Renfrew in 1828, and as a boy entered
the service of Barclay, Curie & Co., of
Whiteinch. With energy, precision, and
rare tact he soon raised himself in the
esteem of his employers, who admitted
him to a share in the business he so
greatly helped to develop. For many
years he was connected with St. Mary's
Parish Church, Partick, and took a great
IS7

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT f

interest in the formation and prosperity ; ■

of.Whiteinch Parish Church, but was not l\ ]

neglectful of other churches and philan- ! ^ t

thropic associations in the burgh. He ; : j

was buried in Sighthill Cemetery on 17th ; ! :[

November, 1900. j , ;;

Just as the year 1901 was about to I t

close, Partick lost another old ** stalwart" 1 '

in Mr. George Wilson, who had dis- 1 : f

charged the duties of treasurer and / \:

chamberlain for seventeen years. Mr. j ;

Wilson, who in early days was interested j i "

in the shawl trade in Glasgow, took j 1 1

I ^''

i ',

i \\

up his residence in Partick some fifty

years ago, where he interested himself

much in the affairs of the burgh, became

a Commissioner, and ultimately a Bailie. 1 i

Up to the year 1884 the finances of

the burgh were administered by Mr.

Gavin Paisley, of the Union Bank there,

and at his death Mr. Wilson was asked

to take over his duties ; this he did, along

with his own work as agent for the

i \

I J'.

{ !

Digitized by

Google

OLD PARTICK MEN

Commercial Bank in Partick. Mr. Wilson
was not only interested in his own special
work, but was an elder in Newton Place
U.F. Church, and was connected with all
the various social and other clubs and
organisations of the burgh. He died on
28th December, 1901, in his seventy-first
year.

159

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

APPENDIX

i6i

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

itaiimnt ■■ miim-i'>tfiei

j-^f-^i^'

ARTICLES AND REGULATIONS

OF THE

PARTICK COMMUNITY

PREAMBLE

A Considerable number of persons, residing in
and about Partick, observing the good and worthy
consequences which attend friendly association, Did,
in the year One thousand seven hundred and fifty-
eight years, associate themselves into a FRIENDLY
COMMUNITY ; which Community has subsisted to
the present time, under different Articles and R^u-
lations. But as no human institution can possibly
be supposed to have arrived at such a degree of
perfection as not to admit of farther improvement;
and as it must appear obvious, from the changeable
nature of all things in this hfe, that alterations and
amendments will often be found necessary, even in
the wisest of institutions ; accordingly we, the mem-
bers of the Partick Community, considering that
some alterations and amendments are necessary in
our present Articles and Regulations, agree, by
plurality of votes, that from and after the first
163

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT ;

Friday of May, 1804 years, the following shall be
the Articles and Regulations of said Community: —

I. Boundaries of the Community, — As this Com-
munity had its original rise in Partick, so it likewise \
takes it name from it, which is hereby declared to ;
be PARTICK COMMUNITY. The boundaries I
of the Community shall extend to all that part of «
Govan Parish, which lies on the north side of the i
river Clyde, and no farther in that direction. They \
shall likewise extend to the distance of one mile i
and a half from the Old Bridge of Partick, and no {
farther in all other directions ; and these boundaries, j
as now described, are hereby declared to be the circle ;
and extent of the Officer's warning. 1

II. Terms of Admission. — No person can be
admitted a member of this Community who does \
not reside within the bounds mentioned in Article »
first; nor can any person be admitted a member
who is above the age of 40 years, or who is under
14 years of age; and must be of a good moral t
character, free of bodily trouble, of a healthy con-
stitution, and in a visible way of supporting them-
selves. Every person, upon his admission, shall pay {
five shillings sterling, to be applied to the funds; j
also, fourpence to the Clerk, and twopence to the t
Officer, and four shillings yearly of quarter accounts, |
payable, one shilling quarterly. Members must pay \
their quarter accounts, and other dues payable by j.
them, in twelve months. And in case any members j
164 \

