Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

HOTJEN
the North British railway, 3 miles WNW of Reston
station, and 3 ESE of Grant's House station, its post-
town. It consists of the quoad sacra parish church
(1836 ; 500 sittings), a Free church (370 sittings), and
a few detached houses, scattered over a length of about
£ mile. The quoad sacra parish, comprising about one-
half of Coldingham, was constituted by ecclesiastical
authority in 1836, by civil authority in 1851 ; contains
the mansions of Houndwood House, Newmams, Berry-
bank, Sunnyside, Coveyheugh, Stoneshiel, Fairlaw
House, and Renton House ; has vestiges of two or more
old towers, one of them a hunting-seat of the priors of
Coldingham ; and is in the presbytery of Chirnside and
synod of Merse and Teviotdale. The stipend is £120.
Three public schools — Auchincraw, Renton, and Reston
— with respective accommodation for 104, 103, and 110
children, had (1881) an average attendance of 43, 76,
and 83, and grants of £38, 12s., £72, 15s., and £71,
Is. 6d. Pop. of q. s. parish (1871) 1517, (1881) 1516.—
Ord. Sur., sh. 34, 1864.
Hourn, a sea-loch in Glenelg parish, Inverness-shire,
dividing Glenelg proper from Knoydart. Opening from
Sleat Sound, at a point 6 miles SW of Glenelg village,
and penetrating 14 miles east-south-eastward, it makes
three successive sweeps in three different directions, and
contracts somewhat regularly from a width of 3| miles at
the entrance to a width of only 1 J furlong at the head.
' The situation of this estuary is one of great natural
grandeur, and the high walls of mountain that overhang
it may well have given the idea of gloom and horror
conveyed in its singular name — the "Lake of Hell."
The glen itself is a deep and cavernous cleft, the loch
beginning as a narrow channel, with walls of precipice
on either side, often just redeemed from utter harshness
by the pines which keep a precarious footing wherever
they can. . . . Point after point, precipice after preci-
pice, stands out each a mailed head with its dark plume
waving over it.'— Ord. Sur., shs. 72, 71, 1S80-83. See
Glenelg, Knoydart, Ben Scrial, Corryvarltgan,
and p. 520 of an article by Captain Thomas P. "White in
Good Words for 1874.
Housay. See Housie.
House or East Burra, an island in Bressay parish,
Shetland, lying between Burra and the W coast of the
Mainland, and separated from the latter by Cliff's Sound.
It commences 8J miles SW of Lerwick, extends 5 miles
south-south-westward, and has mostly a breadth of from
£ to 1 mile. Its coast is rocky ; its interior is mostly a
hilly ridge, and its W side, at one part, approaches so
near Burra as to be connected with it by a rude timber
bridge. Pop. (1861) 209, (1871) 239, (1881) 215.
Househill, an estate, with a mansion, in Nairn parish,
Nairnshire, 1^ mile S by E of the town.
Househill, an estate, with a modern mansion and a
village, in the E of Abbey parish, Renfrewshire, on the
right bank of Levern "Water, 2| miles NE of Barrhead.
It contains an iron-work, a brick-work, coal mines,
and an extensive quarry ; and was sold in 1871 for
£40,000. The village, called Househill Muir, has
Hurlet for its post-town, under Glasgow. — Ord. Sur.,
sh. 30, 1866.
Housie Skerries, a group of islets in Nesting parish,
Shetland, 9| miles E of Mainland and 24 NE of Ler-
wick. They comprise Housie proper in the centre,
GrunayandBrurayiutheE, Mickle Skerry in the WNW,
and a number of islets and skerries immediately "W of
Housie proper ; and they are often called the Out
Skerries. The three chief form a triangular group at
the distance of only a few hundred yards from one
another ; each is somewhat more than a mile long ; all
are widely secluded ; and they are the scene of extensive
fisheries for ling. Pop. (1841) 122, (1861) 60, (1871)
71, (1881)71.
