Park House. A mansion in Inchinnan parish 2 3/4 miles NW of Renfrew.
Pollok Castle. A mansion in Mearns parish, 2 1/2 miles SE of Barrhead. Crowning a rising ground, among fine old trees, and commanding an extensive view, it was a chateau-like four-storeyed edifice, erected in the latter half of the 17th century, and twice enlarged, on the last occasion in 1856; but on the night of 31 July 1882 it was wholly destroyed by fire, the damage being estimated at £30,000. Its owner, James Crawford Fergusson Pollok, Esq. (b. 1868; suc. 1893), represents the ancient families of Pollok of Pollok and Crawfurd of Kilbirnie and Jordanhill, both dating from the 12th century, Robins Pollok, an ancestress, having married Sir Hew Crawfurd of Jordanhill soon after the middle of the 18th century.--Ord. Sur., sh. 22, 1865.
Pollok House. A mansion in Eastwood parish, near the right bank of the White Cart, 1 1/2 mile WNW of Pollokshaws. Erected in 1747-52, it is plain quadrangular four-storeyed building, with beautiful grounds, and on 15 Aug. 1859 was honoured by a visit from the Prince of Wales. Its woods of grand old timber suffered severely from the storm of Nov. 1893, which devastated so much of the wooded portions of the country. A very fine specimen of the Ampelopsis hederacea or Virginian Creeper extends from one root a distance of 310 feet, and covers 344 square yards of wall. Visitors are allowed to the grounds in summer on Saturdays from 2 to 7 o'clock. Pollok formed part of the broad estates that were granted by David I. to Walter the High Steward about the year 1124. The superiority was acquired by Roland de Mearns, and afterwards by the Maxwells of Caerlaverock; and about 1270 the lower division of Pollok, commonly called Nether Pollok, was given by Sir Aymer Maxwell of Maxwell, Caerlaverock, and Mearns, to his younger son, Sir John Maxwell, the first of the Maxwells of Pollok. Among his descendants, who by marriage were allied to royalty, were the brave young Sir John, who earned his spurs well at Otterburn (1388); Sir John, who fell at the battle of Dryfe Sands (1593); Sir George, for bewitching whom, in 1677, five persons were strangled and burnt; Sir John, created a Baronet in 1682; and Sir John, the eighth Bart. (1791-1865), at whose death the estate and the baronetcy devolved on his nephew, William Stirling, Esq. of Keir. From him, the late Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, the estate of Pollok passed in 1878 to his elder son, Sir John Maxwell Stirling Maxwell (b. 1866).--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866. See EASTWOOD, CROOKSTON, DARNLEY, HAGGS CASTLE; Sir Wm. Fraser's Memoirs of the Maxwells of Keir (2 vols., Edinb. 1865); and his Cartulary of Pollok-Maxwell (Edinb. 1875).
