Langbank - Lugton Water

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Langbank. A village and a quoad sacra parish in Erskine parish. The village, pleasantly situated on the southern shore of the Clyde, opposite Dumbarton, has a post, money order, and telegraph office, Established and U.P. churches--the former plain and with a bell-tower, the latter with a tower and spire of considerable elevation--and a station on the Greenock section of the Caledonian, 4 1/4 miles ESE of Port Glasgow. Constituted in 1875, the parish is in the presbytery of Greenock and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Pop. of village (1881) 322, (1891) 315; of q. s. parish (1881) 675, (1891) 553.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Langhouse. An estate with a mansion, enlarged in 1867 in Inverkip parish, 2 1/2 miles NNE of Wemyss Bay.
Leven. The name of an old ruined castle and also of a modern mansion, the two standing close to one another, in Innerkip parish, on the sea-shore, 2 miles SW of Kempock Point in Gourock. The castle comprises two quadrangular towers about 30 feet high and with very thick walls. Till 1547 it belonged to a branch of the Mortons, but at that date it passed into the hands of the Sempills, and is now the property of the Shaw-Stewarts.
Levern Water. A stream and a quoad sacra parish of Renfrewshire, issuing from Long Loch, on the boundary between the parishes of Neilston and Mearns, near the Ayrshire border, and running 9 1/4 miles north-north-eastward through the parish of Neilston and along the boundary between Abbey-Paisley and Eastwood, to a junction with the White Cart, at a point 3 1/2 miles ESE of Paisley. Its principal affluents are the Kirkton and the Brock Burns. It exhibits various scenes of sequestered and even romantic beauty. Before reaching the level ground, its velocity is very considerable, and there are several waterfalls. The cascades in Killock Glen form a miniature resemblance of the three celebrated Falls of Clyde. The greater part of its valley is thickly inhabited by a manufacturing population, which centres at the villages of Neilston, Barrhead, and Hurlet. The quoad sacra parish of Levern is in the presbytery of Paisley and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Its church was built as a chapel of ease in 1835. Levern public and Nitshill Roman Catholic schools, with respective accommodation for 359 and 123 children, have an average attendance of about 215 and 75, and grants amounting to nearly £210 and £72. Pop. of q.s. parish (1871) 2413, (1881) 2847, (1891) 2772, of whom 2617 were in Abbey-Paisley and 155 in Eastwood.--Ord. Sur., shs. 22, 30, 1865-66.
Linn. An estate, with a mansion, in Cathcart parish, Renfrewshire, adjacent to Lanarkshire and White Cart Water, 3/4 mile S of Cathcart village.
Linwood. A village in Kilbarchan parish, and a quoad sacra parish in Abbey parish, Renfrewshire. The village stands on the left bank of Black Cart Water (here spanned by a one-arch bridge), 1 1/2 mile NE of Johnstone, and 31/2 miles W of Paisley, under which it has a post office, with money order, savings bank, and telegraph departments. It arose from a large cotton-mill, built in 1792, burned down in 1802, and rebuilt in 1805; was laid out on a regular plan; is inhabited chiefly by the operatives of its cotton-mill, and by workers in the paper-mill and in neighbouring mines; acquired, in 1872, a water supply by pipes from the Paisley waterworks; and has an Established church, a public school, and a Roman Catholic chapel-school. The quoad sacra parish, constituted in 1880, is in the presbytery of Paisley and the synod of Glasgow and Ayr; its minister's stipend is £200. Pop. of village (1881) 1393, (1891) 1315; of quoad sacra parish (1881) 2505, (1891) 3295.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Locher Water. A pretty rivulet of Renfrewshire, rising at an altitude of 830 feet above sea-level, and winding 8 miles east-north-eastward, chiefly within Kilbarchan parish, till, after a total descent of 805 feet, it falls into Gryfe Water, at a point 1 3/4 mile E of Houston village. A petrifying spring on its banks has yielded many beautiful specimens of dendritic carbonate of lime.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Lochside. An estate with a mansion in Lochwinnoch parish, 2 miles ESE of the town.
Lochwinnoch. A town and a parish of S Renfrewshire. The town stands on the left bank of the river Calder, at the SW end of Castle-Semple Loch, 1 mile NW of Lochwinnoch station on the Glasgow & South-Western railway, this being 6 3/4 miles NNE of Dalry Junction, 8 3/4 SW of Paisley, and 15 3/4 WSW of Glasgow. Its name was written in nearly forty different ways before the present spelling was finally adopted; and while the first part of it manifestly refers to Castle-Semple Loch, the latter part may be either the genitive innich of the Celtic innis, `an island,' referring to an islet in the lake, or the name of a St. Winnoc, to whom some old chapel on or near the town's site was dedicated. That site is a pleasant one, sheltered on all sides except the SE by rising-grounds or thick plantations. The older part of the town is mean and irregular; but its modern portion comprises a main street, half a mile in length, with some streets diverging at right angles, and chiefly consists of slated two-storey houses. Manufactures of linen cloth, thread, leather, candles, and cotton were formerly carried on; but it still may lay claim to being a place of some manufactures, there being a large cabinet and chair manufactory, a steam laundry, etc. Lochwinnoch has a post office, with money order, savings bank, and telegraph departments, a branch of the National Bank, two inns, a gas company, an agricultural society, a public library, bowling and curling clubs, a cemetery, and a cattle fair on the first Tuesday of November, old style. The parish church (1806; 1500 sittings) has the form of an irregular octagon, and is adorned with a columnar porch, surmounted by a neat short. spire. Lady E. L. Harvey of Castle Semple, presented an organ to the church in 1885. The Free church was built soon after the Disruption; and the U.P. church (1792; 503 sittings) is in the form of an octagon with a small front tower. Pop. (1881) 1192, (1891) 1413.
