Renfrew

RENFREW, royal, municipal and police burgh and county town of Renfrewshire, Scotland, near the southern bank of the Clyde, 7 m. W. by N. of Glasgow, via Cardonald, by the L.M.S. railway. A small part of the burgh is in the parish of Govan, Lanarkshire. Pop. (1931) 14,986. Industries include large ship building works, engineering, weaving, and the manufacture of hosiery, rubber and soap. The Clyde Trust has constructed a large dock here, and there is a ferry to Yoker. Robert III. gave a char ter in 1396, but it was a burgh (Renifry) at least 25o years earlier. Close to the town, on the site of Elderslie House, Somerled, lord of the Isles, was defeated and slain in 1164 by the forces of Malcolm IV., against whom he had rebelled. In 1404 Robert III. bestoWed upon his son James (afterwards James I. of Scotland) the title of Baron of Renfrew, still borne by the Prince of Wales. R E N F R E W S H I R E, south-western county, Scotland, bounded north by the river and Firth of Clyde, east by Lanark shire, south and south-west by Ayrshire and west by the Firth of Clyde. A small detached portion of the parish of Renfrew, situ ated on the northern bank of the Clyde, is surrounded on the landward side by Dumbartonshire. The county has an area of 151,431 acres (excluding water). The surface is low and undulat ing, except towards the Ayrshire border on the south-west, where the principal height is Hill of Stake (1,711 ft.), and the confines of Lanarkshire on the south-east, where a few points attain a height of 1,200 ft. The south-western hills are formed of volcanic rocks, basalts, porphyrites, tuffs and agglomerates of the age of the Calciferous Sandstone series. Practically all the area west of these rocks is occupied by the Carboniferous Limestone series. Boulder clays and glacial gravels and sands cover con siderable areas. Much of the higher land in the centre is well wooded. The Clyde forms part of the northern boundary of the shire. In the north-west Loch Thom and Gryfe Reservoir provide Greenock with water, and Balgray Reservoir and Glen Reservoir reinforce the water-supply of a portion of the Glasgow area. Castle Semple Loch and other lakes are situated in the south and south-east. The Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone canal was con verted after 1882 into the track of the Glasgow & South-Western (now L.M.S.) railway. Strathgryfe is the only considerable vale

in the shire. The scenery at its head is wild and bleak, but the lower reaches are pasture land. The wooded ravine of Glenkillock, to the south of Paisley, is watered by Killock Burn, on which are three falls.

Agriculture and Industries.

The hilly tract contains much peat-moss and moorland, but over those areas which are not thus covered the soil, which is a light earth on a substratum of gravel, is deep enough to produce good pasture. In the undulating central region the soil is better, particularly in the basins of the streams, while on the flat lands adjoining the Clyde there is a rich allu vium which, except when soured by excessive rain, yields heavy crops. Of the total area over half is under cultivation, consid erably more than half of this being permanent pasture. Oats are grown extensively, and wheat is also cultivated. Potatoes, turnips and mangolds are the leading green crops. Near the populous centres orchards and market gardens are found, and an increasing acreage is under wood. Horses are kept mostly for farming opera tions, and the bulk of the cattle are maintained in connection with dairying. Sheep-farming, though on the increase, is not prose cuted so vigorously as in the other southern counties of Scotland, and pig-rearing is on the decline.

Coal, iron and fireclay are the principal minerals of Renfrew shire. Granite, limestone and sandstone are quarried. The thread industry at Paisley is very extensive. Cotton and flax spin ning, printing, bleaching and dyeing are carried on at Paisley, Renfrew, Barrhead and elsewhere; woollens and worsteds are produced at Greenock and Renfrew. Engineering works and iron foundries are found at Greenock, Port Glasgow, Paisley, Ren frew, Barrhead and Johnstone. Sugar is a staple article of trade in Greenock and there are chemical works at Cathcart, Paisley, Hurlet and Nitshill. Brewing and distilling are carried on at Greenock and other places. Shipbuilding is especially important at Greenock and Port Glasgow. Paper mills are established in Greenock, Cathcart and Johnstone. Numerous miscellaneous in dustries--such as the making of starch, cornflour, earthenware and soap are important in Paisley and elsewhere. Trade and fisheries are centred at Greenock.