Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GOVAN
GOVAN
brated Andrew Melvil, and according to the account
given by his nephew, James, in his Diary, the Regent
Morton was in his action in the matter exercising some
political finesse. James Melvil says that this ' guid
benefice, paying four-and-twentie chalder of victuall,'
was offered to his uncle, if he would only keep his views
of church government in the background. When this
was refused the appointment was kept open for two
years, dangling as a sort of bait before the eyes of the
worthy principal. Morton finding this all in vain, at
length granted the revenues to the University vnth. the
above-mentioned condition as regards the church ser-
vices, hoping thus in an indirect way ' to demearit Mr
Andro, and cause him relent from dealling against
bischopes ; but God keepit his awin servant in upright-
ness and treuthe in the middis of manie heavie tenta-
tiones.' When Melvil was transferred to St Andrews
in 1580 he was succeeded by Thomas Smeton, after
whom came Patrick Sharpe and Robert Boyd, the last of
the principals of the University, who also was minister
of Govan. Complaint had been made as early as 1596,
and again in 1606, that there was no one 'to teiche ye
youthe of ye parochin of Govane dwelland besyde ye
kirk yairof,' and when Charles I. granted a charter of
confirmation to the University in 1630 (ratified 1633)
special power was given to the University authorities
'of electing, nominating, presenting, and accepting
for the proper service of the cure at the said church of
Govan, a minister who shall take up his actual resi-
dence at the said church. ' This power had been acted
on previously, for a James Sharpe had been appointed
minister in 1621 ; and in 1637 the stipend was assigned
of ' fy ve hundredth merks usuall money of the realrae,
twentie-fonr boUis bere, and eight boUis meil . . .
togedder with ye whole mailis and duties to be payed
to ye tacksman of ye vicarage of the small teinds,' while
the University connection was maintained by the con-
dition that the minister should in the 'common schools'
of the college read a public lecture on some subject pre-
scribed by the authorities. Of the succeeding ministers,
the most eminent were Hugh Binning (1649-54), Alex-
ander Jamieson (1659-62), William Thom (1746-91),
and M. Leishman (1821-74). Mr Binning became, in
1646, at the age of nineteen, Regent of Philosophy in
Glasgow University, and minister of Govan three
j'ears later. He is said to have been one of the
ministers who was present at a dispute held at Glas-
gow with Owen and Caryl, the chaplains of Oliver
Cromwell, during the Protector's visit to Glasgow in
1651, and on that occasion his boldness and quickness
were too much for the Independent divines, and caused
Cromwell to inquire who that learned and bold young
man was. On being told, his remark was, ' He hath
bound well, indeed, but this [his sword] will loose all
again.' Mr Thom was an active and vigorous minister,
and became popular, notwithstanding a considerable
amount of feeling caused by a dispute about his settle-
ment. It seems to have been customary at that time
to let vacant farms by a sort of public roup, the highest
bidder becoming the tenant, and as the bidders were
generally well plied with drink beforehand, the rents in
many cases were exorbitant, and out of all proportion to
the value. This system Thom denounced in plain and
energetic language, while, as a method of relief for the
farmers and cottars, he warmly recommended emigra-
tion, particularly to North America, which he looked
on as destined to become the future centre of the British
Government.
This was little more than a hundred years ago, and
yet things have changed greatly since then. ' Once
upon a time, ' says Mr Wallace, ' and that too almost
within the lifetime of our immediate forefatliers, the
parish of Govan was almost entirely an agricultural
parish, and its population were a plain simple rural
population. Only a century ago the population of the
entire parish, even including Gorbals, which, as we
have seen, was at that time incorporated with it, was
only 4389. It will be easily seen from this fact that
the greater portion of the parish which is now teeming
204
with myriads of human beings, and resounding from
one end to the other with the clanking of hammers,
the roar of traffic, and the incessant hum of general
business and activity was then reposing in aU the
quietude and somnolency of purely primitive life.
The now large and populous south-side of Glasgow was
then an insignificant country village, with no industry
greater than a distillery for the brewing of ale, a bottle-
work, or a fewhandloom factories. The dwelling-houses
of the people were thatched with straw, and most of
them had small gardens attached to them, where the
cottagers reared their own potatoes and cabbages.
Many of the inhabitants kept their own cows and pigs,
and they earned their scanty livings either in tilling
the land or in those other trades such as tailoring,
shoemaking, coopering, and weaving, which are essen-
tial even to the most simple modes of existence. There
was a thriving village then situated at a considerable dis-
tance to the south of the Clyde laiown as "Little Govan,"
consisting of a number of weavers' cottages, but which
afterwards, through the enterprise of two families of
the names of Rae and Dixon, became the centre of a
large coal and iron district, which gave a great impetus
to the growth and prosperity of that portion of the
parish, and even contributed largely to the importance
of the city of Glasgow itself Dixon's Ironworks, or
"Dixon's Blazes," as they are commonly called, were at
the time of their first erection situated far out in the
open country, whereas now the buildings and popu-
lation extend beyond them for nearly a mile. Close to
the river Clyde where Carlton Place now stands there
was an extensive rope work, while opposite the present
Gorbals Church there was a shallow ford, where horses
were led to the watering, and where horses and carts
were driven across to the city when the Glasgow bridge
was too rickety or too crowded to accommodate the
influx of traffic from the country on the market-days,
and then too the schoolboys could wade across the
river without thinking they had done any wonderful
feat. Afterwards the Lauries of Laurieston and other
leading gentlemen erected a few commodious mansion-
houses by the river side, which might then be almost
termed country residences. A fine avenue of trees was
formed, and these mansions were guarded against the
public by a gateway erected near the present Broomie-
law Bridge. In those days the male villagers of Govan
and Gorbals took their turn nightly in acting as volun-
tary police and guardians of the peace. Their funds
were raised by a voluntary tax, called "Reek Money,"
and by another small tax upon malt. '
But this sleepy state of existence was soon to come to
an end. The deepening of the Clyde was just begun ;
and now, in place of the fords already mentioned, and
another at the W, where the parish boundary crosses
the Clyde, known as Marline Ford, there is a depth of
24 feet of water. The Comet was by-and-by to make
her first adventurous voyage from Greenock to Glasgow,
and to be the forerunner of the gi-eat fleet that now
sweeps up and down the river, and that has brought
such prosperity to Glasgow, and, above all, drawn the
shipbuilding yards in its train. And yet all this came
at first slowly ; for when Dr Leishman -ivi-ote the article
on Govan, in the New Statistical Account, in 1840, the
industries, etc., he mentions are — agriculture, which
was the main occupation in the parish ; the salmon
fishery in the Clyde, which was rapidly falling off, the
rent paid by the tacksman having decreased from over
£300 in the beginning of the century to £60 at the time
of his writing ; cotton bleaching and printing factories
in Hutchesontown and Tradeston ; a silk factory at
Tradeston, and a carpet factory at Port Eglinton, em-
ploying altogether over 5000 hands ; Mr Dixon's iron-
works, with four furnaces and an annual output of 4000
tons of pig-iron ; a dye-work in the village of Govan,
and handloom weaving also in the village. He men-
tions, besides, a new granite-faced quay on the south ^t
side of the river, and says that it will soon have to be H
enlarged, and this is all. This quay was to the W of
Glasgow Bridge, and was erected first of timber in 1828,