Statistical Account
Source 5 : Statistical table, Report for the Parish of Culross, County of Perth, in volume 10 of the ‘Statistical Account’
Printed book (NLS shelfmark: S.A.S.)
The ‘Statistical Account’ included reports from rural and urban parishes all over Scotland. Therefore it can be a very useful tool for making comparisons between different areas.
Ministers in some parishes included statistical tables, like the one shown here, for Culross, a village on the Forth Estuary. Formerly part of the County of Perth, Culross is now in Fife.
These tables collated numerical information about different aspects of the parish into one place in order to give a comprehensive overview. They complemented written responses to the queries Sir John Sinclair had sent concerning the parish.
Use sources 5, 6 and 7 for comparative questions studying different areas of Scotland.
Transcript
History of the Origin and Progress of the Statistical Account of Scotland
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VOL. III Statistical Account of East Kilbride
NUMBER LXII.
PARISH OF EAST KILBRIDE.
(County of Lanark.)
By the Rev. DAVID URE, A.M.
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Name, Situation, and Extent.
EAST KILBRIDE, so called to distinguish it from West Kilbride in the shire of Ayr, is situated in the county of Lanark, presbytery of Hamilton, and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. It is about 10 miles in length, from north to south, and from 2 to 5 in breadth. It consists of the united parishes of Torrance and Kilbride, and is subdivided into 446 horse-gangs, according to which the statute work for the roads is collected; each horse-gang being rated at 3 s. 9 d. Sterling.
Heritors and Rent. – The valuation, as it stands in the cess book of the county, is £7679 13s. 3d. Scottish. The real rent, at 5s. per acre, on an average, amounts to £4800 Sterling. The parish belongs to about 135 proprietors, nearly 30 of whom are non-residents.
Population. – It is inhabited by 587 families, which contain 2359 persons, of whom 1065 are males, and 1294 females. Of these there are 488 under 6 years of age. The population, owing to the late increase of manufactures, is on the advance.
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The return to Dr Webster, in 1755, was only 2029. The upper part of the parish, however, was some time ago greatly depopulated, by the accumulation of small farms into large ones. The number of births, at different periods, if the parochial records are to be trusted, will appear from the following table:
Baptised. | Anno. | Males. | Females. | Total. |
1688 | 27 | 20 | 47 | |
1689 | 25 | 22 | 47 | |
1700 | 21 | 16 | 37 | |
1710 | 23 | 30 | 53 | |
1720 | 17 | 31 | 48 | |
1740 | 26 | 30 | 56 | |
1770 | 30 | 25 | 55 | |
1780 | 39 | 35 | 74 | |
1785 | 29 | 42 | 71 | |
1788 | 32 | 31 | 63 |
There is no register of burials kept in the parish; therefore the proportion between these and the births cannot be ascertained.
Agriculture and Roads. – About four fifths of the parish is arable; the rest consists of moors and peat mosses. The moors afford excellent pasture for sheep, and are stocked with about 110 score. Each of the moor-land farms contains several hundred acres of land; but, in the lower part of the parish, they consist of about 60 or 70 acres. Both soil and climate are unfavourable for improvements in agriculture: The former is chiefly of a stiff wet clay, and incumbent mostly on schistus; and the latter variable and cold,
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the greatest part of the parish being 700 feet above the level of the sea, and some of it so high as 1600. Oats, of all kinds of grain, give the best crops; but even these are rendered precarious, by the late seed-time and harvest. There is, however, much more grain produced in the parish, than is sufficient to supply the inhabitants. By far too much of the arable land is plowed, and very little of it is properly drained. Although the most part of the parish is inclosed, yet the fences, owing to various causes, are extremely insufficient. The roads in general, are in bad repair. Two turnpikes were, last year, drawn through the parish, the one leading from Glasgow to London, by way of Muirkirk, Dumfries, &c; and the other, from Ayrshire to Edinburgh, by Bothwell Bridge, or Hamilton.
Trees. – There is little planting in the parish, except at Calderwood, Torrance, and Kittochside, where trees of various kinds thrive remarkably well. There are, however, few farm houses but what are sheltered by aged trees, most of which are considerably large. It is thought, that if the proprietors consulted their own interest, they would lay the tenth or twelfth part of the parish under planting properly disposed. The exposed situation of the greatest part of the land, would require to be well sheltered.
