Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

CALDER IRON-WORKS
Historically famous for the celebration of the Lord's
Supper in its great hall by John Knox in 1556. The
hall contains a portrait of the Reformer, which, long
regarded as authentic, was, in 1875, pronounced by the
late Mr David Laing to be only a ' bad copy ; ' in the
same apartment there is also a portrait of Mary Queen
of Scots. For more than five centuries a seat of the
Sandilands, Calder House is now held by Jas. Walter
Sandilands, twelfth Baron Torphichen since 1564 (b.
1846 ; sue. 1869), and owner of 1880 acres in the shire,
valued at £3794 per annum, including £500 for minerals.
Calder Iron-works. See Calder, Old Monkland,
Lanarkshire.
Calder, Mid, a village and a parish on the W border
of Edinburghshire. The village stands on a rising
ground, near the left bank of the Almond, which here
receives the confluent Murieston and Linhouse Waters,
2 miles W by N of Midcalder or Kirknewton Junction,
on the Caledonian, this being 11 miles WSW of Edin-
burgh, and 36J E of Glasgow. Backed by the fine
policies of Calder House, it has been greatly improved
within the past few years, all the old thatched and
most of the tiled houses having given place to others of
a more modern style, several fine villas having been
built to the E, and a plentiful supply of water having
been introduced. At it are a post office, with money
order and savings' bank departments, a branch of the
Clydesdale Bank, gas-works, an hotel, the ancient parish
church, a U.P. church (1765), and 2 public schools;
whilst fairs are held here on the second Tuesday of March
and the Friday after the second Tuesday of October.
The parish church, a good Second Pointed building,
with oblong tower, was founded early in the 13th cen-
tury by Duncan, Earl of Fife, was partly rebuilt by
Peter Sandilands in 1541, and has been lately enlarged
and restored at a cost of over £3000 ; at its E end is
the burying-place of the Torphichen family. Pop. of
village (1861) 525, (1871) 579, (1881) 657.
The parish, containing also the village of Bells-
quarry, is bounded N and NE by Uphall in Linlith-
gowshire ; E by Kirknewton, Currie, and an outlying
portion of Kirkliston ; SE by Linton in Peeblesshire ; S
and W by West Calder ; and NW by Livingston in
Linlithgowshire. Its greatest length from N to S is 7J
miles ; its breadth from E to W varies between J and 5|
miles ; and its area is 12,324§ acres, of which 30i are
water. The Almond for 2f miles traces the Livingston
and Kirknewton borders, for 2 flows through the north-
ern interior, and here from the S receives the West
Calder, Harwood, Murieston, Linhouse, and two or three
lesser burns ; while in the furthest S of the parish rise
the head-streams of the Water of Leith. The northern
district is comparatively level, and with a light, dry,
fertile soil, presents an embellished aspect ; the southern
is occupied with the slopes of the Pentlands ; and from
between 300 and 400 feet above sea-level along the
Almond's banks the surface rises southward to East and
West Cairn Hills, 1839 and 1844 feet, on the Peebles-
shire boundary. About one-third of the entire area is
arable ; upwards of 200 acres are under wood ; and a
large aggregate is upland pasture. At Pumpherston,
since 1877, a field of 10 acres has formed an experimental
station of the Highland and Agricultural Society. The
rocks are partly carboniferous and in large measure
eruptive. Coal and rich lead ore have been found ; ex-
cellent sandstone, limestone, and trap rock have been
worked ; and other useful minerals occur. Employment
is also furnished by oil and paper works. Springs of
very fine water are everywhere numerous, whilst slightly
chalybeate springs are plentiful ; and a powerful sul-
phureous spring is on the estate at Letham. Four
tumuli on the banks of the Almond have been regarded
by tradition as memorials of some great ancient battle
in their vicinity. A tolerably well-preserved Roman
camp is on Castle-Gregg Hill, on the S\V border, If
mile SE of Harburn station ; a castle stood at Pum-
pherston ; an ancient double tower is at Cairns ; and
portions of old baronial fortalices are retained in Calder
House and Murieston House ; the former of which is the
CALDER, WEST
prominent feature of the parish. John Spottiswood
(1565-1639), Archbishop of St Andrews, was a native.