Pollokshaws. A town and a quoad sacra parish in the civil parish of Eastwood, in the eastern division of Renfrewshire. The town, popularly known as the Shaws, is on the White Cart, where it is joined by Auldhouse Burn, and has a station on the Glasgow, Barrhead, and Kilmarnock railway, 3 miles SSW of Glasgow, and another on the Cathcart District circular railway (opened 1894), on which there is also a goods station. It is also the terminus of a line of the Glasgow Corporation tramways. With a pleasant situation in the midst of an undulating and fertile tract of country, it is a seat of manufacturing industry. A printfield, one of the earliest in Scotland, was established in 1742, and bleaching and handloom weaving, which were introduced soon after, were long extensively carried on. A tannery for the manufacture of chamois leather, which was begun in 1782, and was the earliest in Scotland, did not prosper. A cotton mill, erected about the end of the 18th century, was the first in Scotland lighted with gas. Calico printing, which was long carried on, having declined, turkey-red dyeing took its place, and was vigorously carried on till 1837, when it was given up, and since then the staple industries have been dyeing, power-loom weaving, bleachfields, print-works, paper-mills, and iron-foundries. The bridge over the Cart dates from 1654, but it has since been widened and repaired. The town-house, with its spire, and the trades' hall, do not call for particular notice. The quoad sacra parish church, originally Auldfield chapel of ease, in King Street, was built in 1840. Eastwood parish church, on the SW, built in 1862-63 at a cost of £3500, is a good Early English structure with 1050 sittings, nave and transepts, and a tower and spire 130 feet high at the W end. It superseded an older church of 1781, and was reopened in March 1877, after improvements, including a three-light stained window, new choir seats, etc. There are also two Free churches in King Street and Rosendale Road, a U.P. church, an Original Secession church, a Primitive Methodist chapel, and the Roman Catholic church of St. Mary Immaculate (1865; 800 sittings; redecorated 1884), but none of them call for particular notice. Four schools--the Academy, public, infant, and Roman Catholic--with respective accommodation for 884, 471, 150, and 508 pupils, have an average attendance of about 690, 315, 45, and 405, and grants amounting to nearly £750, £345, £40, and £425. The town was erected into a burgh of barony by Crown charter in 1814, the council consisting of a provost, a bailie, and six councillors, being elected by all inhabitants paying £4 of rent and upwards; but the municipal government is now carried on by the commissioners appointed under the Burgh Police Act of 1892. Water and gas are alike supplied by the Glasgow Corporation. There is a fever hospital at Cowglen, and an hospital at Darnley is supported jointly with the County Council District Committee. There is a post office, with money order, savings bank, and telegraph departments, under Glasgow, branch offices of the British Linen Company, Clydesdale, and Commercial Banks, a public library, established in 1844, a young men's literary and mutual improvement association, a trades' friendly society, a tract and destitute sick relief society, a horticultural society, and a weekly newspaper, the Pollokshaws News, and some other institutions. Justice of peace courts are held every Monday for criminal cases, and first Monday of each month for civil cases. Pop. of town (1831) 4627, (1861) 7648, (1871) 8921, (1881) 9363, (1891) 10,405, of whom 5544 were females, and 7172 were in Pollokshaws quoad sacra parish. Houses (1891) inhabited 2267, vacant 137, building 1.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Polnoon Castle. An ancient parish in Eaglesham parish, near a head-stream of White Cart Water, 5 miles S by E of Busby. It was built with the ransom of Harry Hotspur, whom Sir John Montgomerie had taken prisoner at Otterburn (1388); and it long was a chief seat of the Eglinton family; but it is now represented by only a few smooth mounds of rubbish.--Ord. Sur. sh. 22 1865.
Port-Glasgow. A parish, with a parliamentary burgh of the same name, on the N coast of the Lower Ward of Renfrewshire. It is bounded N by the Clyde, E and S by Kilmalcolm, and W by Greenock. The boundary on the E and S is artificial, but on the N it is formed by the Clyde, and on the W by Devol Burn to a point about 1/6 mile above Wallace's Leap. The greatest length of the parish, from the corner of the West Harbour on the N to the extreme southern point, is fully 1 1/2 mile; the greatest width, from Laigh Auchinleck on the E to Wallace's Leap on the W is barely 1 1/2 mile; and the area is 1031.772 acres, of which 39.381 are foreshore said 48.524 water. There is a flat strip along the Clyde on the N side from 13 to 20 feet above sea-level, and from this the ground slopes rapidly up to the 200-feet line which lies immediately to the S of the burgh, and still more rapidly to the 500-feet line farther to the S. From this the rise to 600 feet is more gradual, and the highest points are 700 feet on the SW and 656 near the extreme S. The soil of the flat tract along the Clyde is a very fertile loam, but that along the higher ground is cold and poor. The underlying rocks are mostly volcanic. The drainage of the parish is effected by Devol Burn on the W--along the course of which there are several small waterfalls--and some smaller burns all flowing to the Clyde. In the SW is Douglehill Dam or Reservoir (2 x 1 furl.) The only object of interest beyond the town is Newark Castle in the NE, which is separately noticed. A line across the Clyde from Newark Castle to Cardross is the lower limit of the jurisdiction of the Clyde Trustees; while below this the care of the channel and estuary is under the Clyde Lighthouse Trust. The parish is traversed from E to W by the main line of road from Glasgow along the edge of the river and Firth, and by the Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock branches of both the Caledonian and Glasgow and South-Western railways. From the former the Wemyss Bay branch strikes off close to the western boundary of the parish.