     The parish of Lochwinnoch, containing also the village of Howwood, is bounded N by Kilmalcolm and Kilbarchan, E by Kilbarchan, Neilston, and Abbey parish, and S and SW by the Ayrshire parishes of Beith, Kilbirnie, and Largs. Its utmost length, from WNW to ESE, is 11 miles; its utmost breadth is 6 5/8 miles; and its area is 19,8771 acres, of which 3711 are water. CASTLE-SEMPLE Loch (1 3/4 mile x 3 furl.; 90 feet) extends across the greater part of the interior, and divides the parish into two parts of about one-third on the SE and two-thirds on the NW. Kilbirnie Loch (11 3/4 x 3 1/2 furl.; 105 feet) touches a projecting point on the southern border; Queenside Loch (23/4 x 1 furl.; 1300 feet) lies among hills in the extreme NW; and Walls Loch (4 1/3 x 3 furl.; 560 feet) lies on the eastern boundary. Rowbank Dam is the PAISLEY reservoir. The CALDER, rising in Largs parish at an altitude of 1400 feet above sea-level, flows 9 1/4 miles east-south-eastward to Castle-Semple Loch, out of which the Black CART runs 2 3/8 miles north-eastward along the Kilbarchan boundary. Auchenbathie Burn winds 4 miles along the Beith boundary to the head of Castle-Semple Loch; Dubbs Burn, running from Kilbirnie to Castle-Semple Loch, traces for 1 1/4 mile farther the boundary with Ayrshire; and Maich Water, rising and running 1 1/4 mile near the western border, traces for 4 miles a portion of the Ayrshire boundary south-south-eastward to Kilbirnie Loch. The surface of the south-eastern division of the parish nowhere exceeds 656 feet above sea-level; but that of the north-western attains 908 feet at Thornlybank Hill on the northern boundary, and of 1711 at the Hill of Stake on the south-western, the highest summit of the Mistylaw Hills. The central district is mainly a low-lying valley along the banks of Dubbs Burn, Castle-Semple Loch, and the Black Cart, flanked with slopes, undulations, and rising-grounds up to the base of the hills. It formerly contained a much larger expanse of Castle-Semple Loch than now, and an entire other lake called Barr Loch having been contracted by an embankment whereby several hundred acres of land were reclaimed for cultivation; and, with an elevation over great part of its area of not more than from 90 to 170 feet above sea-level, it possesses a wealth of artificial embellishment in wood and culture, and presents a warm and beautiful appearance. Partly eruptive and partly carboniferous, the rocks comprise all varieties of trap, fused into one another in endless gradations. They include workable beds of limestone, sandstone, and coal; and contain carbonate of copper, oxide of manganese, jasper, agate, very fine white prehnite, and other interesting minerals. The soil of the lower grounds is clay and loam; and that of the higher grounds, exclusive of the moors, is of a light, dry quality. Nearly half of the entire area is arable; more than 700 acres are under wood, and the rest is either pastoral or waste. The chief antiquities are Barr Tower, Elliston Castle, foundations or sites of Castle-Tower and Beltrees, Cloak, and Lorabank Castles, remains of an ancient camp on Castlewalls farm, an ancient bridge at Bridgend, and various relics found in Castle-Semple Loch. Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), minor poet and American ornithologist, worked at Lochwinnoch as a journeyman weaver. Three estates, noticed separately, are Castle-Semple, Barr, and Auchenbathie. Lochwinnoch is in the presbytery of Paisley and the synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the living is worth £334. At Howwood is a chapel of ease; and four public schools--Glenhead, Howwood, Lochwinnoch, and Macdowall--with respective accommodation for 60, 269, 330, and 164 children, have an average attendance of about 35, 175, 160, and 95, and grants amounting to nearly £34, £162, £172, and £72. Pop. (1891) 3477.--Ord. Sur., shs. 30, 22, 1866-65. See Matthew Gemmill's Ecclesiastical Sketches of Lochwinnoch; and Archaeological Collections of County of Renfrew (Paisley, 1885-90).
Long Loch. A lake on the mutual border of Mearns and Neilston parishes, SE Renfrewshire, 3 miles S of Neilston town. Lying 790 feet above sea-level, it has an utmost length and breadth of 1 1/8 and 1/4 mile, contains some perch and trout, and sends of the principal head-stream of the Levern.--Ord Sur., sh. 22 1865.
Lugton Water. A rivulet, partly of Renfrewshire, but chiefly of Ayrshire. Issuing from Loch Libo (395 feet above sea-level), it flows 14 1/4 miles south-south-westward along the boundaries of, or through the parishes of Neilston, Beith, Dunlop, Stewarton, and Kilwinning, till, after traversing Eglinton Park, it falls into the Garnock at a point 2 1/8 miles N by W of Irvine town. It once abounded with fresh-water trout and sea-trout, and was occasionally ascended by salmon, but now yields good sport only over the last 5 miles.--Ord. Sur., sh. 22, 1865.

    


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