Digitized by

Google

ARTICLES AND REGULATIONS

neglect to pay their said dues, at the respective
terms above specified, they shall forfeit all right or
title they had in the Community, and have their
names erased from the roll of members. And in
order that quarter accounts and other dues be regu-
larly paid into the Community, it is hereby declared,
That no member, who is not clear in the Com-
munity's books when he is taken badly, shall be
entitled to any benefit from the funds, until after
the next quarterly meeting (as the Collector can
only receive quarter accounts at the quarterly meet-
ings); but upon his then paying up his arrears,
and making himself clear in the books, he shall be
entitled from that date. And all members who have
not paid up their quarter accounts and other debts
due by them to the Community, by five o'clock on
the day of election, they shall lose their vote at said
election. Every member shall receive a printed copy
of the Community's Articles, upon paying for the
same.

III. Time and manner of Electing Managers^ and
their Powers, — The Managers of the Community
shall consist of a Preses, seven Directors, and a
Collector, who shall be chosen annually on the first
Friday of May, at the School-house in Partick, after
the following manner: The whole seven Directors
or Masters of the preceding year shall be put into
one leet and be presented to the Community on the
day of election, when the roll being called over and
votes marked, he who hath the majority of votes

165

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

shall be declared duly elected Preses for the ensuing
year ; and shall immediately choose three Directors,
one of whom to be resident at the time in Partick
or neighbourhood; another to be resident at the
time in Govan or neighbourhood; and the third in
Anderston or neighbourhood. And the Community
shall choose other four from among their number
by majority of votes, without respect to their place
of residence, provided that they be within the bound-
aries. They shall then, in like maimer, choose a
Collector from among the community at large, and
he who hath the majority of votes shall be declared
duly elected, and shall vote and act in conjunction
with the Preses and Directors in all affairs of the
Community; the old Preses and old Collector shall
sit as Directors for the year, without being voted
upon; all the above Managers may be re-elected
except the Preses and Collector, whose offices cannot
be held two years successively. All the Directors,
except the Preses, may be chosen though absent
from the election ; and members, though absent,
may send their vote by proxy for a Preses. The
Preses shall always preside at the meeting, and shall
have the casting vote in all cases of parity. And as
often as. he shall see it necessary for the management
of the Community's affairs, shall call a meeting of
the Directors, whom, after being duly warned by the
Officer, if only three shall meet, they are declared
to be a quorum, and shall proceed in the Com-
munity's affairs. And in case of the death of the
Preses, the immediately preceding one shall succeed ;
1 66

\ Digitized by

Google

ARTICLES AND REGULATIONS

and, in the like event, the same rule with respect
to the Collector; and in case of the death of any
of the Directors, one shall be chosen in his place
by the surviving Managers. The Collector shall
gather in, uplift, and disburse the Community's
money as he shall be directed by the Treses and
Managers ; and shall keep an exact account of his
intromissions and disbursements, and at the end of
his year in ofi^ (or at any other time, if required
so to do), shall make up his accounts, and lay them
before the Managers for their inspection, when, if
they be found just, he shall be relieved from his
trust, and his accounts entered in the Community's
records.

IV. Management of the Community s Funds, — All
the books, bonds, and bills belonging to the
Community shall be kept in their chest, under
three locks and keys, one of the keys to be kept
by the Preses, the other two at his disposal; one
to be given to one of the Directors chosen by him,
the other to one of the Directors chosen by the
Community. The Preses shall always have charge
of the Community's chest ; but it shall not be
allowed to be carried out of the village of Partick.
The Managers shall not lend out any of the
Community's money, without having two sufficient
cautioners joined with the borrower's, either in a
bill or bond ; which cautioners shall not be connected
with the principal in any trade or copartnery ; and the
bon-ower shall have fourteen days' warning, at least,
167

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

before any demand be made upon him ; and one
person shall not be received into two different
vouchers as a security. And it is hereby expressly
declared that the expense of any law-suit or diligence
for recovering the Community's funds, or for any
other cause or matter relating to the Community's
afifairs, shall be paid out of their funds.