Eight proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and
upwards, 9 of between £100 and £500, 4 of from £50 to
to £100, and 12 of from £20 to £50. Midcalder is in
the presbytery of Linlithgow and synod of Lothian and
Tweed dale ; the living is worth £258. Four public
schools — Bellscmarry, Causewayend, and boys' and girls'
schools at the village — with respective accommodation
for 116, 48, 129, and 90 children, had (1880) an average
attendance of 82, 16, 57, and 96, and grants of £74, 17s.,
£31, 2s., £46, 12s. 6d., and £87, 3s. Valuation (1SS1)
£17,431, including £3908 for railways. Pop. (1801)
1014, (1831) 1489, (1861) 1389, (1871) 1634, (1881)
1698.— Orel Sur., sh. 32, 1857.— See J. Sommers'
Account of the Parish of Midcalder (Edinb. 1838).
Caldermill, a village of W Lanarkshire, 3 miles from
its post-town, Strathaven.
Calder, North, a small river partly of Stirling and
Linlithgow shires, but chiefly of Lanarkshire. It issues
from Black Loch on the mutual border of New Monk-
land parish, Lanarkshire, and Slamannan parish, Stir-
lingshire ; winds 2J miles SW along the boundary be-
tween Lanarkshire on the right and Stirring and Lin-
lithgow shires on the left ; turns then wholly into
Lanarkshire ; expands soon into Hillend Reservoir (1J
x f mile) ; and running 13 miles WSW along the bound-
ary between New Monkland and Old Monkland parishes
on the right, and Shotts and Bothwell parishes on the
left, falls into the Clyde at Daldowie, 1J mile NW of
TJddingstone. Its banks, over nearly the whole of its
romantic course of about 16 miles, are bold, picturesque,
and beautifully wooded ; and are adorned, in several
places, with splendid parks or mansions. Its waters
contain trout. — Ord. Sur,, sh. 31, 1867.
Calder, Rotten, the lower part of Calder Water in
the NW of Lanarkshire, so named because joined by the
Rotten Burn where it enters the parish of Blantyre, 2
miles SE of East Kilbride.
Calderside, a property on the western border of Blan-
tyre parish, Lanarkshire. Coal has been worked here on
a small scale ; a silicified tree is near, rising out of the
bed of the Rotten Calder ; and there is also here a curious
conical hillock, the Campknowe, anciently fortified by the
Caledonians.
Calder, South, a small river rising on moors con-
tiguous to Linlithgowshire, 2 miles ENE of Shotts Iron-
works. Thence it runs about 11 miles W by S along
the boundary between Shotts and Bothwell parishes on
the right, and Cambusnethan and Dalziel parishes on
the left ; and falls into the Clyde 1J mile above Both-
well Bridge. Its vale displays much beauty, both natural
and artificial ; and its waters contain trout, but offer no
high attraction to the angler. A viaduct of the Cale-
donian railway crosses it f mile N of Motherwell, and is
a grand, long, lofty, stone structure of 1857. Another
viaduct, at present on the main line of the Caledonian
railway, but originally erected for the Wishaw and Colt-
ness railway, stands a short distance higher up, and is a
gaunt, slender, wooden pile, resting on tall stone piers.
See also Bothwell. — Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
Calder, West, a town and a parish in the extreme W
of Edinburghshire. The town stands, at 550 feet above
sea-level, on the right bank of the West Calder Burn,
and has a station on the Edinburgh and Glasgow direct
section of the Caledonian, 5J miles WSW of Midcalder
Junction, 16 WSW of Edinburgh, and 31| E of Glas-
gow. Since 1861 it has undergone great and rapid
extension, chiefly in connection with neighbouring
mineral works ; at it are a post office, with money order,
savings' bank, and telegraph departments, a branch of
the Commercial Bank, a reading-room, a new parish
church (1880), a new Free church (1882), a new U.P.
church (1872), and the Roman Catholic church of Our
Lady and St Bridget (1877). A public and a Roman
Catholic school, with respective accommodation for 516
and 204 children, had (18S0) an average attendance of
481 and 131, and grants of £438, 18s. 6d. and £99, 17s.
Pop. (1851) 434, (1861) 476, (1871) 2432, (1881) 2291.
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