PORT

See also:

• GLASGOW

GLASGOW  , a municipal and police burgh and seaport of Renfrewshire, Scotland, on the southern shore of the Firth of Clyde, 204 M . W.N.W. of Glasgow by the Caledonian railway . Pop . (1901), 16,857 . The ground behind the town rises to a height of 700 ft. and is partly occupied by villas . Amongst the principal buildings are the town house (1815), with a tower and spire; the town hall (1873); the library (1887) founded by James Moffat, a merchant of the burgh, and the Carnegie Park Orphan-age, also provided from the same bequest . Birkmyre Park was opened in 1894 . The industries include shipbuilding and allied trades, engineering works, and iron and brass foundries . The area of the port (which has wet and graving docks) amounts to 16 acres, and there are 2000 yds. of quayage . The harbours are accessible at all stages of the tide . The district originally formed part of the parish of Kilmalcolm, the nucleus of the town being the village of Newark attached to the barony of that name . In 1668 it was purchased from Sir Patrick Maxwell of Newark by the Glasgow magistrates, who here constructed a harbour .

In 1695 it was erected into a

separate parish under the name of New Port Glasgow . In 1710 it became the chief custom-house port for the Clyde, until superseded by Greenock . The graving dock made in 1762 was the first dock of the kind in Scotland . In 1775 Port Glasgow was created a burgh of barony and since 1832 has formed one of the Kilmarnock parliamentary burghs (with Kilmarnock, Dumbarton, Renfrew and Rutherglen) . It is governed by a council with provost and bailies . Adjoining the town on the east are the picturesque ruins of Newark Castle, a quadrangular building dating from the end of the 16th century . Formerly the property of the Dennistouns, it now belongs to the Shaw-Stewarts .