The principal river is the Clyde, which forms a considerable portion of the northern boundary; and the other chief streams are the White Cart, Black Cart, and Gryfe. The first has its chief sources in the extreme south-east of the county, and flows northward—forming for most of the way the boundary with Lanarkshire— to Cathcart, south of Glasgow, whence it has a westerly course to Paisley, and then again a northerly course till it joins the Clyde a mile north-west of the burgh of Renfrew. The Black Cart issues from Castle Semple Loch near the centre of the southern border of the county, and follows a general north-easterly course to its junction with the White Cart at Inchinnan church a mile west of the burgh of Renfrew. Its most important headwater is the river Calder, which, with smaller streams flowing to it, drains a considerable portion of the southern border and flows into Castle Semple Loch at Lochwinnoch. The Gryfe, which, with a large number of streams flowing to it, drains nearly all the western half of the county, rises at Gryfe Reservoir, 2^ miles south of Greenock, and has a winding easterly course to its junction with the Black Cart at Walkinshaw, 2 miles north-west of Paisley. A number of smaller streams flow direct to the Clyde, the most important being the Kip and the Kelly Burn in the west of the county. The principal lochs arc Loch Thom and Gryfe Reservoir, 2£ miles south of Greenock; Castle Semple Loch, near the centre of the southern border; Long Loch and Loch Goin, farther east near the same border; and Balgray and Glen Reservoirs, connected with the Glasgow water supply near the centre of the eastern part of the county. The Glasgow, Paisley, and Johnstone Canal, which formerly united these three towns, has since 1882 been laid dry along the greater part of its course and the bed converted into a railway line.

The rocks throughout the county are Carboniferous, and almost the whole of the Lower Carboniferous or Calciferous Sandstone series is here represented by a thick set of volcanic deposits. The oldest beds are the red sandstones, cornstones, and conglomerates which occupy the extreme west corner between Innerkip and Loch Thom. Overlying these is the upper portion of the Lower Carboniferous—the cement-stone group—which runs from the hills behind Greenock on the west, south-eastward by the high ground south of Paisley, and so on to the south-east corner of the county and thence into Lanarkshire. The cement-stones form the underlying deposits over nearly two-thirds of the county to the south, west and west; but, though the base of this subdivision here consists of the usual white sandstones and cement-stones, yet the great mass of the rocks are contemporaneous lava-flows—basalts, mela-phyres, and porphyrites—with interbedded tuffs and volcanic agglomerates which have all issued from a line of vents the positions of which may still be traced by the volcanic necks which remain at several points. In the south-east there are intercalated beds of sandstone, shale, and impure limestone. In some places this series of beds passes conformably up into the overlying Carboniferous Limestone series, which occupies a basin covering nearly one-third of the county to the north-east; but the two subdivisions are oftener brought into contact by faults, a double line of which along the valley of the Black Cart brings a narrow tract of the limestones right across the volcanic beds just described. The base of the Carboniferous Limestone subdivision consists of limestones, the middle portion of a series of valuable seams of coal and ironstone, which are extensively worked, and the upper part of limestones. Masses of intrusive volcanic rocks occur to the south of Johnstone and the north-east of Paisley, and to the north of Johnstone and north-west of Paisley are oil-producing shales, which are worked at Clippens and Walkinshaw. Near Pollokshields, at Thornliebank, and to the east of Barrhead there are small outliers of millstone grit consisting of yellow sandstones; and along the extreme north-east corner of the county to the south of Glasgow the true Coal Measures of the great Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire basin are brought in by a fault which throws them down against the Carboniferous Limestone series. Volcanic dykes of Tertiary age run across the older rocks at various points, some very well marked examples occurring near the centre of the southern boi'der. The Glacial deposits are well marked and interesting, the clays at Jordanhill to the north of the Clyde and near Paisley having yielded numerous species of Foraminifcra and arctic shells. The beds of economic value are all extensively worked. In 1882 the eighteen collieries within the county produced 114,324 tons of coal out of a total of 20,515,134 tons for all Scotland, 164,523 tons of ironstone out of a total of 2,404,177 tons, 90,804 tons of oil-shale out of a total of 994,487 tons, and 22,554 tons of fireclay out of a total of 435,457 tons. Limestones are also quarried in large quantities for smelting purposes and for the manufacture of lime,— one thin but valuable bed at Orchard, 4 miles south of Glasgow, producing a cement that “ sets ” under water. Copperas is obtained from the iron pyrites got in the shale, and at one time alum-shale was worked at Hurlet in the north-east and copper in the volcanic rocks about Lochwinnoch.

