Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

POLLA
the older part is known to be of earlier date than 1620,
when the estate was sold by the Shaws to the Baillies.
Its present proprietor, Sir William Baillie, second Bart,
since 1823 (b. 1816 ; sue. 1854), was Protectionist M.P.
for the county 1845-47, and holds in it 4320 acres,
valued at £6382 per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 31,
1867. See John Small's Castles and Mansions of the
Lothians (Edinb. 1883).
Polla. See Durness.
Pollewe. See Poolewb.
Pollok Castle, a mansion in Mearns parish, Renfrew-
shire, 2J miles SE of Barrhead. Crowning a rising
ground, among fine old trees, and commanding an ex-
tensive view, it was a chateau-like four-storied edifice,
erected in the latter half of the 17th century, and twice
enlarged, on the last occasion in 1856 ; but on the
night of 31 July 1882 it was wholly destroyed by fire,
the damage being estimated at £30,000. Its owner,
Sir Hew Crawfurd-Pollok, ninth Bart, since 1638 (b. 1843 ;
sue. 1867), represents the ancient families of Pollok of
Pollok and Crawfurd of Kilbirnie and Jordanhill,
both dating from the 12th century, his great grand-
mother, Robina Pollok, having married Sir Hew Craw-
furd of Jordanhill soon after the middle of last century.
He holds 2855 acres in the shire, valued at £3399 per
annum.— Ord. Sur., sh. 22, 1865.
Pollok House, a mansion in Eastwood parish, Ren-
frewshire, near the right bank of the White Cart, li
mile WNW of Pollokshaws. Erected in 1747-52, it is
a plain quadrangular four-storied building, with beauti-
ful grounds, and on 15 Aug. 1859 was honoured
by a visit from the Prince of Wales. Pollok formed
part of the broad estates that were granted by David I.
to Walter the High Steward about the year 1124.
The superiority was acquired by Rolland de Mearns,
and afterwards by the Maxwells of Caerlaverock ;
and about 1270 the lower division of Pollok, commonly
called Nether Pollok, was given by Sir Aymer Maxwell
of Maxwell, Caerlaverock, and Mearns, to his younger
son, Sir John Maxwell, the first of the Maxwells of
Pollok. Among his descendants, who by marriage
were allied to royalty, were the brave young Sir John,
who earned his spurs well at Otterburn (1388) ; Sir
John, who fell at the Battle of Dryfe Sands (1593) ; Sir
George, for bewitching whom, in 1677, five persons were
strangled and burnt ; Sir John, created a baronet in
1682 ; and Sir John, the eighth Bart. (1791-1865), at
whose death the estate and the baronetcy devolved on
his nephew, William Stirling, Esq. of Keir. From
him, the late Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, the estate of
Pollok passed in 1878 to his younger son, Archibald (b.
1S67). —Ord. Sur., ah. 30, 1866. See Eastwood, Keir,
Crookston, Darnley, Haggs Castle ; Dr Win.
Fraser's Memoirs of the Maxwells of Keir (2 vols.,
Edinb., 1865); and his Cartulary of Pollok-Maxwell
(Edinb. 1875).
Pollokshaws, a town and a quoad sacra parish in the
civil parish of Eastwood, Renfrewshire. The town,
popularly known as the Shaws, is on the White Cart,
where it is joined by Auldhouse Burn, and has a station
on the Glasgow, Barrhead, and Kilmarnock railway, 3
miles SSW of Glasgow. With a pleasant situation in
the midst of an undulating and fertile tract of country,
it is a seat of manufacturing industry. A print-
field, one of the earliest in Scotland, was established in
1742, and bleaching and handloom weaving, which
were introduced soon after, were long extensively car-
ried on. A tannery for the manufacture of chamois
leather, which was begun in 1782, and was the earliest
in Scotland, did not prosper. A cotton mill, erected
about the end of last century, was the first in Scotland
lighted with gas. Calico printing, which was long car-
ried on, having declined, turkey-red dyeing took its
place, and was vigorously carried on till 1837, when it
was given up, and since then the staple industries have
been cotton-spinning, power-loom weaving, bleachfields,
print-works, paper-mills, and iron-foundries. The bridge
over the Cart dates from 1654, but it has since been
■widened and repaired. The town-house, with its spire,
POLMONT
and the trades' hall, do not call for particular notice.
