Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ALLOA.
25
tance ; even the hill of Tinto, in Clydesdale, and
Ben-Lomond, are distinctly seen. Upon the eastern
extremity of the parish, there is a large artificial piece
of water, made about the beginning: of the 17th cen-
tury for the use of the Alloa coal-works. It is
called Gartmorn dam. When the dam is full, it
covers 160 English acres of ground. There are two
collieries in the barony of Alloa, the oldest of them,
called the Alloa pits, is about H mile distant from
the shore ; the other is the Coll viand, and is about
double that distance. There are various seams in
each colliery ; some of 3, 4, 5, and 9 feet in thickness.
The pits are free of all noxious damps, and have in
general a good roof and pavement, although there
is iron stone over some of the seams. While the
coals of the barony of Alloa were brought to the
shore in small carts by the tenants, the quantity was
uncertain, and often not very considerable. In 1768,
a waggon-way was made to the Alloa pits, which
proved to be so great an advantage that it induced
the proprietor to extend it to the Collyland, in 1771.
Formerly this parish was famous for manufacturing
tobacco ; the merchants of Glasgow having ware-
houses here for that article and other colonial pro-
duce, which they re-exported to the continent ;
but it is long since it lost its reputation for this
manufacture. For a time the camblet branch took
the lead in the manufactures of this parish. " It is
in the neighbourhood of the wool of the Ochils,"
says the Statistical reporter in 1793; "and the
young people were bred to the employment. Early
education in this branch gave them superiority; and
this pre-eminence opened up a variety of markets
both at home and abroad. Great quantities were
sent to England ; which, after being dressed and
finished-off with a peculiar neatness, were returned
and sold in our markets at a very advanced price.''
Till near that period, about 100 looms had been em-
ployed in this manufacture, but it no longer exists.
A good deal of cotton and linen, however, is woven.
The principal heritor of the parish is the earl of
Mar. Next to him, in valuation, is Abercromby of
Tullibody. The valued rent is £7,492 19s. "2d.
Scotch. The real rent is probably about £4,000
Sterling. There are no families of any consequence
now existing, which were originally of this parish.
The branch of the Abercrombies which settled at
Tullibody towards the end of the 16th century, were
descended from the family of Birkenboig in Banff-
shire. The Cathcart family only made Shaw Park
the seat of their residence, on parting with the estate
of Auchincruive which they had possessed for ages in
Ayrshire. Their possessions in this, and the adjoin-
ing parishes, descended to the late Lord Cathcart from
his grandmother Lady Shaw; whose husband had
purchased them, in the beginning of the 18th century,
at a judicial sale, from the Bruces of Clackmannan.
Neither can even the Erskines be said to be original-
ly of this parish, although they got the lands which
they now possess here, in the reign of King Robert
Bruce. They were originally settled in Renfrew-
shire. They succeeded by a female, in 1457, to
the earldom of Mar ; but it was not until the year
1561 that they got possession of it. It was at that
time declared in parliament, that the earldom of Mar
belonged to John, Lord Erskine, who, in the year
1571, was elected regent of Scotland, on the death
of the Earl of Lennox. The title was forfeited by
John, the tenth earl, taking part in the rebellion of
1715 ; but was restored in 1826, in the person of
John Francis, Earl of Mar.
The parish of Alloa is in the presbytery of Stirling,
and synod of Perth and Stirling. Patron, the Crown.
Stipend £299 3s. 2d., with a manse, and a glebe of
the annual value of £63. Unappropriated tcinds
£101 9s. 7d. Church built in 1819, in the Gothic
style, at a cost of £8,000. It stands on a rising
ground, and has a steeple, 200 feet high. Sittings
1,561. The old church at Tullibody is still in good
repair, and there is sermon here on Sunday evenings
during summer. The minister has an assistant who
is nominated by the earl of Mar, and paid partly from
the interest of £800 mortified by Lady Charlotte,
widow of Thomas, Lord Erskine. Population, in
1801,5,214; in 1831, 6,377; beingan increase of 800,
since 1821, which was attributed to the flourishing
state of the trade. Of these 111, labourers were em-
ployed in agriculture, 194 in the collieries, 110 in
distilleries, 55 in breweries, and 25 in brick and tile
works. Houses 976, of which 561, inhabited by
1,128 families, belonged to the town of Alloa.
Assessed property, including that of the town of
Alloa, £11,245. The population of the parish, in
1836, amounted to 6,867, of whom 3,548 belonged
to the establishment, and about 1,800 were inhabi-
tants of the landward part of the parish There are
two United Secession congregations : the first of
these was established in 1 746. Church built in 1792 ;
sittings 722. Stipend £160, with manse and garden.
The second was established in 1765, at which time
the church was built, but it was reseated in 1811.
Sittings 640. Stipend £125, besides taxes, manse,
and garden. — There is an Original Burgher congre-
gation, the minister of which has a stipend of £110;
and an Independent congregation. The other re-
ligious bodies in this parish are an Episcopalian
congregation revived in 1837, and for which a new
chapel was consecrated in May, 1840, by Bishop
Russell ; a New Jerusalem congregation established
in 1831 ; and a Methodist Mission congregation
established in 1S37 — The parochial schoolmaster
has a salary of £34 4s. 4-i-d., with £16 in lieu of
a house and garden, £18 10s. school fees, and
about £20 of other annual emoluments. Average
number of scholars 50. The parochial school is that
of the town of Alloa. There are 11 private schools,
attended by about 600 children Of the old parish
and church of Tullibody, we have the following no-
tice in the first Statistical account of the parish of
Alloa : " There are the remains of an old church in
Tullibody ; the lands of which, with the inches and
fishings, are narrated in a charter by David I., who
founded the abbey of Cambuskenneth, in the year
1147; and are made over to that abbacy, together
with the church of Tullibody, and its chapel of
Alloa. There are no records of the union of these
two churches of Alloa and Tullibody. It seems
probable, that it was about the beginning of the Re-
formation. It appears from John Knox, that, in
the year 1559, when Monsieur d'Oysel commanded
the French troops on the coast of Fife, they were
alarmed with the arrival of the English fleet, and
thought of nothing but a hasty retreat. It was in
the month of January, and at the breaking up of a
great storm. William Kirkcaldy of Grange, atten-
tive to the circumstances in which the French were
caught, took advantage of their situation, march-
ed with great expedition towards Stirling, and cut
the bridge of Tullibody, which is over the Devon, to
prevent their retreat. The French, finding no other
means of escape, took the roof off the church, and
laid it along the bridge where it was cut, and got
safe to Stirling. It is generally believed, that this
church remained in the same dismantled state till
some years ago, that George Abercromby, Esq. of
Tullibody, covered it with a new roof, and erected
within it a tomb for his family. There is still a
large burying-ground around this church ; and on
the north side of it, where there had been formerly
an entry, there is a stone coffin, with a niche for ths