Commerce. – The farmers have of late paid great attention to the making of sweet milk cheese; and in this they have succeeded remarkably well. From every farm of a plough of land, there is brought, at an average, to the market, 100 stone of cheese annually, equal in quality to any made in Scotland; it goes under the name of Dunlop cheese, and sells, in retail, at 7s. 8d. or 8s. per stone. The whey, produced in making the cheese, is used for feeding young swine,
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for which purpose it answers extremely well: They are, a few weeks before slaughter, fed with potatoes, beans, or oat-meal, with a little water. Reared in this manner, their flesh is thought to be very clean and delicious; for which reason, they bring a good price in the Glasgow market.
Mechanics and Manufactures. – From the following list of artificers, it will appear, that the parish is well supplied with mechanics of different kinds:
Bakers 2
Blacksmiths 12
Clockmaker 1
Coopers 2
Flaxdresser 1
Gardeners 4
Hosiers 5
Brewer 1
Masons 21
Shoemakers 39
Taylors 20
Weavers 63
Wrights 14
Most of the shoemakers, weavers, and hosiers, are employed by manufacturers in Glasgow. A cotton manufactory was, in 1783, established at the Kirktown or village of Kilbride, and employs about 60 hands. The yarn, which is all spun on plain or rolling jeanies, is mostly sold in Glasgow. The coarser kinds, however, are manufactured in Kilbride, into muslins, but chiefly into counterpane bed-covers, which are made here in great perfection.
Minerals. – Lime and iron stone are found in great plenty. The quarrying and burning of lime stone has, for time immemorial given employment to many industrious labourers in this part of the country. There are, at present, 52 men employed in that branch: They sometimes work by the piece; but, in general, are paid in proportion to the quantity
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of stone they turn out. Each man gains about 9s. per week, at a medium. The quantity of lime produced, in 1790, was 9845 chalders, which, at 6s. 8d. per chalder, amounts to £3281 17s. 4d. Sterling. About 40 men are employed in the iron stone mines, of which there are many in the parish. The stone is consumed in the Clyde iron work. The mining of coal is not so extensive as that of iron stone. There are two coal works in the parish; the one belongs to Alexander Stewart of Torrance, Esq; the other is in the lands of Lickprivick, the property of John Boyes, Esq. About 20 men are usually employed at both. The coals produced from these works are not sufficient to supply the inhabitants with fuel; the deficiency is made up with excellent peats, with which the parish abounds, and with coals of the best quality from Cambuslang, at the distance of a few miles.
Wages, Provisions, and Education. – Masons and wrights receive from 20d. to 2s. for their day’s work; a common labourer 1s. or 14d.; a man servant, in the farming business, gets from £4 to £5 per half year; and a woman servant, £2. Marketable commodities find a ready sale in Glasgow, which is distant from the village of Kilbride 7 miles and a half. It is owing to this, that provisions of all kinds are nearly as dear as in Glasgow. The education of youth, however, is to be had on very easy terms. English is taught, at the public school, for 14d. per quarter; writing and arithmetic, at 2s.; and Latin at 2s. 6d.
General Character. – The people, in general, are industrious and frugal. They possess, from their forefathers, a courageous and independent spirit, which, as it enables them, on the one hand, to bear misfortunes with magnanimity, so it forbids them, on the other, to receive, with impunity, the
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affronts that may be offered them. Being easy in their circumstances, they know not what it is to cringe or to flatter. They have suffered but few encroachments on their liberty, either civil or religious: Of course their spirits are not broken by measures hostile to the natural rights of men, or of Christians.
Eminent Men. – The parish of Kilbride has the honour of giving birth to a considerable number of individuals, who have added to the credit of their families by the splendor of their names, and the importance of the high stations which they have filled in life. The camp and the court are indebted to the families of Calderwood and Torrance, for men of distinguished abilities, who honourably supported leading characters in their several departments. An extensive benevolence to mankind; valour and courage, untainted by cowardice, and a deep penetration into the affairs of state, reflect a distinguished lustre on their names. Nor will the name of HUNTER ever be forgotten by the literati of Europe. The late Dr William Hunter, and his brother John Hunter, Esq; who are justly ranked among the first in the list of the learned of the present age, were born at Lang Calderwood, a little to the north-east of the church. So much has been said of the former, that it would be needless here to make a repetition; it needs only be observed, that for great abilities, and uncommon success, he was eminently distinguished, while alive, as a physician, and that his name will be immortalized, as a careful enquirer into the works of nature and art. His collection of antiquities and natural curiosities, is not equalled, perhaps, by any private museum in Europe. His brother, Mr John Hunter, who has arrived at the head of his profession as a skilful surgeon and anatomist, is, by his medical
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investigations, &c. &c. daily adding honour to him name, and the place of his nativity.
