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Beith
BEITH, a parish in the county of Ayr,
district of Cunningham; with the exception of a small portion which
belongs to Renfrewshire, on the border of which it is situated. It
extends about 7 miles in length, from east to west; and its average
breadth is about 4 miles. The land rises by a gradual ascent from
south to north. On the northern boundary there is a small ridge of
hills whose summits are elevated about 400 feet above the lowest
ground in the parish, or 500 feet above the level of the sea. It is
bounded on the north by Kilbirnie and Lochwinnoch parishes; on the
east by Lochwinnoch and Neilston; on the south by Dunlop; and on the
west by Dalry. The superficial area of the parish is 11,000 acres. The
valued rent, of that part of the parish which lies in Ayrshire, is
•£6,115 14s. 2d. Scotch; and that of the portion in Renfrewshire, £163
6s. 8d. The amount of assessed property, in 1815, was £10,054. The
real rent is believed to be in some places six times, and perhaps in
others — owing to their vicinity to the town of Beith, the richness of
the soil, or the high cultivation of the lands — even twelve times the
valued rent. The subdivision of property is more remarkable in this
and the neighbouring parishes than perhaps in any other part of
Scotland. The small landholders generally reside upon their own
property. Rents, in this parish, are paid chiefly from the dairy. The
great road from Glasgow, by Paisley, to Irvine, Ayr, and Portpatrick,
passes through the town of Beith; and the Ayrshire railway crosses
between Kilbirnie and Lochwinnoch lochs. Great difficulty was
experienced in carrying forward the line at this point owing to the
soft nature of the soil. It is supported on pile-work. Population, in
1801, 3,103; in 1831, 5,052, besides 65 in that portion of the parish
which is in Renfrewshire. Houses in Ayrshire 605; in Renfrewshire 9. —
About the time of the Revolution, or rather earlier, the kirk-town of
Beith is said to have consisted of only five dwelling-houses and the
minister's manse. In 1759, there were 700 examinable persons in the
town of Beith. and upwards of 800 in the country-part of the parish.
In 1758, the town contained nearly 1,500 examinable persons. Its
present population is nearly 3,000. About the time of the union of the
two kingdoms, a trade in linen cloth was introduced into this place,
which became so considerable that the Beith markets were frequented by
merchants from the neighbouring towns every week. About the year 1730,
the linen business, which had greatly declined, was succeeded by a
considerable trade in linen-yarn. The Beith merchants purchased the
yarn made in the country around, and sold it to the Paisley and
Glasgow manufacturers. This trade, when carried to its greatest
extent, about the year 1700, is supposed to have amounted to £16,000
sterling yearly; and though it has long been upon the decline, linen
yarn is still a considerable article of merchandise. From 1777 to
1789, the manufacture of silk gauze was carried on to a great extent
in this place. There are three principal fairs annually, and a weekly
market upon Friday. There is often a fine show of horses in the Beith
markets, especially on St.Tennant's day, or August 30th, and on
several Fridays in the beginning of spring. This town is 11 miles west
of Paisley; 5 east of Dalry; and 4 south of Dunlop. — The parish of
Beith, anciently a vicarage, is in the presbytery of Irvine, and synod
of Glasgow and Ayr. The Earl of Eglinton is patron. The stipend is
£251 5s. 11d., with a manse, and a glebe of the annual value of £130.
Unappropriated teinds £447 18s. 9d. Theold glebe - upon which a part
of the town nowstands - was exchanged in 1727, by contract betweenthe
Earl of Eglinton, the presbytery of Irvine, and the incumbent, for a
small farm near the town of Beith, consisting of 31 acres 3 roods. A
new and handsome parish church was built in 1807; sittings 1,250. It
would appear, that the old church was built soon after the
Reformation. The third minister of Beith, after the Revolution, was
Dr. William Leechman, principal of the University of Glasgow, in 1736;
who, in 1744, was succeeded by Dr. John Wotherspoon, afterwards
president of Princetown college, New Jersey. According to a survey
made in 1835-0, there were 3,407 persons in this parish belonging to
the Establishment, and 1,520 belonging to other denominations. — A
Relief church was founded here in 1784; sittings 849. Stipend £120,
with manse, glebe, and some other emoluments. — A United Secession
congregation was established in 1759. Church rebuilt in 1816; sittings
498. Stipend £105, with manse and garden. — The parochial schoolmaster
has the minimum salary, with fees; and about 150 pupils. There are
besides 8 private schools within the parish, attended by about 350
children. — Before the Reformation, there were two chapels for public
worship in this parish; one where the present church now stands, and
the other upon the lands of Treehorn, one end of which remains entire.
This chapel, with two acres of land adjoining to it, belonged to the
monastery of Kilwinning, as appears from a charter under the great
seal, dated 1594. - Kilbirnieloch, which lies at the west end of this
parish, is something more than a mile long, and about half-a-mile
broad. It contains trouts, pikes, perches, etc, and is frequented in
hard winters by aquatic birds of various kinds. The writer of the
first Statistical account of this parish suggested that a navigable
canal might easily be carried across the country, from the Clyde below
Paisley, to the sea at Irvine or Saltcoats, a distance of about 20
miles, through a narrow strath, running in that direction most of the
way. In the middle of this strath stands the loch of Kilbirnie, about
an equal distance from each end of the proposed canal, and it occupies
also nearly the highest ground between them. A stream runs from the
north end of this loch into the Clyde below Paisley; and the water of
Garnock, running in an opposite direction, passes by the other end of
it, and empties itself into the sea at Irvine. The fall, from the
north end of Kilbirnie loch to Clyde, is calculated to be about 95
feet, and the declivity towards the sea cannot be much more. The whole
of this strath lies between the Kilbirnie hills on the north, and the
rising uplands of Beith and Lochwinnoch parishes on the south; and is
thought to have been at one time covered with water, forming an
extensive lake, of which Kilbirnie and Lochwinnoch lochs, at the two
extremities, are the remains.
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