Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GOVAN
starting-point on the Kelvin. From tlie Malls Mire
Burn W, N, and NE to the Kelvin, the boundary of tlie
parish coincides witli that of the counties, except for
about a mile immediately to the S of the Malls Mire
Fire-brick Works, and for a distance of about 2 miles to
the W of Strathbungo, past the S side of Haggs Castle.
The Clyde divides the parish into two unequal parts,
the larger extending along the S side of the Clyde with
a length of 6i miles, and a breadth at its widest part,
near the centre, of If mile ; the smaller on the N bank
of the Clyde W of the Kelvin, and measuring in its
greatest length (along the Great Western Road, W of
Kelvin Bridge) 2J miles, and in its greatest breadth
(from Whiteinch on the SW to the point on the N
where the county of Dumbarton reaches the Kelvin) 2J
miles. The total area is 6940 acres distributed thus : —
land 6281 acres, public roads 340 acres, railways 112
acres, foreshore 18 acres, water 37 acres, and tidal water
152acres. Ofthis5738 acresareinLanarkshire, andl202
in Renfrewshire. Govan is here taken as including tlie
small parish of Gorbals, which has been for a long time
ecclesiastically distinct, and also had, for a considerable
period, as is noticed in the article Glasgow, a separate
jurisdiction. The inhabitants of Gorbals, about 1727,
found themselves numerous enough to think of building
a church for themselves, and this having been begun the
heritors of Govan granted the prayer of a petition from
the feuars, elders, and inhabitants of Gorbals, asking
that their district should be formed into a new parish.
The church was opened in 1730, but, owing to opposi-
tion from the magistrates of Glasgow — who were supe-
riors of the barony of Gorbals, and who had offered to
' pay the expense of the building of the church, and to
give a stipend and manse to the entrant ' if the inhabi-
tants of the Bridgend would only ' bear Scot and lot
with them ' — and from the University authorities, who
were patrons of Govan, it was not till 1771 that the
new parish of Gorbals was disjoined and erected. The
lands of Little Govan and Polmadie were in the same
year joined to it quoad sacra, and so matters remained
till 1873 when the Board of Supervision reunited the
two for poor law purposes in what is now known as
Govan Combination. The parish of Gorbals 'is very
small, having an area of only 28 '489 acres, but it is very
densely populated.
The surface of Govan is irregular. Along the Clyde it
is low and flat, varying in height from 19 (Clyde view)
to 24 feet (Govan burgh) above sea-level, but from this
it rises to the N and S, reaching in the former direction
a height of 214 feet near the county boundary, and, in
the latter, of 165 feet at Ibroxhill, 170 at Haggbowse,
and 137 at Titwood. With the exception of Barony
parish in Glasgow, Govan is the most important and
populous parish in Scotland, as well as the most valu-
able, and, from the rapid strides it has of late been
making, it is more than probable that at no very distant
date it will reach the foremost position. This progress
arises from the great change that has, within less than
half a century, taken place in its industries. Prior to
1840 there were on an average 4320 acres under crops of
various kinds, and, besides this, there were many
gardens and orchards, the produce of which went to
Glasgow for sale. Now the agricultural area is very
materially diminished, and is growing less from year to
year, while the area occupied by buildings of various
kinds has rapidly and largely increased. Of the total
valuation of the parish the portion set down as arising
from agricultural land is only about the one-hundredth
part, while the remaining -fi^j arise from the built area,
and this will ere long, when the proposed now docks are
erected at Cessnock in the Plantation district, he mate-
rially increased. The built area includes, on the N side
of the Clyde, the burghs of Partick and Hillhead, and
the districts of Dowanhill, Kelvinside, and AVhiteinch ;
and, on the S side of the river, all the part of Glasgow
known as the South Side (and containing the districts of
Hutchesontown, Gorbals, Laurieston, and Tradeston),
the police burghs of Govan, Kinning Park, Cross-
hill, Govanhill, East Pollokshields and West Pollok-
GOVAN
-., the distr
Plantation.
History, etc. — The etymology of the name is uncer-
tain. In 1518 we find it spelled Gwuan, and Leslie, in
his Scotim Dcscripiio (1578), says that the parish got its
name from the excellence of its ale (A.-S. God-win),
while Chalmers, in his Caledonia, advances the Gaelic
Gamhan, meaning a ditch. How the parish came to
be divided between two counties is not known. It has
been asserted that the whole lay originally within the
county of Lanark, but that in 1677 the lands of Haggs,
Titwood, and Shields were transferred to the county of
Renfrew, ' for the convenience of Sir George Maxwell '
of PoUok, to whom they belonged. This, however,
cannot be the case, as these lands are, in the original
charter granted by the Archbishop of Glasgow in 1581,
described as in Renfrewshire. The appearance of the
district in late prehistoric times has already been
alluded to in the article Glasgow, but in connection
with this it may here be noticed that in the parish of
Govan there are beds of finely laminated clay and sand
at different places at considerable heights above the
sea. In beds of clay at Balshagry and Gartnavel, about
90 feet above sea-level, the late Mr Smith of Jordan-
hill found marine shells, of which 10 per cent, were of
types now living in colder seas. Whiteinch was, as the
name implies, formerly an island, as was also part of
the lands of Meadowside, and islands they remained till
late in the historic period. There is mention made of
the islands between Govan and Partick in one of the
docirments in the chartulary of Glasgow, and in the
map in Blaeu's Atlas, published in 1654, Wliiteinch
and a number of islands adjacent are shown, as are also
villages at Partick, ' Little Gouan,' at the S end of
Glasgow Bridge, and 'Mekle Gouan,' where the pre-
sent burgh stands. This map also shows the parish
intersected by a small stream which entered the Clyde
opposite Stobcross. The land at Whiteinch was, till
near the middle of the present century, very low, but
about 1840 the Clyde Trustees got permission to deposit
dredged material on it, and in this way the level over a
space of 69 acres was raised from 10 to 15 feet.
The earliest notices of Govan that are to be found are
in connection with church matters. In 1136, when
Glasgow Cathedral was formally consecrated. King
David gave to the See the lands of Perteyc and also
of Govan {Guvan mm suis divisis), and Bishop Herbert
(1147-64) erected the church into a prebend, and be-
stowed it on his chaplain, and from this time onward
to the Reformation we find frequent mention of various
prebendaries of the parish. In 1319 we find Edward II.
jilaying with the assumption of the power over Scot-
land that had been lost for ever, and nominating
' Johannes de Lund, ' or Lundy, prebendary of Govan,
but the presentee probably never appeared in his bene-
fice. In 1525 Walter Betoun was 'Rector de Gowan,'
and in 1527 he assisted at St Andrews at the trial of
Patrick Hamilton. His successor, Stephen Beatoun,
presented to the charge by Queen Mary in 1561, was
the last of the Roman Catholic clergymen. He was
permitted to retain the temporalities of the benefice as
long as he lived, and as, immediately before his death,
he gave a lease of the teinds to his brother, the latter
managed to retain them for other nineteen years, to the
great loss of the University of Glasgow, to which they
had been granted.
After the Reformation Govan had a succession of
eminent ministers. "When the revenues of the vicarage
of Govan were granted to the University, one of the
conditions attached was that the principal of the Uni-
versity should preach at Govan every Sunday, and so
practically be minister of the parish, though there was
also an 'exhortar.' ' AVe have,' says the king in the
charter, ' thought it to be right, when our college is
supported out of the tythes and revenues of that church,
that they who provide temporal things should receive
spiritual things, and not be defrauded of the bread of
life, which is the word of God.' The principal of the
University, when this grant was made, was the cele-
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