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ThehistoryofRutherglenandEast-Kilbride DavidUre • THE HISTORY OF RUTHERGLEN AND EAST-KILBRIDE. PUBLISHED WITH A VIEW TO PROMOTE THE STUDY OF ANTIQUITY AND NATURAL HISTORY. ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES. DAVID U R E, ' As. • PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. CORlESr. MEMB. OF THE MAT. BIST. SOC. ED. Mthi qu'idtm nulsi sat'u eruditi videnlur, quibus nojlra ignota sunl. Cicero de Fin. Lib. I. "GLASGOW: PRINTED BY DAVID NIVEN. -. - PREF .ACE. HE ptogrefs of the arts and fdences is greatly T accelerated by the hiftory of antiquity and of nature. , An extenfive acquaintance with the cuf. toms and manners of ancient times is of the fame advantage to ufeful impro�ements, ·as the infi/uc­ { tions diclated by a judicious experience are to the art of conducling · our lives with wifdom and pru­ dence. A retrofpe&iveview, in both cafes, fumifhes die means of preventing many hurtful miftakes that would otherwife be committed. The hiftory of nature, �iually with that of antiquity, lends her afliflance to the 1,1feful arts. The better we are \ acquaiated witll the ooje& of �atural hiflory, the ., more able we ihall be to apply thefe obje&, with fuccefs, to. the various purfuits of life. Bef�es, by accurate refearahes into.what is paft, and by candi_d inquiries into the nature and properties of prebt obje6:s, · a wide field of ufefuL contemplatipn ii ( Qpened to. the mind�. SBNSIBLB ofthefe advantages, not .a few of man­ kind are keenly engaged in the pleafing ftudy of »ature. A fufficient knowledge of that extenfive fdence cannot eafily be <,btained, without the affift. a.nee of a confiderable c�llection of the various ob­ t. �$ of which it treats; T<> procure thefe, ever11 a. z part. b PREFACL part of the world is diligently fearched by the in .. quifitive eye Qf dieantiquarian and natural hiftorian. Our own country has not been wanting in furnifh.. ing a confiderable number of excellent materials for thefe collections. More might ftill be done, were the natural hiftory of Scotland better known. We . have in our potfeffion many remains of antiquity, and not a few of the more uncommon productions of nature, which have dtawnthe attention of learned philofophers in the neighb.ing nations. Nor have they been overlooked by our own countrymen. Several worthy and diftinguithed pcrfons have, at dif'erent periods, laudably employed themfelves in carefully inquiring into antiquity, nature and art. W 1 LL 1 NG to do every thing iJl my power to ,elucidate the hiftory of my native country, I wrote, in the year 1789, an account of Eafi:-Kilbride, and fubjoined to it a confiderable number of draught& of animal and vegetable petrifaaions, that were fo\ltld in the pari1h. I borrowed the outlines of my plan from the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Buchan'I profpea us for a parochial hiftoryof Scotlind. What I had written I intended to communicate to the So­ (:iety, of which the Earl was the founder. }laving £nifhed the rnanufcript and drawings, it was thought proper to publHh them. The only reafon was, that -··· the draughts of the foffils, being put into the hands of the public, might be the means of exciting in fomc ; fpirit of in,veftigatio:uinto that partof natural bi(lory, D e PREFACE. V history, 1 0 which they more particularly had a re spect, and to the study of which, this part of the country asforded not a few opportunities. I had no sooner begun to prepare the manuscript for the press, than the Rev. D. Connell of Kilbride, whom I served as an assistant, was carried away by death. My connection with that parish being then at an end, I went to England, where I stayed a few months. In the mean-while, Sir John Sinclair's prospectus for a parochial history of Scotland made its appearance. The fame reason that induced me not to give the manuscript to the Society of Anti quaries, induced me not to give it to Sir John, I sent him, however, a compend, which he was pleased to insert in his very excellent work. Whilst I was preparing for the press, my attention was accidentally directed to the Borough and Parish of Rutherglen, as affording materials for a pretty ex tensive history. I soon found, that the place con-i tained many things, respecting antiquity and natu ral history, that were by no means unworthy the attention of the public. Without loss of time I be gan to arrange, into a regular form, whatever I thought conducive to elucidate the history of that ancient Borough. In this I was greatly assisted, by having access to all the public records possessed by the community. After t he prospectus for the publication was dispersed, several things, in both parishes, were accidentally VI PREFACE. accidentally discovered, which I thought would be highly improper to omit. Owing to this, I was forced to go