     Civilly, the parish was, prior to 1695, in the parish of Kilmalcolm, and ecclesiastically, it is divided into the parishes of Port-Glasgow and Newark, the latter originally established in 1774 as a chapel of ease, but constituted as a quoad sacra charge in 1855. Both are in the presbytery of Greenock in the synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and the living of Port-Glasgow is £380. The churches are noticed in the following article, and the landward school board is united with that of East Greenock. The industries are noticed under the town. The principal landowner is Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, Bart. of Greenock and Blackhall. Pop. of entire parish (1801) 3865, (1831) 5192, (1861) 7204, (1871) 9912, (1881) 10,913, (1891) 11,973, of whom 6012 were males and 5691 females. Of the whole population 11,891 were at that time within the parliamentary boundary, and 8260 were in the ecclesiastical parish.--Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Port-Glasgow. A seaport and parliamentary burgh on the Firth of Clyde, occupying the whole of the northern portion of the parish just described. It has a station on the Glasgow and Greenock section of the Caledonian railway, 19 3/4 miles WNW of Glasgow. The site is a belt of flat alluvial ground 13 to 20 feet above sea-level, lying along the shore of the Clyde, and as the ground to the S rises by two successive stretches of hill to over 500 feet, the appearance from the river is picturesque. The town itself is well built; the principal streets following the line of the bay occupied by the docks, and minor ones running parallel to these or striking off at right angles. The districts to the W and S are occupied by villas. Founded in the middle of the 17th century, it has none of the ancient historical associations belonging to many of the other burghs along the Clyde. The earlier seaports connected with the trade of Glasgow were situated on the Ayrshire coast, but between 1650 and 1660 the commerce of the great city of the west had so much increased that the distant harbours were found expensive and inconvenient, and the community resolved to have a harbour of their own. The deepening of the bed of the Clyde was as yet unthought of, and after unsuccessful efforts to acquire ground at Troon and at Dumbarton, a deputation of the council reported on 4 Jan. 1668 that they had had `ane meiting yeasternight with the lairds, elder and younger, of Newark, and that they had spoke with them anent the taking of ane piece of land of theirs in feu, for loadning and livering of their ships there, anchoring and building ane harbor there, and that the said lairds had subscryvit a contract of feu this morning: quhilt was all allowed and approvine be said magestratis and counsell, and efter this the twa feu contracts made between the saidis lairdis of Newark, elder and yor., and the towne were red and subscryvit, being that the saids Newark, elder and yor., had set ane merk land, as a pairt of their lands of Newark to the towne, in feu for payment yeirlie of four merks feu dewtie, and relieving them of the king's taxatioune effeirand to a merk land.' On the 13 acres thus acquired the town soon began to grow, as the erection of a pier and docks was set about at once, and the place, under the name of New Port-Glasgow, was by Crown charter constituted a free port and a burgh of barony. From this time until its trade received a very severe check from the deepening of the Clyde and the consequent transference of the greater portion of the commerce to Glasgow, the port prospered steadily. In 1710 it was constituted