The quoad sacra parish church, originally Auldfield
chapel of ease, in King Street, was built in 1840. East-
wood parish church, on the SW, built in 1862-63 at a
cost of £3500, is a good Early English structure with
1050 sittings, nave and transepts, and a tower and
spire 130 feet high at the W end. It superseded an
older church of 1781, and was reopened in March 1877,
after improvements, including a three-light stained
window, new choir seats, etc. There are also two Free
churches in King Street and Rosendale Road, aU.P.
church, an Original Secession church, and the Roman
Catholic church of St Mary Immaculate (1865 ; 800
sittings; redecorated 1884), but none of them call for
particular notice. Four schools — the Academy, public,
infant, and Roman Catholic — with respective accom-
modation for 700, 471, 150, and 327 pupils, had (1884)
an average attendance of 352, 362, 123, and 269, and
grants of £355, 19s. , £299, 3s. , £87, 8s. , and £233, 17s. 6d.
The town was erected into a burgh of barony by Crown
charter in 1814, the council consisting of a provost, a
bailie, and six councillors, being elected by all inhabitants
paying £4 of rent and upwards ; but the municipal govern-
ment is now carried on by the commissioners appointed
under the General Police and Improvement Act. Water
is supplied from the Glasgow waterworks ; and gas is pro-
vided from works carried on by a joint-stock company.
There is a post office, with money order, savings' bank,
and telegraph departments, under Glasgow, branch offices
of the Clydesdale and Commercial Banks, agencies of
8 insurance companies, a public library, established in
1844, an abstainers' hall, a young men's literary and
mutual improvement association, a trades' friendly
society, a district Sabbath School Union, a tract society,
a destitute sick society, and some other institutions. A
sheriff small debt court is held on the second Friday of
every month, and a justice of peace court on the first
Tuesday of every month. Pop. of town (1831) 4627,
(1861) 7648, (1871) 8921, (1881) 9363, of whom 5056
were females, and 6402 were in Pollokshaws quoad sacra
parish. Houses (1881) 2058 inhabited, 170 vacant, 9
building.— Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1S66.
Pollokshields. See Govan.
Polmaily House, a mansion in Urquhart parish,
Inverness-shire, near the left bank of the Enrick, 2
miles W by N of Drumnadrochit.
Polmaise Castle, a mansion in St Ninians parish,
Stirlingshire, near the right bank of the meandering
Forth, 3 miles ESE of Stirling. About 1568, William
Murray of Touehadam married a daughter and co-heiress
of James Cuninghame of Polmaise ; and their descendant,
Lieut. -Col. John Murray (b. 1831 ; sue. 1862), holds
6813 acres in the shire, valued at £9894 per annum. —
Ord. Sur., sh. 39, 1869.
Polmont (Gael, jpoll-monaidh, 'pool of the hill'), a
village and a parish of E Stirlingshire. The village stands
f mile NNE of Polmont Junction on the North British
railway, this being 4| miles W by N of Linlithgow, 22£
W by N of Edinburgh, 3 E by S of Falkirk, and 25 ENE
of Glasgow. It has a post office, with money order,
savings' bank, and telegraph departments. Pop. (1861)
429, (1871) 455, (1881) 519.
The parish, containing also a small portion of Grange-
mouth, and the villages of Craigs, Redding, East
Shieldhill, and Wallacestone, was disjoined from Fal-
kirk in 1724. It is bounded NE by the Firth of Forth
and Borrowstounness in Linlithgowshire, SE by Muir-
avonside, and SW and NW by Falkirk. Its utmost
length, from NE to SW, is 6J miles ; its breadth varies
between 2J furlongs and 3J miles ; and its area is 7289J
acres, of which 1697S are foreshore and 79J water. The
Firth of Forth, which washes the parish for a dis-
tance of 2 miles, from the mouth of the Carron to that
of the Avon, is fringed at low water by an expanse of
foreshore, 7 furlongs to 2 miles broad. The Avon
winds 5J miles west-north-westward and north-eastward
along all the Linlithgowshire border ; Grange or West-
quarter Burn flows 3J miles north-north-westward,
mainly along the Falkirk boundary, to the mouth of the
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