Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

—1;—;IMONKLAND, NEW1807, when a dividend first began to be made, the grossrevenue amounted to £4725 ; and in 1814 it was £5087,although the navigation during this year was stoppedfor eleven weeks, principally by the severe frost, butpartly on account of necessary repairs. From 1814 or1815 up to the year 1825 the traffic continued withoutmuch variation, but about the last-mentioned date agreat impulse was given to it by the establishment ofironworks in the district of Monkland. When theproject of opening up that district by railways to Glasgowand Kirkintilloch was first started, it created muchalarm in the Canal Company, lest the traffic shouldbe entirely diverted from their navigation to the newchannels. The alarm was not unfounded, but it onlyinduced the company to reduce their dues to about onethirdof the rate which had been charged up till thattime, and also to expend large sums in making suchimprovements on the canal, and on things connected withit, as seemed fitted to facilitate its traffic. One of theseimprovements was the making of additional reservoirsin the parish of Shotts, all uniting in the river Calder,which flows into the canal at Woodhall, near Holytown,thereby insuring an increased supply of water. Anotlierimprovement was the forming of extensive loading basinsand wharves at Gartsherrie and Dundyvan, for thereception of traffic from the mineral railways in thevicinity. A third improvement was the making of newlocks at Blackhill, near Glasgow, of such character asto excel all works of their class in Great Britain. Theselocks now comprise two entire sets of four double lockseach, either set being worked independently of the otherand they were formed at an expense of upwards of£30,000. In 1850 the increase of trafBc still going on,the supplies of water had again fallen short, and eventhe new locks at Blackhill could not pass the boatswithout undue delay. An inclined plane with rails wasnow formed at these locks, 1040 feet in length, and 96feet in total ascent, at an expense of £13,500, by whichempty boats are taken up at a saving of five-sixths ofwater, and about nine-tenths of time. Each boat is conveyedafloat in a caisson, and the traction is done bysteam-power and rope-rolls. The plan is unique, wascontrived by Messrs Leslie & Bateman, and has answeredadmirably. In 1846, under parliamentary sanction, theMonkland Canal became one concern with the Forth andClyde Canal. The purchase price of it to Messrs Stirlingand Sons in 1789 is said to have been only £5 per sharebut the purchase price to the Forth and Clyde Companyin 1846 was £3400 per share. As part of the ForthAND Clyde navigation, the Monkland Canal was takenover by the Caledonian Railway Company in 1867. Ord.Stir., sh. 31, 1867.Monkland, New, a village and a parish of the Middle"Ward, NE Lanarkshire. The village stands IJ mileNNW of the post-town, Airdrie, adjoining Glenuiavis,and is the seat of the parish church (1777 ; 1200 sittings)and a public school. Pop., with Glenmavis, (1871) 339,(1881) 369.The parish contains also the town of Airdme andthe villages of Avonhead, East Langrigg, Greengairs,Longriggend, Plains, Eiggend, Eoughrigg, Wattston,West Langrigg, Clarkston, and Glenhoig, with oneeighthof Coatdyke. It is bounded N by Kirkintillochand Cumbernauld in Dumbartonshire (detached),E by Slamannau in Stirlingshire and Torphichenin Linlithgowshii-e, SE by Shotts, SAV by Old Jlonkland,and W by Old Monkland and Cadder. Itsutmost length, from E to W, is 9J miles; its utmostbreadth, from N to S, is 5i miles; and its area is 31square miles or 20,117 acres, of which 232 are water.Black Loch (^ x 4 mile) lies right on the Stirlingshireborder ; and, issuing from it. North Calder Waterwinds 2| miles south-westward along the Slamannan,Torphichen, and Shotts boundary, till it expands intoHiLLEND Reservoir (10Jx4| furl.), after which itmeanders 5J miles south-westward along all the rest ofthe Shotts boundary, and at Monkland House passesoff from this parish on its way to the river Clyde.LiTGGiE Watek, a feeder of the Kelvin, flows 6J miles the ecclesiastical parish.46MONKLAND, NEWwestward