V. Clerk and Officer. — The Community shall have
a Clerk and Officer, who may be annually chosen on

\ the day of election, or remain in office during the

Community's pleasure. The Clerk, or his depute,

shall attend not only the general meetings to mark

the votes, but shall also attend all meetings of the

Managers, to record the Community's affairs, and fill

up their books, for which he shall have an annual

salary of one pound sterling, out of the Community's

funds, and fourpence from each new entrant. The

Officer shall be under the direction of the Preses and

L Managers, for attending all their meetings; and, as

y often as it is necessary, warning all the members

i residing within the Community's boundaries, for

* which he shall have an annual salary of fifteen

shillings sterling out of their funds, and twopence

for each new entrant ; but neither he nor the Qerk

shall have any vote in the court of Managers.

VI. Penalties and Forfeitures, — If any member
refuses to accept of the office of Preses when duly

; elected by the Community, he shall pay a fine of

five shillings. And if any member shall refuse to
i68

Digitized by

Google

ARTICLES AND REGULATIONS

act as Collector, or Director, when chosen, he shall
pay a fine of two shillings and sixpence. And any
member who shall curse or swear by the name of
God, or raise disturbance at any of the Community's
meetings, shall be fined in one shilling for each fault ;
and if at a general meeting shall, besides, be deprived
of voting, or being voted upon, at said meeting. And
if any member be convicted of upbraiding any other
member for receiving his aliment from the Community
when justly entitled, the member so offending shall be
fined in two shillings and sixpence for each ofifence.
All the above fines to be applied to the funds of the
Community.

If any member be proven guilty of having embezzled
any of the Community's funds, or of keeping up any
quarter accounts entrusted to his charge, the offender
in both such cases shall have his name erased from
the roll of members, and be expelled the Community,
never to be again admitted a member.

And if any member be proven guilty of giving in a
false proxy — viz., of using any member's vote for a
Preses without said member's consent being asked
and given, the said offender shall be fined in five
shillings for each offence, to be applied to the
funds.

Every Manager (or the Clerk without substituting
another) absenting from any meeting, being duly
warned, or not attending within an hour after the
time appointed for said meeting, shall be fined in
sixpence, to be applied towards defraying the expense
of said meeting ; and the Collector, in their absence^
169

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

is empowered to lay out such fines for them, which
they shall at their next meeting, and before proceeding
to any business, re-emburse to him. No excuse will
be sustaiired for absentees but personal or family
distress. Members refusing to pay any of the above
fines (when justly due them) shall have no privilege
whatever in the Community till they comply there-
with.

VII. Members Imposing upon the Community. —
Every person applying for admission as a member
of the Community must appear personally before
the Managers at one of their meetings, when they
are to judge of his fitness for a member, and accept
or reject him accordingly. But should any person
get admitted as a member who is afterwards found
not to have had the qualifications for a member,
as required in Article second, upon the same being
proven, he shall be expelled the Community, and
forfeit what entry-money, quarter accounts, &c., he
may have paid thereto. And if any members are
suspected of imposing upon the Community, by
feigning themselves sick, or worse than they really
are, the Managers are to call a Physician or Surgeon
to inspect them ; and if such members are thereby
found to be impostors, their names shall be erased
out of the roll of members, never to be again
admitted. And any member who had the immediate
cause of bringing trouble or distress on himself by his
own misconduct in any manner of way shall have no
title to any aliment out of the funds of the Community
170

Digitized by CjOOQ IC |

ARTICLES AND REGULATIONS

<luring the time of his said trouble or distress ; and
the Managers shall give no supply for the time to a
member of that character. No apph'cation is to be
made until the eighth day after the member is taken
badly, and then one week's aliment is become due,
and is immediately to be paid conform to the eighth
Article of the Community.

