RENFREWSHIRE, the name of a county in the south west of Scotland, is bounded on the east by the county of Lanark, on the south by the county of Ayr, and on all other sides by the Frith of Clyde, excepting a small portion of about 1200 acres, which lies on the north side of the Frith, opposite to the town of Renfrew. It is about 31i miles long from south east to north west, about 25 miles long from east to west, and its breadth varies from 9 to nearly 14 miles. Its super ficial extent is about 2324 square miles English, 117,967 Scotch acres, or 148,794 English acres. It comprehends 21 parishes, 19 of which compose the presbytery of Paisley, and the other two belong to Glas gow presbytery.
Considerably more than one-half of this county, com prehending the west and southeast portion, is hilly and devoted to pasture. The cultivated part occupies the north, the north-east, and the centre of the county, and consists partly of low detached hills, and partly of a level tract of rich loam between Paisley and the river Clyde. The hilly part of the county varies in elevation from 500 to 600 feet. Misty Law, the highest hill m the county, is about 1240 feet high. The hills of Balagich and Dunware, in Eaglesham parish, are about 1000 above the sea, and the insulated hill called the Craig of Neilston, which is covered with fine grass to its very top, is about 820 feet high.
The soil of Renfrewshire is very various. In those parts of the high grounds which are not covered with heath or moss, a flee light soil on a gravelly bottom is most common. In the part 'formed of detached hills, the soil is a thin earth on a gravelly or bottom, and in the level disttict it is a deep rich dark brown loam.
Owing to the great demand in this county for the products of the dairy, the garden, and the fold, arising from the vicinity of large and populous towns, nearly two-thirds of the arable land in the county is kept in grass, and hence Renfrewshire enjoys no celebrity as an agricultural district. In Eastwood parish, and the Ab bey parish of Paisley, where small rising hills prevail, the farmers keep half of the ground in grass. In the parish of Mearn they make large quantities of butter from cows of the Ayrshire breed, twelve of which give daily in'the summer months about sixty English gallons of milk. In Kilmalcolm parish, where the rotation of crop is three years of oats and six years of pasturage, the enclosures are generally of stone, and four feet high.
The size of farms of arable land varies generally from 70 to 100 acres. The average rent in 1811 has been stated at 17v , varying from 3s. to 51. The leases are commonly of 19 years endurance.
The principal streams in Renfrewshire are the White Cart, the Black Cart, the Gryfe, and the Levern, all of which unite their waters, and fall into the Clyde below Inchinan bridge. The White Cart rises in the moors of east Kilbridge in Lanarkshire, and after entering Renfrewshire from the south, flows in a direction from south-east to north-west, passing the town of Paisley, and flowing to the north till it receives the united streams of the Black Cart and the Gryfe. By the help cf a short cut a little above Inchinan, it has been ren dered navigable for small vessels from Paisley to the Clyde. The Black Cart takes its rise in the Loch of Castle Semple in Loch \Vinnoch parish, and descending northward from this beautiful lake, it meets the Gryfe at \Valkinshaw, about two miles above the confluence of their united streams with the White Cart. The Gryfe rises in the high ground above Largs, and flows east ward till it meets the Black Cart.
The principal lakes in Renfrewshire are that of Castle Semple, already mentioned, which is upon the southern boundary of the county, and has an area of about 203 acres, and Queenside Loch, in the parish of Lochwin noch, beside two lochs in Neilston parish, and several smaller ones of no interest.
The minerals of Renfrewshire are of very consider able value. Coal, limestone and freestone, abound in various parts of the county. There are no fewer than twelve coal works in actual operation. The most exten sive of these are at Quarreltown, near the centre of the county of Polmadie on its northeast boundary, and at Hurlet and Househill to the south•east of Paisley. The coal field at Quarreltown is of a very extraordinary structure. It is upwards of 50 feet thick, and consists of five different strata. From its great depth, it is wrought in different floors, in the manner practised in great open quarries. At one part of the field the coal has a hitch of fifty feet, and, at another, one of thirty. Some years ago the coal took fire, the pillars gave way, and the ground sunk, leaving the surface in a very rugged con dition, but these evils have since been completely reme died. The Hurlet coal, which belongs to Lord Glasgow, is five feet three inches thick, and is said to have been wrought for nearly two centuries.