House of Muir, a common in Glencorse parish, Edin-
burghshire, on the eastern slope of the Pentlands, 3
miles N by W of Penicuik and 8J S of Edinburgh. A
weekly market for live stock, frequented by the Edin-
burgh butchers, was for some time held here ; and a
great annual market for sheep, held from time irnme-
276
HOUSTON
morial on the first and second Mondays of April, has
fallen into almost total desuetude.
Houston, a village and a parish of central Renfrew -
shire. The village stands 130 feet above sea-level on
Houston Burn, If mile NNW of Houston or Crosslee
station on the Bridge of Weir section of the Glasgow
and_ South-Western, 3f miles "W by S of Houston
station on the Glasgow and Greenock section of the
Caledonian, 3 NNW of Johnstone, and 6 WNW of
Paisley. An older village, now extinct, stood a little
lower down the burn ; and the present place, founded on
a regular plan in 1781, consists chiefly of two streets on
the two sides of the burn, and presents a neat appear-
ance, with slated two-story houses. It has a post office
under Johnstone, and a fair on the second Tuesday of
May. Pop. (1841) 623, (1861) 858, (1871) 518, (1S81)
553.
The parish, containing also the village of Crosslee
and part of Bridge of Weir, comprises the ancient
parishes of Houston and Killallan, which inconveniently
intersected each other, and were united in 1760. It is
bounded N and NE by Erskine, SE and S by Kil-
barchan, and W by Kilmalcolm. Its utmost length,
from E to W, is 5J miles ; its utmost breadth is 3J
miles ; and its area is 7644 acres, of which 59J are
water. Gryfe Water winds 7J miles eastward along
all the southern and south-western boundary ; its
affluent, Dargavel Burn, flows 6f miles east-south-
eastward along all the northern and north-eastern
boundary ; and the interior is drained to the Gryfe
by Houston and Barochan Burns. In the extreme E,
at the Dargavel's influx to the Gryfe, the surface de-
clines to 20 feet above sea-level ; and the eastern and
south-eastern districts are low and almost flat, but the
north-western rises gradually, till near West Glen
it attains a summit altitude of 623 feet. Carboni-
ferous rocks prevail in the lower districts, eruptive
rocks in the higher ; and the former include sand-
stone, limestone, and coal. The soil of the low flat
grounds is partly clay and partly loam ; of the higher
is thin, dry, and in places heathy. Moss to the extent
of 300 acres formerly lay dispersed through portions
of the eastern district, but has in great degree been
reclaimed and brought under the plough, notably in
the case of Fulwood Moss (1879-SO). Barochan
Moss, however, of great depth and considerable extent,
is still a marked feature. The barony of Houston,
anciently called Kilpeter, from a church on it dedi-
cated to St Peter, in the middle of the 12th century
passed from Baldwin of Biggar, sheriff of Lanark, to
Hugh of Padvinan, and took from him the name of
'Hugh's-town,' corrupted into 'Houston,' and gave that
name to his descendants. They retained the barony
till 1740, between which date and 17S2 it went by sale
or inheritance to five different proprietors, eventually
being purchased by Alexander Speirs of Elderslie.
Houston House was a large, quadrangular, castellated
pile, with a high tower at the NW corner, and with an
arched entrance and two turrets on the S front ; stood
on an eminence surrounded by gardens and woods ;
and, excepting the E side, was taken down in 1780 to
furnish building material for the new village. An
ancient cross, supposed to have been erected by the
knights of Houston, has a graduated pedestal, an octa-
gonal pillar 9 feet high, and a surmounting dial and
globe. Mansions, noticed separately, are Barochan
House and Gryfe Castle ; and 4 proprietors hold each an
annual value of £500 and upwards, 4 of between £100
and £500, 4 of from £50 to £100, and 15 of from £20
to £50. Houston is in the presbytery of Paisley and
synod of Glasgow and Ayr ; the living is worth £400.
The parish church was built in 1874-75, at a cost of
over £3000, by Mrs Ellice of Invergarry as a memorial to
her son, Captain Archibald Alexander Speirs (1S40-69),
M.P. for Renfrewshire. It is an Early Gothic edifice,
with 600 sittings and a square tower 70 feet high ; and
in 1876 it was adorned with seven stained-glass win-
dows. At its E end a new mortuary has been erected,
containing an interesting 15th century monument of