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Haggs Castle. A baronial fortalice in Eastwood parish 1 mile W of Pollokshaws. Built by Sir John Maxwell of POLLOK in 1585, it was long the jointure house of his descendants, and figures in connection with their sufferings for adherence to the Covenant. Apparently it was a structure of considerable strength, and now it is a picturesque ruin. See Hugh Macdonald's Rambles Round Glasgow, and Sir William Fraser's Memoirs of the Maxwells of Pollok (1865).--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Hairlaw Dam. An irregularly-shaped reservoir on the mutual border of Neilston and Mearns parishes, 2 1/2 miles S of Neilston village. With an utmost length and breadth of 5 1/2 and 4 3/4 furlongs, and a depth of 16 feet, it receives a rivulet running 1 1/4 furlong northward out of Long Loch.--Ord. Sur., sh. 22, 1865.
Hawkhead. An estate, with a mansion, in Abbey parish, on the left bank of the White Cart, 2 1/4 miles SE of Paisley. It belonged in the middle of the 15th century to the doughty Sir John Ross, whose son and namesake appears in the parliament roll of 1489-90 as the first baron Ross of Hawkhead--a title that expired with the fourteenth Lord in 1754. The estate passed first to his eldest sister, Mrs. Ross Mackye, and next to a younger sister, Elizabeth, widow of the third Earl of Glasgow. Her son, the fourth Earl, succeeded her in 1791, and in 1815 was created Baron Ross of Hawkhead in the peerage of the United Kingdom. Hawkhead was sold by the sixth Earl, and is now owned partly by William Stevenson, Esq., and partly by the Govan Lunacy Board. The Board built in 1892-95 a handsome asylum in the Italian style, with a central tower, and capable of accommodating between 500 and 600 patients. Hawkhead House, originally a large ancient tower, underwent such enlargement in the time of Charles I. as to take the form of a quadrangle. It was visited in 1681 by the Duke of York, afterwards James VII. Repaired and improved in 1782, it is now an irregular pile of antique appearance, with gardens originally formed in the Dutch style, and a finely-wooded park.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Househill. An estate, with a modern mansion and a village, in the E of Abbey parish, on the right bank of Levern Water, 2 1/2 miles NE of Barrhead. It was sold in 1871 for £40,000. The village, called Househill Muir, has Hurlet for its post-town, under Glasgow.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Houston. A village and a parish of central Renfrewshire. The village stands 130 feet above sea-level on Houston Burn, 1 3/4 mile NNE of Houston or Crosslee station on the Bridge of Weir section of the Glasgow and South-Western, 3 3/8 miles W by S of Houston station on the Glasgow and Greenock section of the Caledonian, 3 NNW of Johnstone, and 6 WNW of Paisley. An older village, now extinct, stood a little lower down the burn; and the present place, founded on a regular plan in 1781, consists chiefly of two streets on the two sides of the burn, and presents a neat appearance, with slated two-story houses. The principal occupations of the inhabitants are weaving and embroidering. It has a money order, savings bank, and telegraph post office under Johnstone, and a fair on the second Tuesday of May. An omnibus runs in connection with the trains. In 1893 Mr. A. A. Speirs, of Elderslie and Houston, presented a public hall to the village. The building is two stories in height, with reading and recreation rooms on the ground floor, and a hall on the upper floor, measuring 47 feet long by 27 wide, and seated to accommodate about 400. Pop. (1841) 623, (1861) 858, (1871) 518, (1881) 553, (1891) 498.