Diseases. – There is no epidemical distemper peculiar to Kilbride. The disease, that carries off the greatest number of persons, about the middle period of life, is the consumption. Old people affirm, that, in their forefathers days, this disorder was extremely rare, and seldom mortal. The progress of the disease, in this country, is generally ascribed to the change of clothing, from the thick and warm Scottish plaiding, to the fine, but thin and cold English cloth, which now so much prevails. The small-pox sometimes rages with great fury. There were, in the year 1789, no fewer than 32 children in the parish seized with that loathsome disorder, and only 13, with difficulty, recovered. Inoculation, the best remedy for that mortal contagion, meets here with a bad reception. Rooted prejudices, founded upon arguments, some of which are trifling, and others absurd, influence the minds of the people so much against it, that they sit still, in sullen contentment, and see their children cut off in multitudes. It is to be hoped, however, that natural affection, and a sense of duty, will at length get the better of unreasonable prejudices; and that the period is approaching, when inoculation will be universally practised, by which the disease will be greatly meliorated, or, perhaps, altogether eradicated.
Church. – There are two places of worship in the parish; the church, which was rebuilt in the year 1774, and a Relief meeting house at present building. Mr French enjoys the living, which amounts, exclusive of manse and glebe, to 12 chalders of meal, paid in money, according to the siars of the commissariot of Hamilton and Campsie. The teinds are paid to the University of Glasgow, who raise nearly 32
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chalders. The King is patron. As the Relief congregation is not yet properly formed, the number of dissenters belonging to it is not known. The Reformed Presbytery has, in the parish, 45 adherents; the Antiburghers, 42; and the Burghers, about 12 or 14.
Poor. – To the minister and elders is entrusted the sole management of the poor’s funds in Kilbride. The method by which these funds are applied, is entirely agreeable to the true spirit of the Church of Scotland. Poor’s rates, which, in some places, are the fertile source of corruption, and even of poverty itself, were never established here. There is no encouragement given to idleness, whilst none are allowed to starve. Though the number of poor is considerable, yet it is no greater than might be expected, in so populous a parish. There are usually about 17 who receive stated supplies, the greatest number of whom are aged women. The monthly allowance of each, is from 1s. to 6s. Sterling. A few are permitted to beg within the bounds of the parish. Besides the stated poor, there are a few indigent persons, most of whom are heads of families, who get occasional supplies, as the session sees necessary. This, though small, added to what they can earn by any kind of labour, enables them to live more comfortably in their own houses, than they could possibly do in the best endowed hospitals. The funds for answering the above charitable purposes are very small. They amounted, from the 6th of May 1786, to the same day 1787, to £46 17s. 4d.; of this, £38 2s. 11¾d. were collected at the church door; the rest was made up of £2 8s. 10d. of proclamation money, with the interest, first, of 1000 merks, mortified by the Calderwood family, to the poor of the parish, and, secondly, of a small sum, that has, for some years, been given out on loan. The annual amount
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of the poor’s money is seldom so much as it was at the above mentioned period. The deficiency, owing to the present divided state of the parish, must daily increase. In all secessions from the Establishment, the poor, from certain motives, remain but too firmly attached to the church; whilst the contributions of the people are directed into another channel.
Miscellaneous Observations. – The parish contains several subjects of antiquity, if old castles, sepulchral tumuli, &c. may be received amongst the number. Here, also, a wide field is opened to the lovers of natural history. A great variety of curious fossils present themselves to view. Petrifactions about in almost every part of the parish. They are divided into two kinds, viz. recent and antient. The recent comprehend mosses, &c. petrified by water, containing calcareous particles. The antient, or extraneous, divide themselves into two kinds, as they once belonged to the vegetable or animal kingdom. Of the former, there are various kinds of pine, &c. now known by the name of the coal-stalk; of the latter are varieties of shells, entrochi, fishes teeth, and corralloides, which are supposed to have originally inhabited the antediluvian ocean [Descriptions and drawings of more than a hundred varieties of these petrifications, along with the subterraneous geography of the parish, and an account of its antiquities, &c. may be seen in the History of Rutherglen and Kilbride, published at Glasgow, by David Ure].
NUM.
Discussion Points
- Extract information about the following in Culross:
- Population size and breakdown , e.g. age, occupation, sex
- Main crops or products of the parish
- Education provided
Retain the information you have collated to use with Source 6 and 7
- What are the benefits for a researcher of information about the parish being presented in this way?