along the Dumbartonshire border ; but somelittle head-streams of the river Aven drain the northeasterncomer of New Monkland towards the Firth ofForth. Along both the Calder and Luggie the surfacedeclines to less than 300 feet above sea-level ; and thenceit rises very gradually to 577 feet near Gartlee, 672 atKnowehead, 678 at the Hill of Drumgray, 763 near LittleDrumbreck, and 771 at Lochend. Though much of theparish lies more than 600 feet above the sea, yet the dorsalridge that runs through it from end to end ascends'.fromso broad a base, so gently and continuously, as nowhereto form any height which, properly speaking, can betermed a hill. JIuch of the highest grounds is coveredwith moss, and could not be reclaimed except at greatexpense ; but the lower tracts, on the banks of thestreams and along the western border, present an agreeablediversity of vale and gently-rising ground, and arein a high state of cultivation. The soil of the arablelands in the eastern and central parts is mossy and latebut that of the northern and western divisions is partlyof a dry character, partly a strong clay. The parish, fora long period, particularly during the Continental war,was famous for its culture of flax. In some years asmuch as 800 acres were under this species of crop ; butthe welcome advent of peace, and still more thecheapness and universal introduction of cotton, renderedflax-cultivation here, as elsewhere at that time, unprofitable.The present agriculture of the parish has nopeculiar features. Its mining industry, however, asnoticed in our articles Airdrie and Monkland, ispre-eminently great, or almost distinctive. The rocksare partly eruptive, partly carboniferous ; and so farback as the writing of the Old Statistical Account, it isstated that ' coal and ironstone are, or may be, found onalmost every farm.' Since then, the working of theseminerals has been most extensive, and is still in thecourse of rapid increase. The quality is only equalledby the abundance of the coal, which in many places isfound in seams from 9 to 10 feet thick. The ironstoneis found both in balls and in seams ; and much of it isof the valuable kind called blackband, which is so abundantlymixed with coal as to require little addition offuel in the burning. Many of the extensive ironworksin the neighbourhood, or even at a distance, particularlythose of Calder, Chapelhall, Gartsherrie, Clyde, andCarron, are supplied with ironstone from New Monkland.Limestone also is worked, particularly in thenorthern district, but not to a great extent. Severalmineral springs, too, exist, chiefly of the chalybeatekind. The Monkland Well, near Airdrie, is the mostfamous, and at one time enjoyed so high a repute for itsefficacy in the cure of scorbutic and other cutaneousdiseases, as well as for complaints in the stomach andeyes, as to be a favourite resort even for the wealthy andfashionable citizens of Glasgow and its neighbourhood; but its character as a watering-place has longdeparted from it, both from a falling off—undeserved,it may he—in the reputation of the springs, and fromthe lack of features of rural beauty, which have beenborne down by a network of railways and by the onwardmarch of a mining and manufacturing population. AlexanderMacdonald, M.P. (1821-81), the miners' advocate,was born at Dalmacouther farm. Mansions, noticedseparately, are AncHiNGRAY and Rochsoles ; and 16proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards,65 of between £100 and £500. Including thequoad sacra parishes of Airdkie and Flowerhill,with most of Clarkston, New Monkland is in thepresbytery of Hamilton and the synod of Glasgow andAyr ; the living is worth £525. The parish poorhouseaccommodates 155 inmates ; a hospital was built in1881-82 at a cost of £1200; and seven public and twoRoman Catholic schools, with total accommodation for1700 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 1158,and grants amounting to £SS3, 7s. 4d. Valuation (1860)£49,743, (1884) £88,454. Pop. (1801) 4613, (1831)9867, (1841) 20,515, (1861) 20,654, (1871) 22,752, (1881)27,816, of whom 14,367 were males, and 8284 were inOrd. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.