Gazetteer of Scotland

LAN
miles S. E. of Glasgow, and 30 W. of
Edinburgh, seated on a slope of
rising ground near to the river Clyde,
about 656 feet above the level of the
sea. It is a very ancient borough, hav-
ing received its charter from Alexander
I. which, together with subsequent
ones from Robert I. and James V. was
finally ratified by Charles I. on the
,20th February 1632. It is governed
by a provost, 2 bailies, a dean of
guild, 13 merchant counsellors, and 7
deacons of trades. There are 5 neat,
and even elegant streets, besides lanes
and closes; and since the introduc-.
.tion of the cotton manufacture, many
new houses have been built. It ap-
pears to have been in former times, a
place of considerable note ; for we
find that, in 978, Kenneth II. held
in it an assembly or parliament, the
first mentioned in Scotish history.
In 1244, it was burnt to the ground ;
but Fordun, who relates the circum-
stance, does not mention the particu-
lars. It was the scene of Sir William
Wallace's first great military exploit ;
having in this town debated and put
to death William de Hesilrig or Hes-
liope, the English sheriff of Lanark-
shire, who had murdered his wife-
Lanark possesses many eligible situa-
tions for erecting machinery; so much
so, that Sir Richard Arkwright, when
here in 1724, exultingly said, " that
in time Lanark would probably be-
come the Manchester of Scotland, as
no place he had ever seen afforded
better situations, or more ample
streams of water for cotton machi-
nery." Lanark unites with Linlith-
gow, Selkirk, and Peebles, in sending
a representative to parliament. It
contains about 2260 inhabitants.
LANARK (NEW), not far from
the borough of, Lanark, was built in
1785, to accommodate the work peo-
ple at the cotton mills, erected there
by the late well known and enterprising
David Dale Esq. of Glasgow. Before
this ground was feued by Mr. Dale,
it was almost a morass,. situated in a
den, and of difficult access. Its only
recommendation was the very power-
ful command of water that the Clyde
could be made to afford it ; in other
respects, the distance from Glasgow,
yid the badness of the roads, made its
situation rather unfavourable. The
jppt raill wis b?eur. in ;:s5 ; and a
LAN
subterraneous passage was formed
through a rocky hill, nearly 100 yards
in length, for the purpose of an aque-
duct. In 1788, a second one was built,
and was nearly roofed in, when the
first one was totally consumed by aa
accidental fire, but was again rebuilt
the ensuing year ; and the proprietor
afterwards erected other two, the ma-
chinery of which is driven by the wa-
ter brought in the same aqueduct.
In these mills 1500 people, (including
women and children) are employed.
Great attention is paid to the morals
of the children and others at the mills.
LANERICK. Vide Lanark.
LANGF ORGAN. /^Long-
FOS.GAN.
LANGHOLM ; a parish in Dum-
fries-shire, situated in the middle of the
district of Eskdale. It is nearly 6-|
miles square, and contains, exclusive
of Halfmorton, about 14,320 acres, of
which - 1000 are under cultivation.
The surface, along the banks of the
Esk, which intersects it from N. to S.
is fiat, well sheltered by plantations,
and having a light loamy soil, cultiva-
ted with care, and yielding the most
luxuriant crops of oats, barley, turnip,
&c. and some wheat on the E. side of
the river, where part of the soil is a
clayey loam. Much the greater part
consists of small hills, covered with
verdure to the summits, and parcelled
out into sheep farms. Besides the di-
stricts already noticed, there is ano-
ther district called Halfmorton, which,
though, belonging to this parish, is com-
pletely separated from it by the inter-
vention of the parishes of Middlebie
and Canobie. This district is about
4 miles square, and is watered by the
Logan and the Sark, both of which
are overhung with beautiful coppices
of natural wood. The soil of this
district is very rich, being a mixture
of moss and clay, which, when well
cultivated and manured with lime,
produces heavy crops. Halfmorton,
besides, possesses large plantations of
various kinds of forest trees, which,
while they shelter the country, and
meliorate the.climate, are equally or-
namental. The number of sheep in
both districts, was calculated in 1703
at 8266, of black cattle about 1161,
of horses 300, and of swine 1 43. The
parish abounds with game of all kinds,
and the woods of Langholm 3 which