Killallan. An ancient parish in the N centre of Renfrewshire, now incorporated with Houston. The two parishes inconveniently intersected each other, and were united in 1760. The name Killallan is a modification of Kilfillan; and the church, St. Fillan's, in a state of ruin, stands 2 miles NW of Houston village. Near it are a large hollowed stone and a spring of water, called Fillan's Seat and Fillan's Well.
Kilmalcolm. A village and a parish in the Lower Ward of Renfrewshire. The village stands, 350 feet above sea-level, near the E border of the parish; and has a station on the Greenock and Ayrshire branch of the Glasgow and South-Western railway, 4 miles SE of Port Glasgow, 7 1/2 ESE of Greenock, and 15 WNW of Glasgow. It took its name, notwithstanding the modern spelling, from the dedication of its ancient church to St. Columba--Kil (cell) ma (my--fondly) colm (from the saint's baptismal name Colum, Latinized into Columba) meaning `church or cell of my Colm.' A similar building up of a name is seen in Kilmaronock, `church of my Ronock' (diminutive for St. Ronan). Its sheltered situation and the salubrity of its climate have led to a great extension during the last twenty years; and now it has a large number of tasteful villas, a post office under Paisley, with money order, savings bank, and telegraph departments, a branch of the Royal Bank, a good hotel, a large hydropathic establishment (1880), a gaswork, and water-works, formed in 1878 at a cost of nearly £5000, with a reservoir holding 1,500,000 gallons, and fed from Blacketty Burn. There is a public reading-rom and a public park, both of which were presented to the village by Mr. Birkmyre, and an excellent golf-course. The parish church is a handsome edifice of 1833 (repaired in 1886), with a tower, and adjoins the aisle of a previous church, containing the tomb of the Earls of Glencairn, to the memory of whom a brass tablet memorial was erected in 1892 by their descendant, R. B. Cunningham-Graham of Gartmore. In 1890 the ruined chancel of the original parish church, which probably dated from the 12th century, was restored to serve as a vestry. There are a Free and a U.P. church. Pop. (1871) 395, (1881) 1170, (1891) 1634.
     The parish is bounded N by Port Glasgow and the Firth of Clyde, E by Erskine and Houston, SE by Kilbarchan, S by Lochwinnoch, SW by Largs in Ayrshire, and W by Innerkip and Greenock. Its utmost length, from NE to SW, is 61/2 miles; its breadth, from E to W, varies between 2 and 7 3/4 miles; and its area is 20,405 3/4 acres, of which 263 1/2 are foreshore and 477 1/4 water. The coast-line, 2 1/2 miles in extent, is fringed by the low platform of the Firth's ancient sea-margin, and backed by pleasant braes 300 to 648 feet high. GRYFE Water, issuing from Gryfe Reservoir on the Greenock border, flows southeastward right across the parish; and by it, Green Water, and its other affluents, the interior has been so channelled as to offer a charming variety of gentle hill and vale, with loftier moss and moorland to the W and S. Sinking along the Gryfe in the extreme E to 180 feet above sea level, the surface thence rises to 570 feet at Craiglunscheoch, 853 at Hardridge Hill, and 1446 at Creuch Hill. The predominant rocks are eruptive; and the soil on the low grounds is mostly light and gravelly, on the higher is moorish or mossy. About a half of the entire area is in tillage, plantations cover some 125 acres, and the rest of the land is either pastoral or waste. Mansions, noticed separately, are Duchall, Finlaystone, Carruth, and Broadfield. Kilmalcolm is in the presbytery of Greenock and synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the living is worth £535. Kilmalcolm and West Syde public schools, with respective accommodation for 632 and 67 children, have an average attendance of over 270 and 25, and grants of about £310 and £30. Pop. (1881) 2708, (1891) 3649.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866. See Matthew Gemmill's Kilmalcolm, Past and Present.
Kip. A rivulet of Innerkip parish winding 4 miles westward till it falls into the Firth of Clyde 3 furlongs WSW of Innerkip village. In its lower course it traverses a wooded glen at the village; and it contains good store of trout, but is strictly preserved.--Ord. Sur., shs. 30, 29, 1866-73.
Kirkton Burn. A rivulet of Neilston parish, rising on the southern verge of the county, at an altitude of 750 feet, and running 4 1/2 miles north-north-eastward till, after a descent of 600 feet, it falls into the Levern at Barrhead. It expands into two considerable reservoirs; and has on its banks, in the lower part of its course, several bleachfields and other public works.--Ord. Sur., shs. 22, 30, 1865-66.