Renfrewshire

Renfrewshire, a county of Western Scotland, has the Clyde on the north, Ayr on the south and south-west, Lanark on the east, and the Firth of Clyde on the west. The county is mostly on the south of the river, but there are a few acres on the north. The length is 31J miles and breadth 13J, and area 245 square miles, of which 95,000 acres are under cultivation. Along the Clyde the land is flat and fertile, the centre is undulating (with wooded knolls and picturesque scenery), and in the south-east (which belongs to the West of Scotland coal-field) and south-west the land rises to a height of 1,300 feet. Among the minerals are limestone, sandstone, granite, ironstone, which is largely worked, and there are many freestone quarries. The rivers White Cart, Black Cart, Gryffe, etc., flow through fine valleys. Manufactures and shipping are the chief industries, but there is much grazing and dairy-farming. Renfrew, Paisley, Greenock, and Port Glasgow are the principal towns. The county returns two members to Parliament, and gives his title of Baron Renfrew to the Prince of Wales, the lordship having been given by Robert III. to his son in 1404. Renfrew, the capital, is a royal and parliamentary borough, six miles north-west of Glasgow, and near the Clyde, with which it is connected by a short canal. The chief industries are iron ship-building, iron-founding, and engineering.