Renfrew

The L.M.S. railway runs westwards from Glasgow by Paisley to Greenock, Gourock and Wemyss Bay; south-westwards to Barrhead and other stations; and southwards to Busby. Other lines run to Greenock by Paisley, Johnstone and Kilmalcolm ; to Nitshill and other places south-westwards; by Lochwinnoch (for Dalry and Ardrossan in Ayrshire) ; and to Renfrew jointly with the Caledonian.

Population and Administration.

In 1931 the population numbered ; 5 persons spoke Gaelic only and 3,042 Gaelic and English. Thus though the shire is but twenty-seventh in point of size of the 33 Scottish counties, it is fourth in respect of population. The chief towns are Paisley (pop. Green ock (78,948), Port Glasgow (19,580), Johnstone (12,837), Barr head (12,308), Renfrew (14,971 in Renfrewshire), Gourock (8,844). The shire returns one member to parliament for the eastern, and another for the western division. Paisley and Green ock return each one member. Renfrewshire forms a sheriffdom with Bute, and there is a resident sheriff-substitute at Paisley and one at Greenock. The county is under school-board jurisdiction. For secondary and specialized education there are an academy high school at Greenock and a grammar school and technical school at Paisley.

History.

At the time of the Roman advance from the Solway the land was peopled by the British tribe of Damnonii. To hold the natives in check the conquerors built in 84 the fort of Van duara on high ground now covered by houses and streets in Paisley; but after the Romans retired (410) the territory was overrun by Cumbrian Britons and formed part of the kingdom of Strathclyde, the capital of which was situated at Alclyde, the modern Dumbarton. In the 7th and 8th centuries the region

practically passed under the supremacy of Northuinbria, but in the reign of Malcolm Canmore became incorporated with the rest of Scotland. During the first half of the 12th century, Walter Fitzalan, high steward of Scotland, ancestor of the royal house of Stuart, settled in Renfrewshire on an estate granted to him by David I. Till their accession to the throne the Stuarts iden tified themselves with the district, which, however, was only dis joined from Lanarkshire in 1404. In that year Robert III. erected the barony of Renfrew and the Stuart estates into a separate county, which, along with the earldom of Carrick and the barony of King's Kyle (both in Ayrshire), was bestowed upon his son, afterwards James I. From their grant are derived the titles of earl of Carrick and baron of Renfrew, borne by the eldest son of the sovereign. Apart from such isolated incidents as the defeat of Somerled near Renfrew in 1164, the battle of Langside in 1568 and the capture of the 9th earl of Argyll at Inchinnan in 1685, the history of the shire is scarcely separable from that of Paisley or the neighbouring county of Lanark.