VIII. Members entitled to Aliment^ and how much, —
Every member of the Community who is clear in
the books, and who has been at least one year a
member, shall, upon his falling into sickness, or any
other bodily ailment which shall render him incap-
able of following his daily occupation, be entitled
to four shillings sterling weekly while in that situa-
tion. Superannuate members, viz., such as by reason
of old age or other infirmities, are not able to support
themselves, though they may work a little, shall be
entitled to one shilling and sixpence weekly while
in that situation; but if they fall into sickness or
distress, so as to confine them to their bed, in that
case they shall be entitled to four shillings sterling
weekly while they continue in that situation. And
on the death of any member taking place who resided
within the bounds of the Officer's warning, and appli-
cation being made to the Managers, either before or
within ten days after the interment of such member
by his widow or relations, they shall be paid one
guinea towards defraying the expense of that mem-
ber's funeral And the widows of free members,
while they continue such, and a good character, shall

171

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

have paid them thirty shillings sterling annually ; but
if there should be more than fourteen widows upon
the Community at one time, in that case they shall
receive the annual aliment of twenty -one pounds
sterling equally among them. And it is specially
provided that, in case of any member being badly,
or otherwise entitled to aliment, whose residence is
without the bounds of the Officer's warning, his
relations, or him, shall be allowed six weeks (and
those forth of Scotland six months) to transmit their
applications, upon which the supply aforesaid shall
be remitted them the same as if they had been
within the boundaries : provided always a certificate
be produced (signed by the Minister and two Elders
of the parish where such applicants reside) that he
or they are in the situation set forth in the applica-
tion, and are of an honest character and reputation.
And all the aforesaid aliments, when applied as said
is, are cheerfully to be paid without making the
unreasonable distinction of poor or rich in members
or widows. Declaring always, that no member who
did not, or member's widow whose husband did not
pay his quarter accounts, and all other dues to the
Community, for at least the space of one year after
his entry thereto, or was in arrears at his death,
shall not be entitled to the foresaid aliment. Appli-
cants always paying postage of letters and all other
incidental charges.

IX. Visiting of Members, — Every member residing
within the bounds, applying for aliment, shall be
172

Digitized by

Google

ARTICLES AND REGULATIONS

visited by two of the Managers periodically, as the
Preses shall direct ; and the aforesaid weekly aliment
shall be stopped or continued according to the report
of the visitors, whereof the Managers are to judge.

X. Stock of the Community, — The Managers for
the time being shall not allow the stock or fund of
the Community to decrease below the sum of One
Hundred and Fifty Pounds sterling, without calling
a general meeting of the members to decide upon
the propriety of raising their quarter accounts, or of
decreasing their weekly aliments, in such a manner
as to keep up the said stock or fund.

XI. Powers reserved to General Meetings, — All the
aforesaid Articles and Regulations shall be subject
to the Community, to make what alterations or farther
acts and regulations they shall think proper for the
good thereof; but they shall by no means alienate
the funds from the friendly purposes for which they
were originally instituted: neither shall any act or
alteration henceforth pass into a law, till it be
approved of by the majority of a meeting of the
Community, the whole being previously warned for
that purpose by the Officer and Glasgow news-
papers.

And in case any dissension shall arise in the
Community that may tend to its prejudice or threaten
its dissolution, upon an application from any three
members the Preses shall call a general meeting as
above ; and the affair being laid before them, it shall

173

Digitized by

Google

PARTICK— PAST AND PRESENT

be determined by a majority of votes, which shall be
final in all such cases. And all the meetings of the
Community shall be held at some convenient place
within the village of Partick.

PRESENT OFFICE-BEARERS.

George Monteith, Preses.

James Craig, jun.,

James Purdon,

John Gibson,

David Aitkenhead, y Directors.

David Dreghorn,

William Bennie,

John Hamilton,

John Bain, Collector.

John Jack, late Preses.

William Galbreath, late Collector.

John Brownlie, Clerk.

Robert Hill, Officer.

174

Digitized by

Google

INDEX

Anderson, Rev. Henry, 35, 65,

lly 123-

Anderson's College, 148.
Annexation with Glasgow, 91.

Bakers' Incorporation of Glas-
gow, 18, 21, 23, 29, 59.
Balshagray Avenue, 152.

Mansion, 152.

Bell of Partick, 83.
Bishop's Castle, 11 -15.