beyond the bounds I had prescribed to myself; and to make several alterations in the ar rangement of the Plates, which occasions, among them, a confusion, easily observed. I hope, how ever,dulgence that of in the this candid respect, reader. I shall meet with the in-, With regard to the language, I have this only to observe, that I studied perspicuity and brevity. The draughts of the fossils are from specimens in my possession. The execution of them, though not very sine, is, in general, pretty accurate; and better suited to represent these fossil bodies, than could be done by the most embellished engravings. The Plates are thrown off with an excellent Ink, lately invented by Sir John Dalrymple, Bart, one of the Barons of the Exchequer. I have not indulged myself in making theories \ and have but seldom referred to the theories already made. Facts, however, I have related, simply and without disguise, as they made their appearance. If any thing rests upon tradition or report, I gener rally mention tradition or report as my authority. Qlascow, iftthjan. 1793. CONTENTS. Pagfe Chap. I. OF the Borough of Rutherglen, its Charters, Set, Antiquities, Commis sioners and Provosts Names, - i Chap. II. Of the Parish of Rutherglen, its Ex tent, Agriculture, Antiquities, Trade, Proper Names, - - 107 Chap. III. Of the Parish of East-Kilbride, its Extent, Population, Places of NotCj Proper Names, - - 141 Chap. IV. Of Agriculture, Trade, Diseases, Poor, State of Religion, Church, Sepulchral Monuments, - 180 Chap. V. Of the Natural History of Rutherglen and Kilbride, containing an Account of Indigenous Animals, Plants and Fojils, - - - 229 Chap. VI. Of Extraneous Fofflls, containing an Account of Vegetable Impressions, Pe trified Wood, Shells, Entrocbi, Coral- hides, and Fishes Teeth, - 295 The f ollowing mistakes toill, it it hoped, be torreBed by the reader. ,Page 2 Tine 15, for Jtfth, read sixth. 120, /. 26, for 33, r. 26. 131, /. 5, for 41, r. 34 1. THE HISTORY O F . RUTHERGLEN. CHAP. I. OF THE BOROUGH OF RUTHERGLEN, ITS CHARTERS, SET, ANTIQUITIES, &C. HE Royal Borough of Rutherglen is A situated in the lower ward of the county of Lanark, and within the bounds of the presbytery of Glasgow, and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. It stands on the south bank of the river ' Clyde, in North Lat. 550 51' and West Long. 40 13'. It is two miles and a half to the south-east of Glasgow, and about nine miles to the west of Hamilton. The origin of Rutherglen, if we believe the tra ditional account of the name, must be placed at a very distant period. A The 2 THE HISTORY OF The origin and antiquity of nations and families are often discovered by their names. By these we are carried back to some remote period, which pre sents to our view certain persons and actions, the remembrance of which, many successive ages have not been able to .obliterate. Proper names, not un frequently, remain unaltered during the obscurity of barbarism, and amidst the devastations of war; they often survive the greatest changes that take place in the customs and manners of nations; and retain their original meaning, though sometimes obscured by the wildest fables, and most gloomy superstition. The name of Rutherglen, or by contraction Ruglen, is commonly .said to be derived from king Reuther, or Reutherusy the sifth, in the genealogy of the Kings of Scotland, from Fergus the sirst. This King, according to the Scottish historians, was the son of Dornadilla, whose memory is still pre served in the name of Dun-Dornadilla, a venerable ruin, in Strathmore. From Reuther, or Reuda, as Bede calls him, the Scots were, for a long time, called Dalreudini. He began to reign about the year 213, before the christian æra. Having experienced the various changes of a war, by which his army was greatly exhausted, he retired to the mountainous country of Argyle, where he remained in peace for several years. RUTHERGLEN. 3 years. Finding, at length, that his forces, now greatly increased, were inflamed with the love of war, he left his retirements, and, by many success ful attacks upon the Britons, regained the ancient boundaries of his kingdom. * From the above account it appears that the Dalreudini, or Scots, possessed, both in the begin ning and end of Reuda's reign, a more extensive tract of land than the county of Argyle. The truth of this observation will still farther appear by considering the literal meaning of the ex pression Dalreudini. It properly signisies the inha bitants of the valley or plain of Reuda. No place, perhaps, in Scotland corresponds to the etymology of this name so well as Rutherglen: the termination glen in the one word is synonymous with dal in the other; the word dal signifying a plain or valley, as Crom-dal, the crooked plain, f Dalray, the King's vale, &c.

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