Kilpatrick, New, or East

   KILPATRICK, NEW, or EAST, a parish, partly in the county of Dumbarton, and partly in the county of Stirling, 6 miles (N. W. by N.) 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, 3457 inhabitants, of whom 1748 are in the county of Dumbarton, and 1709 in that of Stirling. This place occupies the eastern portion of the ancient parish of Kilpatrick, now called Old or West Kilpatrick, from which it was separated in 1649, and erected into an independent parish by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. The new parish 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, of which some have an elevation of nearly 1200 feet, skirt the parish 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 its south-eastern boundary, falls into the Clyde below Glasgow. The Allander, a small stream 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-easterly course, and, supplying the bleachfields of Clober, and turning the mills of Milngavie, joins the Kelvin. The Forth and Clyde canal passes through the southern portion of the parish, and is carried over the river Kelvin by a noble aqueduct, 350 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, of which the largest, in the pleasure-grounds of Dugalston, is nearly 30 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.

   The soil generally 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 highly 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. The farms vary from 40 to 400 acres in extent; and the buildings, of which several are of modern erection, are usually substantial and commodious. Great attention is paid to the management of the dairies, considerable quantities of butter being 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. In most 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, of which one, 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 West Indies. The rateable annual value of the parish is £28,038, including £4145 for the Dumbartonshire 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; Killermont House, partly ancient and partly modern; Garscadden; and Kilmardinny, are also handsome mansions finely situated; and the seat of Dugalston, which has been for some time deserted, is beautifully seated in extensive and well-ornamented grounds.

   Various branches of manufacture are carried on in different parts of the parish, of which the principal are, the printing 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 various other articles, which are minutely detailed in the 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-offices in the village and at Milngavie; and facility of communication is maintained by the turnpike-roads from Glasgow and Dumbarton, by the Forth and Clyde canal, and by good bridges over the Kelvin and Allander. The ecclesiastical affairs are under the superintendence of the presbytery of Dumbarton and 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 Relief. 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, of which the 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.