Mill, 12, 20, 26.

Bridge of Partick, 44.
Bridge-end Inn, 60, 61.
Broomhill, 150.
Bugler of Partick, 40.
Burgh „ 85.95.

Burns „ 89.

Canoes found at Partick, iii.
Castle of Partick, 43.
Cholera in „ 79,
Churches of „ 1 19-127.
Clayslap Mills, 20, 24, 25.
Cleland, Dr., 18.

Dead Bell, 83.
Death-rate, 88.
Dowanhill Church, 121.

House, 36.

School, 132.

Drummer of Partick, 39.

Electric Works in Partick, 95.
Established Church „ 119.

Fossil Grove in Partick, loi.
Free Churches „ 123-125.

Galbraith, William, 67.
Grannie Gibb's Cottage, 62.
Gymnasium, 97.

Hamilton Crescent School, 131.

Lawrie, Rev. T. M., 34, 51, 120.

M'COLL Mission, 123.
M*Donald, Hugh, 43.
MacLean, Sir Andrew, 157.
Meadowside Park, 96.
Mills at Partick, 12, 17-27.
Muirpark House, 36.

Napier, James, 14, 28, 76, 154.
New Partick, 144-153.

Old Bun and Ale House, 56, 59.

Inn, 54.

Masons' Lo^ge and Inn, 54.

Wheat Sheaf Inn, 55.

Partick Academy, 131.

Bishop's Castle, 11-15.

Brass Band, 79.

Bridge, 27, 44.

Bugler, 40.

175

Digitized by

Google

INDEX

Partick Burgh, 85-95.

Bums, 89.

Castle, 16, 43.

Communication with Glas-
gow, 153.

Partick Community, 68, 163.

Curling Club, 83.

Churches, 119.

Dead Bell, 83.

Death-rate, 88.

Drummer, 39.

Duck Club, 57.

Electric Works, 95.

Fifty Years ago, 35, 74.

Fossil Grove, 101-109.

Gas Company, 91.

Gymnasium, 97.

Inns, 54-63.

Mills, 12, 17-27.

Old Institutions, 64.

Old Landmarks, 43, 45, 46,

47, 48, 62.

Partick Old Residenters, 154.

Origin of name, 12.

Park, 97.

Population, 37, 38.

Post-boy, 41.

Provosts, 90.

Roman occupation, i, 9.

Relief Church, 52.

Sabbath School Union, 128.

Schools, 129.

Sewage Scheme, 90.

Secession Church, 49, 120.

Shipbuilding, 116.

Statistics, 88, 95.

. Terms of Annexation with

Glasgow, 91.

Partick Village, 30, 39.

Partick Weavers, 81.
Paterson, Dr. James, 156.
Pointhouse Ferry, 116.

Quakers' Burying Ground, 45.

Reformation Times, 10.
Relief Church, 52.
Religious life in Old Partick, 76-^8.
Regent Mills, 18, 19, 21-24.
Roman Catholic Church, 126.

Occupation of Partick, i, 9.

Road, 6.

Wall, 7.

Schools of Partick, 129.

Scotstoun Mills, 20, 26. \

Secession Church, 49.

Shipbuilding, no- 11 7.

Skinner, Rev. John, 50. ^

Social life in Old Partick, 74.

Statistics, 88, 95.

Stewartville House, 36.

Stephen Bursary, 131.

Strang, Dr., 30, 31, 57. |

Subscription School, 47.

Thorn WOOD Hill, 151. I
School, 135. I

University of Glasgow, 144-147. '

Victoria Park, 97. |

Village of Partick, 30. I

Weavers of Partick, 81.
Western Infirmary, 147.
Whiteinch, Origin of name, 11.
Wilson, George, 158.

YORKHILL House, I.
Roman Fort on, 1-9.

176

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

This book should be returned I
the Lib^rary on or before the last di^?
stamped below.

A line of fi^e cents a day is inoarred
by retaining it beyond the specified
time.

Please return promptly.

Digiti; sdbyVjOOQlC

sgpqi

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Partick Past and Present"

See other formats