Jail.—There is a jail in the town, under the government of the magistrates. But it has, for a long course of years, been in so insecure a condition, that none have staid in it but such as were prisoners de bonne volonté. An act of Parliament, however, has been obtained for the erection of County Buildings at Lanark, including a Prison for the Upper Ward; and the foundation stone was laid on 21st March 1834.

The one

Fairs.-Seven fairs are held at Lanark every year. on the last Wednesday of May, old style, is for black cattle; that on the last Wednesday of July for lambs and horses; and the one in October, on the Friday after the Falkirk tryst, is for horses and black-cattle.

Inns.-There are 53 persons licensed to keep inns in the parish. Of these, however, 14 are merely spirit-dealers, and do not sell any kind of liquors but in the way of retail over the counter. The Clydesdale Hotel in this town is one of the handsomest and best kept inns in Scotland. A few years ago, the shareholders expended L. 2400 in adding to it an elegant assembly room.

Fuel.-Fuel is excellent and cheap. Coal is brought from the adjoining parishes, some of it six, and the rest nine miles distance, and is laid down in the town at an expense of from 4d to 41d per cwt. A few peats are also cast in the adjoining moor.

April 1834.

PARISH OF LESMAHAGO,

PRESBYTERY OF LANARK, SYNOD OF GLASGOW AND AYR.

THE REV. JAMES HAMILTON, D. D.)

MINISTERS.*

THE REV. JOHN WILSON, A. M.

I. TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

Name Boundaries, &c.-THIS parish is supposed to derive its name from Les or Lis, signifying in Gaelic, a green or garden, and Machute, the tutelar saint of the place, who is said to have settled here in the sixth century.

A monastery was founded in this parish by David I. in 1140. It was dependent on the abbey of Kelso; and hence the village which collected round it received the name of Abbey Green, which it still retains. This village is nearly in the centre of the parish, and about twenty-two miles from Glasgow, upon which the inhabitants of this and other villages in the parish depend for employment as weavers.

The parish may be described as nearly square, and contains sixty-seven square miles, or 34,000 acres. It is bounded on the east by the parishes of Lanark and Carmichael; on the south by Douglas, and Muirkirk; on the west by Strathaven and Stonehouse; and on the north by Dalserf and Carluke.

Topographical Appearances. The average elevation of more than three-fourths of the parish is probably about 500 feet above the sea; the remainder, lying upon the west and south-west side, rises into considerable hills, dividing the counties of Lanark and Ayr, some of which may be supposed to be 1200 feet high. They afford an excellent sheep-pasture. On the south side of the parish there is a fissure in the rocks known by the name of Wallace's Cave; if ever that hero inhabited it, his lodging could not be of the most comfortable kind.

Meteorology. The elevated situation of the parish renders the temperature of the atmosphere very variable; and, not unfrequently, the fruit-trees, after promising an abundant crop, have had

* This Account has been drawn up by Andrew Smith, Esq. of Fauldhouse.

their blossoms blighted by a few chilly nights in May. In rainy weather, the hills upon the west seem to attract the clouds, and, consequently, more rain falls there than in the lower parts of the parish; but even there, want of moisture is not generally complained of. The prevailing winds may be said to be from the westward,—every tree or hedge that is exposed leaning from that, and making their most vigorous shoots in an opposite direction. Upon the whole, however, the climate may be said to be salubrious, and instances of longevity are numerous.

Hydrography. This parish abounds in springs of excellent water; though none of a medicinal quality have been yet discovered. These springs are the parents of several streams, capable of driving machinery. The Poniel water, which rises in the south-west of the parish, divides it from the parish of Douglas, and after a course of seven or eight miles in an easterly direction, joins the Douglas water about three miles from its junction with the Clyde ; for which three miles the united stream becomes the boundary of the parish. The Logan, Nethan, and also the Kype water rise in the high grounds on the west. The banks of the Nethan are generally clothed with coppice, and adorned with gentlemen's houses, or neat farm-steadings.

The Kype, so far as it divides this parish from Avondale or Strathaven, is a moorland stream,-naked and unadorned on its banks, but capable of working mischief on the lower grounds, when thunder storms have passed along the hills. In consequence of these grounds being much drained within these few years, the water descends more rapidly than formerly, and in greater quantities, de- . stroying bridges and injuring the small haughs or holms. There are some other small streams that run a few miles in the parish, but all are tributary to the above, with the exception of the Cannar, which, after a course of a few miles, joins the Avon in the parish of Stonehouse. As all these streams ultimately join the Clyde, where it is from three to four hundred feet above the sea, their courses are pretty rapid.