      The parish, containing also the village of CROSSLEE and part of BRIDGE of WEIR, comprises the ancient parishes of Houston and Killallan, which inconveniently intersected each other, and were united in 1760. It is bounded N and NE by Erskine, SE and S by Kilbarchan, and W by Kilmalcolm. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 5 1/8 miles; its utmost breadth is 3 1/4 miles; and its area is 7644 acres, of which 59 1/2 are water. GRYFE Water winds 7 1/2 miles eastward along all the southern and south-western boundary; its affluent, Dargavel Burn, flows 6 5/8 miles east-southeastward along all the northern and north-eastern boundary; and the interior is drained to the Gryfe by Houston and Barochan Burns. In the extreme E, at the Dargavel's influx to the Gryfe, the surface declines to 20 feet above sea-level; and the eastern and south-eastern districts are low and almost flat, but the north-western rises gradually, till near West Glen it attains a summit altitude of 623 feet. Carboniferous rocks prevail in the lower districts, eruptive rocks in the higher; and the former include sandstone, limestone, and coal. The soil of the low flat grounds is partly clay and partly loam; of the higher is thin, dry, and in places heathy. Moss to the extent of 300 acres formerly lay dispersed through portions of the eastern district, but has in great degree been reclaimed and brought under the plough, notably in the case of FULWOOD Moss (1879-80). Barochan Moss, however, of great depth and considerable extent, is still a marked feature. The barony of Houston, anciently called Kilpeter, from a church on it dedicated to St. Peter, in the middle of the 12th century passed from Baldwin of Biggar, sheriff of Lanark, to Hugh of Padvinan, and took from him the name of `Hugh's-town,' corrupted into `Houston,' and gave that name to his descendants. They retained the barony till 1740, between which date and 1782 it went by sale or inheritance to five different proprietors, eventually being purchased by Alexander Speirs of Elderslie. Houston House was a large, quadrangular, castellated pile, with a high tower at the NW corner, and with an arched entrance and two turrets on the S front; stood on an eminence surrounded by gardens and woods; and, excepting the E side, was taken down in 1780 to furnish building material for the new village. In 1893 extensive additions were made to the house by Lady Anne Speirs. These include a tower 113 feet in height. An ancient cross, supposed to have been erected by the knights of Houston, has a graduated pedestal, an octagonal pillar 9 feet high, and a surmounting dial and globe. Mansions, noticed elsewhere, are Barochan House and Gryfe Castle. Houston is in the presbytery of Paisley and synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the living is worth £303. The parish church was built in 1874-75, at a cost of over £3000, by Mrs. Ellice of Invergarry as a memorial to her son, Captain Archibald Alexander Speirs (1840-69), M.P. for Renfrewshire. It is an early Gothic edifice, with 600 sittings and a square tower 70 feet high; and in 1876 it was adorned with seven stained glass windows. At its E end a new mortuary has been erected, containing an interesting 15th century monument of the Houston family; and 2 miles to the NW the ruin is still standing of Killallan or St. Fillan's church. Other places of worship are Houston Free church and Houston Roman Catholic church, St. Fillan's (1841). Freeland public, Houston public, and a Roman Catholic school, with respective accommodation for 245, 289, and 85 children, have an average attendance of about 220, 140, and 60, and grants of nearly £200, £150, and £140. Pop. (1801) 1891, (1841) 2818, (1861) 2490, (1871) 2167, (1881) 2191, (1891) 1946.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Howwood or Hollow-Wood. A village in Lochwinnoch parish with a station on the Glasgow and South-Western railway, 3 miles SW of Johnstone town. It has a post office, a public school, and a chapel of ease, which last in 1874 was repaired and adorned with a handsome memorial window. There are two bleachworks in the neighbourhood. Pop. (1871) 312, (1881) 333, (1891) 420.
Hurlet. A village on the SE border of Abbey parish, on the left bank of Levern Water, 5 furlongs NW of Nitshill station, 1 1/2 mile NNE of Barrhead, and 3 miles SE of Paisley. Standing amid a rich mineral field, where coal has been worked for upwards of three centuries, and ironstone for about sixty years, it was the seat from 1753 till 1820 of a copperas work, the only one in Scotland up to 1807. Becoming also the seat, tentatively in 1766-69 and effectively in 1797, of the earliest alum work, it has ever since the latter date continued to send out large quantities of its chemical products. It has a post office under Glasgow. Pop. (1871) 379, (1881) 341, (1891) 344.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.