KILPATRICK-NEW, or KILPATRICK-EAST, a parish, partly in
the county of Dumbarton, and partly in the county of
Stirling, 6 miles (N. W. by K.) from Glasgow; containing,
with the village of Milngavie in the latter county,
and in the former the villages of Blue- Row, Cannesburn,
Craigton-Field, Dalsholm, New Kilpatrick, Knightswood,
and Netherton-Quarry, 345" inhabitants, of whom
174S are in the county of Dumbarton, and 1*09 in that
of Stirling. This place occupies the eastern portion of
the ancient parish of Kilpatrick, from which it was
separated in 1649, and erected into an independent parish
by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. It is about
seven miles and a half in extreme length, and more than
three miles in average breadth, comprising 13,500 acres,
of which about 7000 are arable, 800 woodland and plantations,
and the remainder meadow, pasture, and waste.
The surface is diversified with pleasing undulations,
which increase in boldness as they recede from the
banks of the rivers, and with numerous large knolls,
which are partly arable and partly wooded. The Kirkpatrick
range of hills, some of which have an elevation of
nearly 1200 feet, skirt the |)arish from east to west.
The principal river is the Kelvin, which has its source
in the hills of Kilsyth; and though for the greater part
of its course an inconsiderable stream, it expands into a
broad and rapid current as it approaches Garscube
House, in this parish, and, flowing between richly-wooded
banks along the south-cairtern boundary of the parish,
falls into the Clyde below (jlasgow. A small stream
called the Allander, issuing from a reservoir in the parish
of West Kilpatrick, after skirting the northern boundary
of this parish for more than a mile, takes a south-eastern
course, and, supplying the bleachfields of Clober, and
turning the mills of Milngavie, joins the Kelvin. The
Fortli and Clyde canal passes through the soutliern i)ortion
of the jjarish, and is carried over the river Kelvin
by a noble aqueduct,;J50 feet in length, fifty-seven feet
in width, fifty-seven feet in height from the surface of the
river to the top of the parapet, and supported on four
arches of fifty feet span. There are several lakes in the
parish, the largest of which, in the pleasure-grounds of
Dugalston. is nearly thirty acres in extent. Another, in
the grounds of Kilmardinny, of about ten acres, beautifully
encompassed with shrubberies and plantations,
abounds with perch, eels, and pike; and the still smaller
lake of St. Germanus is enriched with many rare aquatic plants.
In general the soil is a retentive clay, of no great
depth, resting upon a substratum of till; and along the
banks of the rivers, a deep rich loam: several of the
knolls are of a light dry quality, and on the higher
grounds are extensive tracts of moorland and peat-moss.
The crops are wheat, oats, barley, beans, potatoes, and
turnips; the system of husbandry is in a very improved
state, and a due rotation of crops is regularly
observed. The lands have been drained, and inclosed
partly with hedges of thorn, and partly with stone
dykes. In this parish the farms vary from forty to 400
acres in extent; and the buildings, several of which are
of recent erection, are usually substantial and commodious.
Great attention is paid to the management of the
dairies, and considerable quantities of butter are sent to
the Glasgow market. The cattle fed on the pastures
are of the West Highland breed, and on the dairy-farms,
of the Ayrshire; they are mostly bought in at the neighbouring
fairs, few being reared in the parish. The sheep
are chiefly of the common black-faced breed. The
plantations consist of ash, elm, beech, sycamore, and
other forest-trees, with Scotch, silver, and spruce firs, of
all of which, on several of the lands, are some remarkably
fine specimens. Inmost of the more recent plantations,
the oak has been introduced with every prospect
of success. The substrata are principally coal, forming
part of the spacious basin surrounding the city of Glasgow,
sandstone, whinstone, trap, and basalt; the coal is
wrought at Garscube, Law Muir, and Castle-Hill, where
it occurs at depths varying from eighteen to fifty fathoms
from the surface. Limestone is worked at Culloch; and
various strata of clay ironstone are found, one of which,
at Garscube, was wrought some years since; but the
ore was neither in sufficient quantity, nor of the requisite
quality, for smelting. There are some quarries of excellent
freestone of a fine cream colour in operation at
Netherton, affording employment to about seventy persons:
the stone, though comparatively soft when first
taken from the quarry, becomes hard when exposed to
the air; and formerly, large quantities of it were exported
to Ireland and the AVest Indies. The annual
value of real property in the parish is £28,038, including
£4145 for the Dumbarton portion. Garscube House,
the seat of Sir Archibald Campbell, Bart., is a spacious
and elegant mansion, erected in 1827, and pleasantly situated
on the banks of the Kelvin, in a demesne tastefully
laid out, and embellished with stately timber. Clober
House; Killcrmont House, partly ancient and partly
modern; Garscadden; and Kilmardinny, are also handsome
mansions finely situated; and the seat of Dugalston,
which has been some time deserted, is beautifully
seated in extensive and well-ornamented grounds.
Various tiranchcs of manufacture are carried on in
different parts of the i)arish, the princi|);d of which are
the |)rintiiig of calico, the spinning of cotton, the bleaching
of cotton and linen, for which there are extensive
works at Clober, and the manufacture of paper, snuff,
and other articles, which are minutely detailed in the
separate notices of the several villages where they are
carried on. The village of East Kilpatrick, in which
the church is situated, contains thirty-five inhabitants,
and consists of a few neat cottages: a fair, chiefly for
milch-cows, is held on the 1st of May, O. S., and is
still tolerably attended. There are post-oflSces in the
villages of East Kilpatrick and Milngavie; and facility of
communication is maintained by the turnpike-roads from
Glasgow to Dumbarton, &c., by the Forth and Clyde canal,
and by good bridges over the Kelvin and the Allander.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposes the parish is within the
limits of the presbytery of Dumbarton, synod of Glasgow
and Ayr. The minister's stipend is £'270, with a manse,
and a glebe valued at £11. 13. 4. per annum; patron,
the Duke of Montrose. The church, erected in 1808,
is a neat plain structure centrally situated, and containing
704 sittings. There is a place of worship in the
village of Milngavie for members of the United Presbyterian
Church. The parochial school is well conducted;
the master has a salary of £34, with an allowance of
£10 in lieu of a house and garden, and the fees average
about £10 per annum. There are still considerable
vestiges of the wall of Antoninus, which intersected the
parish from east to west, and some remains of two
ancient forts, from the ruins of which were dug two
votive tablets, now preserved in the Hunterian museum
of the university of Glasgow. On the lands of Dalsholm,
near Garscube House, in a tumulus lately opened, was
discovered a flight of steps, leading to a slab on which
were ashes and cinders; and underneath it, was found
a chamber inclosed with flag-stones, in which were
fragments of ancient armour, military weapons, and
various utensils. At Drumry, near Garscadden, are the
remains of a chapel, whose tower, overhanging a steep
acclivity, bears much resemblance to a fortress. There
was also a chapel at Lurg, of which little more than the
site can now be traced; the tombstones in the cemetery
have for many years been removed, and the land is
under tillage.