Geology. This parish lies nearly on the south side of the great coal field which crosses our island through Fife, Ayrshire, and the intermediate counties. Nevertheless, the strata are so deranged by numerous dikes or fissures, that, where coals are wrought, the direction and inclination of the strata vary so materially, as to set hopes and expectations at defiance. In several of the coal and

lime-works, the dip is as one in six; while at Auchenheath, where, as well as in two other places in this parish, a fine kind of cannel coal is wrought, supplying Glasgow and other places with gas, the inclination is only one to twelve, or thirteen. Coal of the same quality has (we believe) been nowhere found in Scotland; and even here, and in a small corner of the parish of Carluke, to which it extends, the thickness of the strata varies from ten to twenty-one inches; it is sold for about 8s. per ton upon the coal-hill, and affords employment to about forty pickmen in this parish. Pitcoal is also plentiful in Lesmahago.

The rocks that appear are either whin, or trap sandstone, or limestone; in some places the sandstone inclines to slate, but no true roofing-slate has been discovered in this parish. Limestone has been wrought, and still is wrought in seven or eight different places in the parish. Though sold at a pretty fair price, affording the landlord about one-sixth of the sale price, it has given a stimulus to improvement, particularly of waste lands. In these limestone workings, petrified shells are very commonly found; and sometimes the fossil remains of terrestrial animals. Ironstone may be seen in many of the banks, both in balls and in regular strata, but not in such quantities, nor lying so regularly, as to warrant the erection of a furnace. Lead has frequently been sought in the high grounds, on the south-west of the parish, but hitherto without success; nor have simple minerals been found in the rocks, or beds of rivers, to any extent.

From the rapid current of the streams, little alluvial soil is found in the parish; it may therefore be said to consist chiefly of a yellow clay, to a small extent resting on a substratum of white sandstone; of a light friable soil, resting on whinstone; of a sandy gravelly soil, from decomposed sandstone, and of moss. The second of these is unquestionably the best; but both that and the first, when properly managed, produce better and more certain crops than the other two.

II. CIVIL HISTORY.

A short account of this parish was written by the Rev. Mr Whyte of Libberton, and published in the Edinburgh Magazine about sixty years ago.

Historical Notices.-There are no historical events of importance connected with Lesmahago, except the burning by the bro

ther of Edward III. of the abbey, and its destruction a second time by fire, kindled by the zeal of the old reformers. This religious spirit appears to have here broken forth on more occasions; for many of the inhabitants bore arms at Bothwell Bridge. The colours and the drum then used are still preserved in the parish.

It was in Lesmahago that the unfortunate Mr Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart was apprehended by a carpenter named Meikle, and a young clergyman of the name of Linning,-while on his way south to join Prince Charles; in revenge for which, the clans, on their way north, burned Meikle's house. A Mr Lawrie, generally designated the Tutor of Blackwood, from his having married the heiress of that estate, seems to have been a leading character in this part of the country in and about the time of the Revolution. His son was created a baronet by King William.

Land-owners.-The Duke of Hamilton, Lord Douglas, and James J. Hope Vere, Esq. of Blackwood, are the principal proprietors in Lesmahago; there are a number of other respectable land-owners, several of whom reside upon their properties.

Parochial Registers.-The parochial registers commence in 1697; since which time they have been pretty regularly kept, and now extend to twenty volumes.

Antiquities.-Lesmahago can boast of little to attract the notice of the antiquarian, excepting the ruins of Craignethan Castle; which about a century ago passed from the family of Hay into that of Douglas, by purchase.

The remains of an old abbey were pulled down about thirty years ago, to make room for a modern church; and an old Roman road, which passed through a corner of the parish, has been obliterated by the plough. About twenty years ago, 100 small silver coins of Edward I. were found below a large stone.-Nearly at the same time a Roman vase was found in the parish; it is now placed in the museum of the University of Glasgow. Some Roman coins have also been found; and in making a drain about ten years ago, an old Caledonian battle-axe, made of stone, was found upon the estate of Blackwood. It is now in the possession of the proprietor.

Many large cairns have been removed in this parish, for materials in making roads and fences. These were always found to contain bones in the centre, but so far decayed as to crumble into dust on exposure to the air.

Modern Buildings.-A number of modern mansions have been erected by the resident gentlemen within the last thirty years, and .