the principal custom-house port of the Clyde, and soon afterwards the town extended its original limits so greatly that it came in contact with, and practically absorbed the village of Newark--a burgh of barony belonging to Hamilton of Wishaw. Port-Glasgow thus became two burghs of barony subject to two different superiors--a state of matters that was found so inconvenient that an act of parliament was obtained in 1775 erecting them into a separate municipality under councillors called trustees. Besides other provisions, power was given to bring in water; to pave, clean, and watch the streets; to erect public markets; and to repair the quays. Harbour matters have all along been diligently attended to, and the original graving dock, built in 1762, and subsequently improved at great expense, was the first graving dock in Scotland. It was in 1873-74 superseded by a new one of improved construction. The length of its floor is 310 feet, the width at the entrance 45 feet, the depth of water on the sill at low water is 6 feet, at high water of neap tides 14 feet, and at high water of spring tides 16 feet. The original harbour occupied the position now covered by the West and East Harbours, the wet dock to the E, which is capable of floating very large vessels, having been formed, in 1834 and subsequent years, in a bay called Newark Bay. It covers an area of 12 acres, and cost about £40,000. Farther E still are ponds and enclosures for the storage of timber. All the basins are well sheltered, easy of access, and lie in a convenient position with regard to the fairway of the Clyde, which is at this point somewhat narrowed by shoals, but is clearly and carefully marked out by buoys and beacons. Harbour affairs are managed by a body of trustees, comprising the provost, 2 bailies, and 2 councillors of the place, the lord provost and senior bailie of Glasgow, 4 members elected by the shipowners and ratepayers, and 4 from the stockholders' trustees. The number of vessels registered in the port, with their tonnage, has been at various dates as follows:--

Year.	No. of Vessels.	Tonnage.
1818	133	19,133
1843	74	12,952
1845	49	12,860
1854	67	8.464
1868	39	9,671
1875	35	15,133
1884	34	11,351
1895	43	26,489

The great falling off owing to almost the whole of the coasting trade being removed to Glasgow in consequence of the deepening of the Clyde, and the subsequent improvement due to the natural growth of the port itself, is clearly shown. In 1868, 29 ships, with a tonnage of 8851 tons, were sailing vessels, while 10 with 820 tolls were steamers; in 1884, 18 ships of 8570 tons were sailing vessels, while 16 with 2751 tons were steamers; and in 1895, 18 ships, with a tonnage of 23,190, were sailing vessels, and 25 of 3299 tons were steamers.
     The principal trade is with Canada, and the next with the West Indies, these two branches of commerce employing about three-quarters of the tonnage entering the port. Trade is also carried on with the United States, the Mediterranean, and the East Indies. The Canadian import trade is chiefly in timber. The principal exports are iron, steel, soft goods, machinery, and coal.
     The industries connected with the town are shipbuilding, saw mills, iron and brass foundries, sail-cloth factories, and establishments for the manufacture of sails, blocks, and rivets. Several of the shipbuilding yards are on an extensive scale. It may be here mentioned that it was at Port-Glasgow that the famous Comet, the pioneer steamship of the European world, was built in 1812. After plying for a time on the Forth she returned to the west coast, and was lost near Craignish in 1820.
