Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

K I L B
K I L C
leather was once carried on here, affording employment
to a dozen persons ; but the inhabitants are now chiefly
occupied in weaving for the manufacturers of Glasgow
and Paisley, in which more than one hundred hand-
looms are constantly at work ; and a large portion of the
female population are engaged in sewing and embroider-
ing muslins. A few lobsters are taken in the season,
and sent to the Glasgow market, and herrings are occa-
sionally taken in large quantities ; the other fish are,
cod, whiting, mackerel, and a few others, but they are
not in any great abundance. The streams that flow
through the parish abound in trout of good quality. A
small quay was constructed at Portincross some years
since, at the expense of the proprietor ; it is accessible
at high water to vessels of forty or fifty tons. The
Clyde steamers from Glasgow to Ardrossan and Ayr pass
by the coast, and facility of intercourse with the neigh-
bouring towns is maintained by good roads, of which
the turnpike-roads to Greenock and Portpatriek run
through the whole length of the parish, and a line from
the village communicates with the road to Glasgow at
the village of Dairy.
The parish is in the presbytery of Irvine and synod of
Glasgow and Ayr ; the minister's stipend is £203. 12.,
with a manse, and a glebe valued at £13. 12. per annum.
The church, situated on a gentle eminence in the centre
of the village, was rebuilt in 1/32 ; subsequent additions
have been made to it, and within the last few years an
aisle has been erected by voluntary subscriptions. It is
now adapted for a congregation of S00 persons. There
are places of worship for members of the Free Church
and the United Secession. The parochial school affords
instruction to about 130 children; the master has a
salary of £27. 17- S., with £40 fees, and a house and
garden. There are three friendly societies, which tend
to diminish the number of applications for parochial
relief. Along the steep banks opposite the sea are several
circular mounds, at unequal distances, called the Castle
Hills; the area on the summit, about forty feet in dia-
meter, is inclosed with walls of undressed stone. Their
origin is uncertain ; by some they are ascribed to the
Danes, by others referred to a more remote period. Tu-
muli have been explored in various places, containing urus
with calcined bones and ashes ; and in forming the new
line of road along the coast, some few years since, four
entire urns, rudely formed of coarse red clay, were dug
out of a stratum of gravel. A silver brooch, of exquisitely
delicate workmanship, and bearing an inscription in
Runic characters, was found at Hunterston a few years
since. The walls of the ancient castle of Portincross
are still tolerably entire, and form a singularly romantic
object, standing on a ledge of rock projecting into the
sea ; it is supposed to have been a residence of the
Scottish kings. One of the large ships of the Spanish
armada sank near the promontory, in ten fathoms of
water ; and an iron cannon which, with others, was
recovered from the wreck, is still remaining on the
beach : the arms of Spain, and a crown engraved on
it, may be faintly traced. On an eminence overlooking
the village of Kilbride, are the remains of a very stately
tower called Law Castle, the walls of which are in perfect
preservation. Dr. Robert Simson, professor of ma-
thematics in the university of Glasgow, and the \vell-
known translator of Euclid, is thought to have been a
native of the parish. General Robert Boyd, lieutenant-
Vol. II.— 25
governor of Gibraltar during the siege of that fortress
in 1/S2, was born here; and it is supposed that John
Hunter, the celebrated physician, was descended from
the Hunterston family of this place.
KILBUCHO, county of Peebles. — SeeBnorGHTON.
KILCADZOW, a village, in the parish of Carluke,
Upper ward of the county of Lanark, 2 miles (E. S. E.)
from Carluke ; containing 160 inhabitants. It lies in
the south-eastern part of the parish, on the high road
from Carstairs to Carluke. Limestone of excellent quality
abounds in its neighbourhood. Kilcadzow Law, the
most elevated hill in the parish, is about 900 feet above
the level of high water; and from its summit is a wide
and magnificent view of the surrounding country. The
Roman road which passed through Clydesdale to the
western extremity of the wall of Antoninus may be traced
here.
KILCALMONELL and KILBERRY, a parish, in
the county of Argyll ; containing, with the village of
Tarbert, 3325 inhabitants. The former of these two
ancient parishes, now united, derives its name from the
Gaelic term signifying " the burial-place of Malcolm
O'Neill." The word Kilberry is by some traced to the
compound term Cill-a-Mhairi, "the burial-place of Mary."
The district of Kilcalmonell is situated at the northern
extremity of the peninsula of Cantyre ; it stretches to
Loch Fine on the north-east, and is bounded on the
north-west, nearly throughout its whole length, by West
Loch Tarbert and the Atlantic Ocean : it is about sixteen
miles long, and two and a half or three broad. Kilberry
approaches, in figure, to an equilateral triangle, each
side measuring eight miles, and is situated in the district
of Knapdale ; it is separated from Kilcalmonell by West
Loch Tarbert, and bounded by the sea or the loch on
all sides, except the north-east. The surface of Kilcal-
monell is irregular and varied, rising in some parts with
a gentle acclivity, and in others much more abruptly,
and terminating in a hilly range on the south-east, about
1500 feet high; it is diversified occasionally by low
valleys, 100 or 150 feet above the level of the sea. The
coast of this part of the parish is sandy, and altogether
uniform and uninteresting, except in the vicinity of
Loch Tarbert, where birch, alder, and other trees, dis-
playing a wild profusion of foliage, relieve the tameness
of the scenery. In the Kilberry district is a ridge of
lofty hills running from west to east, and increasing in
elevation, in a gradual manner, till it reaches Sliobh-
ghoil. One of the two bases of this height spreads itself
out into a large tract of sterile moorland, while the
other affords a striking contrast in the superiority of its
soil, and its eligibility for agricultural operations. The
shore presented to the Atlantic is bold. The only bay
of consequence in the parish is Storiwway, near which is
the headland of Ardpatrick, the landing-place, accord-
ing to tradition, of St. Patrick, on his way from Ireland
to Icolmkill. West Loch Tarbert, which divides the two
parochial districts, is a branch of the Atlantic, nine
miles long and one broad : at the northern extremity
stands the populous fishing-town of Tarbert, where a
narrow isthmus, separating East Loch Tarbert from
West Loch Tarbert, makes Cantyre a peninsula. There
are several fresh-water lochs ; but they are small and
unimportant, and contribute little to the improvement
of the generally unattractive scenery.
A few of the farms are well cultivated : potatoes con-
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