PARISH OF BALDERNOCK

PRESBYTERY OF DUMBARTON, SYNOD OF GLASGOW AND AYR.

THE REV. JOHN POLLOCK, MINISTER.*

I-TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

Name, &c.-The name is obviously of Celtic origin, and is supposed to be a corruption of Baldruinick, signifying Druid's-town,-a supposition which some Druidical remains in the parish render highly probable. History, so far back as the thirteenth century, mentions the Galbraiths of Bathernock, a barony in the neighbour-hood, and seemingly a corruption of the original name; which family, ending in an heiress, the estate, about the beginning of the fourteenth century, passed by marriage to David, son of Lord Hamilton, and ancestor of the late Dr Francis Hamilton. Since that time, the proprietors have taken the title of Bardowie, from their residence in the parish. When the name Baldernock was given, is uncertain; but the original boundaries were very small, till the year 1649, when the eastern half of the parish, disjoined from Campsie, was annexed quoad sacra to Baldernock. The greatest length of the parish is four miles; breadth, three miles.

Boundaries, &c.-In shape, it is a very irregular, three-sided figure; bounded on the west side, by East Kilpatrick and Strathblane; on the south, by the rivers Allander and Kelvin, which, here running in different directions, the former east, the latter west, meet and blend on the lower part of the southern border of the parish, separating it from Cadder. On the side fronting north and east, it is bounded by Campsie. Few parishes exhibit a surface or soil so exceedingly diversified. It consists of three very different stages, rising from the river Kelvin on the south towards Campsie; north, tapering at the east; and widening towards the west. The first stage contains 700 or 800 acres of rich flat dark-brown loam, seemingly a deposition of vegetable mould from the higher ground, and running alongside of the Kelvin. These grounds are commonly known by the name of the Balmore Haughs, most of which are possessed by proprietors whose ancestors, in feudal time; and at a very moderate rent, feued from the House of Montrose, and resided in Balmore, but who are now, in more peaceful times, scattered along the property. The second stage gradually ascends towards the north, and is pleasantly diversified by gently swelling knolls. It contains more acres than the first, and is clay soil over till, which, being mixed with heavy clay and stones, is hard and retentive of moisture. The third, or highest stage, is at bottom a light sharp soil over whin-rock, with a few patches of croft and moss land, but towards the height is moorish ground, rising more than 300 feet above the level of the sea,-whence there is a commanding prospect in all directions, especially towards the south.

The whole of the parish has a southern exposure, sloping froth north to south. Its climate is exceedingly salubrious, its inhabitants free from disease, and many of them long-lived,-the united ages of fourteen of them amounting to 1150 years.

Mineralogy.-The minerals are coal, lime, ironstone, of various kinds, fire-clay, pyrites, and alum-ore. The different strata of these, when undisturbed by incidental troubles, follow, at a certain angle, the general elevation of the surface, with a dip to the south or south-east, towards the bed of the Kelvin. Towards the north-west and higher grounds, these strata are cut off by the primitive rock, but, towards the east, they join and form a continuation of the extensive coal-fields of Campsie. The general thickness of the coal and lime, wrought here for more than 150 years, is between 3 and 4 feet, and commonly found from 12 to 24 feet beneath the surface, covered with a mass of argillaceous slate traversed by bands of ironstone, and immediately above the lime by a stratum of calcareous freestone, which is a roof to the mines. Till lately, the ironstone principally wrought was the common argillaceous kind, found in layers of from 3 to 7 inches thick; but lately, there has been discovered in the coal mines of Barraston, the property of Robert Hendry, Esq. a more valuable species of iron-ore, long considered peculiar to the mines near Airdrie, where it was first discovered by the ingenious Mr Mushet about thirty years ago, and proves to be a combination of iron with carbonaceous matter, but richer in metal than any ore yet analyzed in this part of the island. The fire-clay is found in a bed of from 8 to 10 feet thick, and, for many years, has been manufactured into bricks of a very superior quality, in resisting the action of the fire. The local mines afford an inexhaustible supply of pyrites and alum-ore, which has induced the Hurlet and Campsie Alum Company to establish here a copperas work, as a branch of their extensive manufacture.

*Drawn up by the Rev. D. Macintyre, A. M. Parochial Teacher, during the incumbency of the late Mr McEwen.

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