Farming operations do not differ in detail from those carried on in the adjoining middle and lower wards of Lanarkshire. The climate is very variable; and, as the prevailing west and south-west winds come in from the Atlantic warm and full of moisture, contact with the colder land causes a׳cry heavy rains, and the western part of Renfrewshire is one of the wettest districts in Scotland, the mean annual rainfall amounting to over 60 inches. The mean annual temperature is about 48°. The hilly district has a good deal of moss and moorland, but the soil, which is a light earth, is also over considerable areas deep enough to produce good pasture. In the undulating middle district the soil is generally deeper and better, particularly along the streams, where there are tracts of good liaughland, but it is also in many places thin and poor. There is a considerable amount of pasture, and the principal crops are oats and barley. On the Hat lands adjoining the Clyde the soil is a rich alluvium which, except when soured by excessive rain, pro- [table]

According to the agricultural returns for 1884 the total area under crops was 95,353, a percentage of 603־57) 8־ in 1874). The area under corn crops in 1884 was 17,502 acres; under green crops, 6,683 acres; under rotation of grasses, 22,997 acres; under permanent pasture, 47,880 acres; orchards and market-gardens, 158 acres; and woodland, 5424. Of the corn land more than four-fifths was under oats, which occupied 14,132 acres, while 2229 were under wheat, and only 178 under barley. Potatoes were grown on 4351 acres, and turnips and swedes on 2332; while under beans, rye, vetches, &c., there are about 1300 acres annually. The total number of horses in 1884 was 3331; the number of cattle to every 100 acres under cultivation was 288־, the average for Scotland being 23'6. The large towns in the county and neighbourhood account for a great number of cattle being kept for dairy and feeding purposes. The number of sheep to every 100 acres under cultivation was 33T, the average for Scotland being 145T. The number of pigs was 1952. According to the Miscellaneous Statistics of the United Kingdom (1879) 5735 proprietors owned 155,321 acres with an estimated gross rental of £990,898. Sir M. R. Shaw Stewart possessed 24,951 acres, Allan Gilmour of Eaglesham 16,516, A. A. Spiers of Elderslie 11,259, H. Lee Harvey of Castlesemple 6500, Sir W. Stirling Maxwell 4773, Lord Blantyre 4449, Duncan Darroch of Gourock 4248, and IV. Mure of Caldwell 3624.

Besides the coal, iron, and oil industries already mentioned, the county has extensive, varied, and valuable manufactures, of which the chief are noticed in the separate articles on Greenock and Paisley. Elsewhere there are chemical works, engineering works, foundries, and bleaching, dyeing, and weaving works. There are throughout the shire a large number of excellent roads; and numerous lines and branches of the Caledoniau and the Glasgowand South-Western systems afford ample railway communication along the centre, north, and west for both general traffic and minerals. The population has risen from 78,501 in 1801 to 216,947 in 1871 and to 263,374 in 1881 (126,743 males, 136,631 females), more than 100,000 of the increase having taken place between 1851 and 1881. Of the whole number 49,681 men and 21,734 women were engaged in industrial handicrafts or dealt in manufactured substances, and of these 7741 men and 15,547 women were connected with the making of textile fabrics, while 7986 men and 172 women were connected with the working of mineral substances.

The Redistribution Act passed in 1885 extended the parliamentary representation of the county from one to two members. The only royal burgh is Renfrew, which is separately noticed, as are also the parliamentary burghs of Greenock and Paisley. The county also contains part of the south side of Glasgow and its suburbs, the parliamentary burgh of Port Glasgow, the police burghs of Pollokshaws, Gourock, and Johnstone, and a number of small towns and villages.

Historically Renfrewshire first appears as part of the territory of the Damnonii, and thereafter it was part of the British kingdom of Strathclyde. The western part, then known as Strathgryfe, was granted by David I. to Walter, the first high stewai-d of Scotland, and the Stewarts had long a local connexion with it. Somerled, Lord of the Isles, was defeated and slain in the neighbourhood of the burgh of Renfrew in 1164; and Marjory Bruce is said to have been killed by a fall from her horse at Knock Hill between Paisley and Renfrew in 1316. In 1404 the county, which had previously formed part of Lanark, was erected into a separate jurisdiction by Robert III., who created his son James baron of Renfrew, a title still held by the eldest son of the reigning sovereign. In the end of the 17th century the district was famous for its witches; and in 1685, after the failure of the earl of Argyll’s ill-conducted enterprise, the earl himself was taken prisoner on the bank of the White Cart opposite Inchinnan church, at the spot marked by the “ Argyll Stone,” now within the policies of Blythswood House.

See Crawfurd, Description of the Shire of Renfrew (1710); Hamilton of Wishaw, Description of the Sheriffdom of Lanark and Renfrew (Maitland Club, 1831); Hector, Selections from the Judicial Records of Renfrewshire (1876-78); and A History of the Witches of Renfrewshire (Paisley, 1809 and 1877).

RENFREW a royal and parliamentary burgli and the county town of the above county, is situated in the northeast near the south bank of the Clyde, connected with which is a small harbour. The main part of the town is gathered round four streets branching out from an open duces very heavy crops, a large extent being under wheat. Although miueral workings have injured agriculture in several localities, the large towns in the county and neighbourhood have stimulated improvements, and the arable area has steadily increased. The following table gives a classification of holdings in 1875 and 1880 :—

space called the cross. The town-hall, erected in 1871-73, and restored after partial destruction by fire in 1878, has a massive square tower rising to a height of 105 feet. The railway station is 6 miles west of Glasgow. The industries are connected with two shipbuilding yards, a chemical work, a forge, a dye work, and weaving. Population in 1881, 5115.

The town, which is spoken of as a burgh in 1160, seems to have been in the 16th and early in the 17th century the principal port on the Clyde, one branch of which ran in a channel, now silted up, close behind the houses on the north side of High Street. The original castle of the Stewards seems to have stood on the island called “The King’s Inch,” between the two channels of the river. Renfrew is one of the Kilmarnock group of parliamentary burghs.