• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content

The Scottish Enlightenment

  • Home
  • Key
    People
    • James Adams
    • James Craig
    • Alexander Geddes
    • Henry Raeburn
    • John Ainslie
    • William Creech
    • John Home
    • Allan Ramsay
    • James Beattie
    • George Drummond
    • David Hume
    • William Shaw
    • Hugh Blair
    • Gilbert Elliot
    • Samuel Johnson
    • Thomas Sheridan
    • William Brodie
    • Adam Ferguson
    • Malcolm Laing
    • John Sinclair
    • James Burnett
    • Robert Fergusson
    • Henry Mackenzie
    • Adam Smith
    • Alexander Carlyle
    • Archibald Grant
    • James Macpherson
    • James Thomson
    • James Adams (1737-1802)
    • John Ainslie (1745-1828)
    • James Beattie (1735-1803)
    • Hugh Blair (1718-1800)
    • William Brodie, known as Deacon Brodie, (1746-1788)
    • James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714-1799)
    • Alexander Carlyle (1722-1805)
    • James Craig (1739-1795)
    • William Creech (1745-1815)
    • George Drummond (1687-1766)
    • Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto (1722-1777)
    • Adam Ferguson (1723-1816)
    • Robert Fergusson (1750-1774)
    • Sir Archibald Grant (1696-1778)
    • Alexander Geddes (1737-1802)
    • John Home (1722-1808)
    • David Hume (1711-1776)
    • Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
    • Malcolm Laing (1762-1818)
    • Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831)
    • James Macpherson (1736-1796)
    • Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)
    • Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)
    • William Shaw (1749-1831)
    • Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788)
    • Sir John Sinclair (1754–1835)
    • Adam Smith (1723-1790)
    • James Thomson (1700-1748)
  • Town
    Planning
    • Source 1: A proposal for keeping the streets clean, 1734-5
    • Source 2: Proposals for improving the city of Edinburgh, 1752
    • Source 3: Proposals for improving the city of Edinburgh, 1752
    • Source 4: James Craig’s design for the New Town, 1768
    • Source 5: Map showing the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, 1780
    • Source 6: James Craig’s proposal for improving the eastern approach to the Old Town, 1786
    • Source 7: Description of Edinburgh from the Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-1799
  • Encyclopaedia
    Britannica
    • Source 1: Title page to volume 1 of the first edition.
    • Source 2: Agriculture, volume 1 A-B, page 40
    • Source 3: Agriculture Plate IV, volume 1 A-B, page 41
    • Source 4: Mechanics, volume 1 M-Z, page 38
    • Source 5: Mechanics, volume 1 M-Z, plate CV
    • Source 6: Camelus or Camel, volume 1 A-B, page 13
    • Source 7: Bactrianus or Bactrian Camel, volume 1 A-B, Plate EIX
    • Source 8: Caricature of Andrew Bell and William Smellie by John Kay
  • Scotticisms
    • Source 1 : A list of Scotticisms by David Hume, first printed 1752
    • Source 2 : Lectures on the art of speaking English, 1761
    • Source 3 : A society for promoting the reading and speaking of English, 1761
    • Source 4 : Observations on the Scottish dialect by Sir John Sinclair, 1782
    • Source 5 : Teaching correct English to the young, 1799
    • Source 6 : The richness of the Scots language, 1792
    • Source 7 : In support of the Scots language, 1799
  • Statistical
    Account
    • Source 1: Sir John Sinclair’s description of compiling the ‘Statistical Account’
    • Source 2: Sir John Sinclair’s discussion of the term ‘statistics’
    • Source 3: Part of the report for the Parish of Monymusk
    • Source 4: Part of the report for the Parish of Wick
    • Source 5: Statistical table for the Parish of Culross
    • Source 6: Report for the Parish of East Kilbride
    • Source 7: Report for the Parish of Smailholm
  • Ossian
    • Source 1: Preface to ‘Fragments of ancient poetry’, 1760
    • Source 2: Preface to ‘Fingal’, 1761
    • Source 3: Letter from David Hume, 1763
    • Source 4: Samuel Johnson’s opinion of the poems, 1775
    • Source 5: An enquiry into the authenticity of the poems, 1781
    • Source 6: ‘Poems of Ossian’ edited by Malcolm Laing, 1805
    • Source 7: Highland Society of Scotland report, 1805
  • Clubs and
    Societies
    • Source 1: List of members of the Select Society
    • Source 2: Questions debated by the Select Society
    • Source 3: The aims of the Edinburgh Society
    • Source 4: A description of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, 1754
    • Source 5: Members of the Cape Club
    • Source 6: An account of the Cape Club
    • Source 7: Extract from the Highland Society of London Minute Book, 1784
    • Women and the Enlightenment
  • Resources
    • Gallery

Statistical Account

Source 6 : Report for the Parish of East Kilbride, County of Lanark, in volume 3 of the ‘Statistical Account’

Printed book (NLS shelfmark: S.A.S.)

In the 1790s, East Kilbride, the first Scottish new town, was a larger settlement than the other places studied in the sources here. Due to its proximity to Glasgow, the way of life here was different to some of the other places described in these sources.

