Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

372
OLD MONKLAND.
service is performed by the Monkland and the Forth
snd Clyde canals. The extensive reservoir for the
supply of these splendid water-ways is situated
partly in this parish and partly in the parish of
Shotts. It extends over nearly 300 acres of land.
In addition to the town of Airdrie [which see],
there are several thriving villages in the parish, of
which Colston, Clerkston, Greengairs, and Riggend
may he named. In point of population, few districts
in Scotland have advanced with greater rapidity
than that within the hounds of New Monkland, and
there are few in which that advance has a fairer
prospect of being steadily continued. The follow-
ing table exhibits its progressive increase during a
period of 40 years :
In Airdrie. In the Country. Total.
ISO], . . . 2,745 ],868 4,613
IBM, . . 3,474 2,055 5,529
1821, . . . 4,860 2,502 7,362
1831, . . 6,594 3,273 9,867
1841, . . . 12,396 8,119 20,515
The increase of population in this parish, including
the burgh of Airdrie, since 1831, has thus been 107-91
per cent. Assessed property, in 1815, £13,903.
Houses, in 1831, 1,262; in 1841, 3,635.— New Monk-
land is in the presbytery of Hamilton, and synod of
Glasgow and Ayr. Patrons, the heritors and eld-
ers, Stipend £265, with a glebe of 10 acres, worth
from 21s. to 25s. per acre. Unappropriated college
teinds £398 3s. 9d. The parish-church was built
in 1777, and repaired in 1817, and is capable of
accommodating 1 ,200 sitters. One-fourth of these
sittings belong to the inhabitants of Airdrie, which
is about two miles distant, but the larger portion
are held by the heritors and their tenants. In addi-
tion to the new quoad sacra parishes which have
been formed in Airdrie, there are congregations be-
longing to the Established church at Clerkston, and
Broomknoll, to which quoad sacra parochial territo-
ries have been allocated. There are several churches
in the town and parish, in connection with the
United Secession, the Reformed Presbyterian con-
gregation, and the Independent congregation, almost
all of which are well attended, and in a thriving
state: see article Airdrie The salary of the
parish schoolmaster is £30 per annum, with house
and garden, about £30 of school-fees, and about £20
annually of other emoluments. In addition to this
there are a number of private schools in Airdrie, and
schools exist at Mosside, Riggend, Greengairs, Clerk-
ston, and Plains. In 1834, the number of schools
not parochial was returned at 15, attended by 817
children.
The parishes of Old and New Monkland were for-
merly united in one district, or parish, under the
name of the barony of Monkland ; but a disjunction
took place in 1640, when this extensive district was
erected into two parishes under the names of Old
or West Monkland, and New or East Monkland.
The name of Monkland was obtained from the dis-
trict having been the property in early times of the
monks of Newbottle. In the early part of the reign
of Malcolm IV., that monarch granted to the mon-
astery a large tract of territory, which extended from
the boundaries of Lothian on the east, to the Clyde
on the west, and which constituted a hundred pounds
lands of the ancient extent, the monks having ample
jurisdiction over all of it. Excepting the lands and
manor-place of Lochwood, which belonged to the
bishops of Glasgow, the monks of Newbottle pos-
sessed every acre of territory in what are now Old
and New Monkland, a considerable part of which
they held in their own hands for cultivation, and let
out the remainder in lease. From documents still
extant, it appears that they obtained permission from
the landed proprietors of the west of Scotland as
well as those in the Lothians, for free passages for
themselves, their servants, cattle, and goods, from
their monastery of Newbottle to their domains in
Clydesdale; and from King Alexander II. they ob-
tained similar grants of free passage by the usual
ways, with permission to depasture their cattle for
one night, on every part of their route, excepting
upon the meadows and growing corn. The rectorial
revenues of Monkland were joined to those of Cad-
der, in forming a rich prebend, which was held as the
appropriate benefice of the subdean of Glasgow; and
although the period of this arrangement is not known,
it continued till the Reformation. Previous to this
era. a chapel was erected at Kipps, on the borders
of the present district of New Monkland, which was
the property of the Newbottle monks, and the abbots
are said to have held annual courts at it, when they
levied their rents and feu-duties, and transacted the
other business pertaining to their barony of Monk-
land. This chapel was destroyed at the stormy
period of the Reformation, and its site can scarcely
now be pointed out. About the same time, the
monastery of Newbottle was overthrown, and all
the fair domains which had so long remained in the
possession of the monks was wrested from them.
In 1587, the barony of Monkland was granted in fee
to Mark Ker, the commendator of the monastery,
and at the same time he was created Lord New-
bottle; but afterwards the barony was divided, and
parcelled out into various hands. A portion called
Medrocs fell to the share of Lord Boyd, but a still
larger share of the barony was acquired by the wily
and hoarding Sir Thomas Hamilton of Binning, the
King's advocate of the times of James VI. He ob-
tained a charter for it from that monarch in 1602,
and at the same time a grant of the patronage of the
churches of Cadder and Monkland. Sir Thomas
subsequently sold the barony to Sir James Cleland,
whose son and heir, Ludovick, disposed of it to
James, Marquis of Hamilton. In 1639, the Marquis
secured his purchase by a charter from the king,
granting him the lands and barony of Monkland,
with the right of patronage of the churches of Cad-
der and Monkland, to be held of the king, in fee,
for the yearly payment of a trifling sum in the name
of bleach-ferm. In the reign of Charles II., the
College of Glasgow purchased from the Duchess of
Hamilton the patronage and tithes of the subdeanery
of Glasgow, as well as of the churches of Cadder
and Monkland ; and for this a charter was also ob-
tained from the king, which was ratified by act of
parliament in 1672. Subsequently to this period,
the heritors of the parishes of New and Old Monk-
land purchased the right of presentation to both these
parishes from the College, under authority of the
act 1690, respecting the purchase of church-patron-
age, and it has since been exercised by the heritors
and elders. The tithes of both parishes, however,
still belong to the College of Glasgow, out of which
the stipends of the parochial ministers are paid.
MONKLAND (Old), a parish in the Middle
ward of Lanarkshire, extending for several miles
along the eastern bank of the Clyde, and forming
part of the old barony of Monkland, alluded to in
the above article. It is bounded on the north by the
parishes of New Monkland, Cadder, and the barony
of Glasgow; on the south by Bothwell; on the east
by New Monkland and Bothwell; and on the west
by Cambuslang and Rutherglen, from which it is
separated by the Clyde. The form of the parish is
irregular, extending to 10 miles at its greatest length,
and varying from 2 to 4£ in breadth. The appear-
ance of the land is generally flat, or gently undulat-
ing; and whether the fertility of its superficies, or
the abundance of its mineral treasures are considered,