     Public Buildings, Municipality, etc.--The railway line runs nearly parallel to the shore through the middle of the town, and the station is near the centre. The principal streets are Fore Street, fronting the East and West Harbours; Bay Street, fronting the Wet Dock; and King Street and Princes Street parallel to Fore Street. The Town House is a good Doric building, with tetrastyle portico, erected in 1815 at a cost of £12,000, and containing council chambers, town offices, court house, and police station. The clock-spire is 150 feet high. The Town Hall, in Princes Street, was erected in 1873. The Custom House is a fine building situated close to the docks. The Moffat Library, erected in 1887 from part of a bequest by the late James Moffat, Esq., merchant in the town, is an elegant building, containing library, reading, billiard, and smoking rooms. From the same bequest there have been erected at the east end of the town, the Carnegie Park Orphan Homes, which cost about £12,000, and have accommodation for about fifty boys and girls. The Public Baths and Wash-houses, in Bay Street, the gift of Mr. Joseph Russell, shipbuilder, and erected at a cost of about £6000, were opened in 1894. Pipes having been laid down the wharf; a supply of water from the river can be procured every tide. In order to cope with the periodic epidemics of fever to which the burgh was for many years subject, and to check the spread of the malady, a Reception House for the isolation of those attacked was opened in 1893. It is situated on a comparatively isolated site at Brecon Park, at the foot of Clune Brae, is a two-storey building with five sick rooms, and has alongside of it a wash-house, drying-house, and fumigating room. Birkmyre Park, the gift of Mr. William Birkmyre, M. P. for the Ayr Burghs, was thrown open to the public in 1894, pending the formal opening when completed. It comprises the estate and mansion-house of Glenhuntly, the latter of which the town council were authorised to sell or let, the revenue thus derived going to the upkeep of the park. An ornate bandstand has been fitted up, a bowling green and tennis court have been formed, and swings for girls and boys have been erected at the east and west sides of the park respectively. A fine monument of grey granite, to the memory of Mr. Thomas Blackwood, engineer and shipbuilder, was erected in 1893 by his workmen, to whom he had endeared himself by many considerate actions. It stands in the Cemetery, on the banks of the Clyde.The parish church, erected in 1823 at a cost of £3000, is a plain quadrangular building with 1200 sittings. It was renovated in 1894 at an expense of £1200. Newark church, to the SW, is a plain building of 1774, with 1500 sittings. It was repaired in 1891. There is also a mission church in connection with the Establishment. The first Free church dates from the Disruption, and contains 950 sittings; the second, formerly a church connected with the Reformed Presbyterians, has 300 sittings; and the third, erected in the west end, was opened in 1876, and contains 500 sittings. There are two U.P. churches and an Evangelical Union church. St. Mary's Episcopal church, at the E end of the town, was built in 1856-57, by Miss Stewart, at a cost of £4000, and endowed by her with a fund of £10,000. It contains 331 sittings. In connection with it is a rectory, a hall, and an organist's house. St. John's Roman Catholic church, with 600 sittings, was erected in 1854, and superseded a previous building. The following are the schools, with their accommodation, average attendance, and ap- proximate government grants:--Chapelton public (450, 340, £375), Clune Park Public (644, 605, £580), Jean Street Public (712, 725, £845), and a Roman Catholic (983, 750, £785).
     As has been already noticed, the burgh acquired municipal government in 1775, and the powers of the then corporation were enlarged by a subsequent act in 1803, when provision was made for the erection of a new court house, a jail, and other public buildings. It was constituted a parliamentary burgh in 1832, and by the burgh reform act of 1833 the number of the councillors was reduced from 13 to 9. By the passing of the Burgh Police Act of 1892 it is governed by a provost, 4 bailies, and 7 commissioners. The corporation revenue in 1833 was £1889; in 1865, £4150; in 1883, £13,999; and in 1895, £15,680. The police force consists of 11 men (1 to every 1220 of the population), and the yearly pay of the superintendent is £173. The town has a post office, with money order, savings bank, insurance, and telegraph departments; branch offices of the Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale, Royal, and Union Banks; and several good hotels. There is one newspaper, the Port Glasgow Express and Observer, established 1875, and published on Friday. Among the miscellaneous institutions may be noticed a Volunteer Drill Hall, an Oddfellows Hall, a Masonic lodge, a building society, a fire-engine station, a temperance institute, a female benevolent society, and the usual benevolent societies. There is a weekly market on Friday, and a three days' fair on the first Thursday of July and the two following days. There is a burgh court every Thursday, and justice of peace courts are held on alternate Mondays. Port-Glasgow is connected with Greenock by tramway, and unites with Dumbarton, Renfrew, Rutherglen, and Kilmarnock in sending a member to serve in parliament. Parliamentary constituency (1895) 1787; municipal 1968. Valuation (1884-85) £54,040, (1895-96) £55,690. Pop. (1841) 6938, (1861) 7214, (1871) 9851, (1881) 13,294, (1891) 14,685, of whom 7397 were males, and 7288 females. Houses (1891) inhabited 2932, uninhabited 76, and building 17.