The minister who compiled the information about East Kilbride  for the ‘Statistical Account of Scotland’ responded to the questions using text  descriptions of the parish relating to the different topics Sir John Sinclair asked about and did not use tables to provide numerical information.  Therefore, this source does not use a table to provide an overview of the state of the parish like the one in Source 5.

Use Sources 5, 6 and 7 for comparative questions studying different areas of Scotland.

thumbnail of statistical-accounts-source-6

View full screen (opens in new tab or window)View the Transcript

Transcript

History of the Origin and Progress of the Statistical Account of Scotland

[page 133]

Statistical Account of Culross

…15s. and 10s. According to the quanlity, situation, and improvement of the ground.

Statistical Table.

For crop 1791.

  • Acres in wheat 181
  • Acres in barley 280
  • Acres in oats 799

[Late oats are now given up by the judicious farmer, and the early sort almost universally substituted in their stead, particularly the Blainsley, which seems peculiarly adapted to the soil of this parish.]

 

  • Acres in pease & beans 168 ½
  • Acres in potatoes 67
  • Acres in turnips 11
  • Acres in flax 22
  • Acres in sown grass 552
  • Acres in fallow 169
  • Acres in gardens and orchards 70
  • Acres in arable land in pasture 939

Total arable land, acres3308 ½

  • Plantations, acres 1101
  • Preparing for planting, acres 200
  • Natural wood, acres 100
  • Ploughs 59
  • Horses 164
  • Black cattle 590
  • Sheep 350
  • Farmers above £50 per annum 17
  • Farmers under £50 18

Valued rent, Scotch £3623 18s 3d

Real rent, Sterling, about £3000

  • Population in 1755 1695
  • Population in 1791 1442
  • Males 655
  • Females 787
  • In the country 373
  • In the town, and in the villages of Blairburn and Laigh Valley-field, adjacent thereto 1069
  • Houses in the country 72
  • Houses in the town and suburbs 203
  • Married men and women 505
  • Unmarried men above 50 12

[page 134]

  • Unmarried women above 40 49
  • Widowers 29
  • Widows 77
  • Under 10 249
  • From 10 to 20 291
  • From 20 to 50 627
  • From 50 to 80 248
  • From 80 to 90 23
  • Above 90 4
  • Shoemakers 21
  • Tanner 1
  • Weavers 72
  • Taylors 9
  • Carpenters and wrights 17
  • Masons 16
  • Bakers 7
  • Smiths 6
  • Butchers 3
  • Brewer 1
  • Licensed alehouses 11
  • Schoolmaster, parochial 1
  • Schoolmaster, private 2

[Besides these, a well accomplished female (Miss Farquharson) teaches, with success, English, French, writing, (an uncommonly fine hand), arithmetic, geography, and needle-work.  She has 7 boarders, at £20 each per annum; and 5 day-scholars, at 10s. 6d. per quarter.]

  • Scholars at the parochial school, viz.
  • Learning Latin, at 2s. 6d. per quarter 4
  • Learning arithmetic at 2s. 6d. per quarter 20
  • Learning English at 1s. 6d. per quarter 52

Total 76

  • Income of the school-master, exclusive of fees   £18 7s 6¼d
  • Scholars at the private schools 48
  • In 1788, marriages 12
  • In 1788, births, males 26
  • In 1788, births, females 24
  • In 1788, deaths 16
  • In 1789, marriages 11
  • In 1789, births, males 25
  • In 1789, births, females 18

[The diminution of births in 1789 is to be attributed to a number of colliers having left the place, by a stop being put to the coalworks; and the increase of deaths in 1790, to the ravages of the small-pox.  The practice of inoculation now begins to take place among all ranks in this parish and neighbourhood.]

  • In 1789, deaths 20
  • In 1790, marriages 14

Discussion Points

  1. Extract information about the following in East Kilbride:
  2. Population size and breakdown , e.g. age, occupation, sex
  3. Main crops or products of the parish
  4. Education provided

Compare what you find with the information you collected from Source 5:

  • what are the key differences and similarities between the parishes?

Did you find comparable information about each item? Retain the information you have collated to use with Source 7.

  • Compare the essay format used here to the Statistical Table (Source 5). In comparison to that source, what are the advantages and disadvantages for a researcher of information about the parish being presented as text? Is there any information which would be useful to a historian studying social conditions in the late eighteenth century? (Note that Source 5 was presented alongside a written report like this one).
  • Previous
  • Next
  • Source 1
    Sir John Sinclair’s description of compiling the 'Statistical Account'
  • Source 2
    Sir John Sinclair’s discussion of the term ‘statistics’
  • Source 3
    Part of the report for the Parish of Monymusk
  • Source 4
    Part of the report for the Parish of Wick
  • Source 5
    Statistical table for the Parish of Culross
  • Source 6
    Report for the Parish of East Kilbride
  • Source 7
    Report for the Parish of Smailholm

See the discussion points

National Library of Scotland logo

  • National Library of Scotland homepage
  • National Library of Scotland Learning Zone
  • Contact us

© 2019 National Library of Scotland