Kilpatrick, Old, or West

   KILPATRICK, OLD, or WEST, a parish, in the county of Dumbarton; containing, with the late quoad sacra parish of Duntocher, and the villages of BowlingBay, Dalmuir, Dalmuir-Shore, Dumbuck, Little-Mill, and Milton, 7020 inhabitants, of whom 819 are in the village of Old Kilpatrick, 5 miles (E. by S.) from Dumbarton, and 10 (N. W. by W.) from Glasgow. This place derives its name from the dedication of its ancient church to St. Patrick, the tutelar saint of Ireland, by whom it was originally founded, and who, though various places dispute the honour of his birth, is generally said to have been a native of this parish. That it had attained a considerable degree of importance at a very early period, appears evident from the numerous vestiges of Roman occupation that may still be traced. The wall of Antoninus between the Forth and the Clyde terminated at Chapel-Hill, in the parish; and though all remains of that structure have long been obliterated by the plough, the fosse by which it was defended is yet discernible. At Duntocher was a Roman fort, of which the site is obscurely pointed out; and an ancient bridge at the same place, which was repaired in 1772, by Lord Blantyre, is said to have been built in the time of the Emperor Adrian, though some antiquaries regard its sole claim to Roman origin as arising from its having been constructed with materials supplied from the ruins of the fort. Votive altars, also, and various stones with Roman inscriptions, have been found at Chapel-Hill and at Duntocher. Near the former place, a subterranean recess, containing Roman vases and coins, was discovered in 1790, by the workmen employed in digging the canal; and at the latter, the remains of a Roman sudatorium were found in 1775.

   The parish is bounded on the south by the river Clyde, along which it extends for nearly eight miles, and is four miles and a half in extreme breadth, comprising 11,500 acres, of which 6000 are arable, 600 woodland and plantations, and the remainder meadow and pasture. The surface rises by a gentle acclivity from the river towards the north, and is diversified with hills, of which the most conspicuous are those of Dalnotter, Chapel-Hill, and Dumbuck, commanding from their summits extensive views of the Clyde, the county of Renfrew, and part of Lanarkshire. The Kilpatrick hills, of which Dumbuck hill forms a part, terminate near the western extremity of the parish; they are a prominent and lofty range, and some of them attain an elevation of upwards of 1200 feet above the level of the sea. The parish, as seen from the Clyde, constitutes one of the richest features in the picturesque and beautiful scenery for which that river is so celebrated. A nameless stream is supplied from two small lakes behind the range of the Kilpatrick hills, and, flowing southward, by Faifley and Duntocher, falls into the Clyde at Dalmuir. The soil along the banks of the Clyde is a fine deep loam, resting on a bed of clay; and in the higher grounds, light and gravelly. The crops are, oats, wheat, barley, potatoes, and turnips. The system of husbandry is improved, and the arable lands are in a high state of cultivation; great attention is paid to the management of the dairy-farms, and large quantities of butter are sent to the Glasgow market, where they find a ready sale. The cattle are generally of the Highland black breed, and on the dairy-farms the cows are of the Ayrshire breed; both are chiefly purchased at the neighbouring fairs, few being reared in the parish. The sheep, of which considerable numbers are reared in the moorland pastures, are all of the black-faced breed. The rateable annual value of the parish is £23,524.

   The plantations, which are well managed, and in a thriving state, consist of oak, ash, elm, beech, plane, lime, and the various kinds of fir, for all of which the soil appears to be well adapted; and both in the lowlands and higher grounds are many fine specimens, of stately growth. The substrata of the parish are principally of the coal formation; and the rocks are composed of greenstone, amygdaloid, trap, greywacke, and basalt. Limestone and ironstone are also found. The coal, which is wrought in the lands near Duntocher, occurs at depths varying from 120 to 200 feet, in seams about five feet in thickness, and of good quality. The limestone, which is also of good quality, is wrought for manure; and there are some quarries of freestone and whinstone in operation. The principal seats within the parish are, Cochno, Edinbarnet, Milton House, Auchintorlie, Auchintoshan, Glenarbuck, Mount-Blow, Barnhill, and Dumbuck, most of which are handsome mansions, finely situated in richly-planted demesnes. The village of Kilpatrick was formerly a burgh of barony, and, by charter under the great seal, dated 1679, was made head of the barony, and invested with power to create burgesses, and appoint bailies for its government. These privileges have long been extinct, though it is not recorded by what means they became obsolete; and the old gaol, with the iron bars on the windows, is now a private house. A post-office has been established under the office at Glasgow; and facility of communication is afforded by the turnpike-road from Dumbarton to Glasgow, which intersects the parish for nearly eight miles; by other good roads; by the Forth and Clyde and the Monkland canals; by the Erskine ferry near Kilpatrick; and by numerous steamers which frequent the Clyde.

   Various branches of manufacture are carried on, to a very great extent, in the several villages within the limits of the parish. The principal works are the cottonmills at Faifley, Duntocher, Milton, and Hardgate, in which 74,045 spindles and 530 power-looms are employed, producing as many as 875,000lb. of yarn, and 2,000,000 yards of cloth annually, and affording occupation to nearly 1500 persons. At Dalmuir are papermills, producing paper of all kinds to the amount of £30,000 annually, and giving employment to 176 persons, of whom one-half are women and children. There are soda-works at Dalmuir-Shore, in which thirty tons of sulphuric acid are produced weekly, and used in the making of bleaching-powder, chloride of lime, and soda: about 100 persons are engaged here. At Milton are an extensive bleachfield and some calico-printing works, in which from 400 to 500 people are employed; and at Cochney were once works for dyeing cotton cloth a Turkey red, and printing them when dyed, in which more than seventy persons were occupied. At BowlingBay is a ship-building yard, where about twenty persons are employed in building sloops of 170 tons' burthen, and vessels for canal navigation; and at Little-Mill, likewise, nearly one hundred people were formerly engaged in building steam-vessels of large dimensions. There is an iron-forge at Faifley, for the manufacture of spades and shovels, in which thirty persons are employed. At Little-Mill and Auchiutoshan are distilleries, in the former of which about 50,000, and in the latter about 16,000, gallons of whisky are annually made. Several handloom-weavers throughout the parish are employed by the Glasgow and Paisley houses; and a considerable number of females are engaged in embroidering muslin.

   The ecclesiastical affairs are under the superintendence of the presbytery of Dumbarton and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. The minister's stipend is £225, with a manse, and a glebe valued at about £40 per annum; patron, Lord Blantyre. The parish church, erected in 1812, is an elegant structure in the later English style of architecture, with a square embattled tower, and contains 750 sittings. A church has been erected at Duntocher, in connexion with the Establishment; and there are places of worship at Old Kilpatrick for members of the Free Church and the Relief; at Duntocher, for the United Secession, Roman Catholics, and the Free Church; and at Faifley, for the United Secession. The parochial schoolmaster has a salary of £34, with a house and garden, and the fees average £15 per annum. There are also schools in several of the villages. On a promontory near the margin of the Clyde are the ruins of the ancient castle of Dunglass, the baronial seat of the Colquhouns, who were lords of the whole lands between it and Dumbarton, which lands constituted the barony of Colquhoun. A little to the west of it, is a lofty basaltic rock of singular form, called Dumbuck, resembling the rock of Dumbarton. In the churchyard is an erect stone, sculptured with the effigy of an armed knight; and in the gardens at Mount-Blow is a monumental cross, on which the figures, from its having been formerly used as a bridge, are much obliterated. There are also numerous vestiges of hill fortresses on the heights, and several tumuli of artificial formation.