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 Renfrewshire, maritime
county, in South-west of Scotland, bounded north by
the river Clyde and Dumbartonshire, east by Lanarkshire, south by Ayrshire,
and west by the Firth of Clyde; greatest length, north-west and
south-east, 31 miles;
greatest breadth, north-east and south-west, 14 miles; area, 156,785
acres, population
263,374. The principal streams, all flowing to the Clyde, are the
Black Cart, the White Cart, and the Gryfe. The surface in the South and
south-west parts of the county is hilly, and somewhat bleak and moorish; it
thence undulates to the banks of the Clyde, along which there is some
rich and low lying land. Coal, ironstone, and limestone are abundant;
copper ore occurs near Gourock and Lochwinnoch. The principal
industries, besides mining and agriculture, are the manufacture of cotton and
thread, sugar-refining, and shipbuilding. The county comprises 20
parishes
with parts of 4 others, the parliament and police burghs of Greenock (1
member), Paisley (1 member), and Port Glasgow and Renfrew (part of the
Kilmarnock Burghs), the police burghs (suburban of Glasgow) of
Crosshill, Kinning Park, Pollokshields, and Pollokshields East, and
the police burghs of Gourock, Johnstone, and Pollokshaws. For
parliamentary purposes the county is divided into 2 divisions -viz.,
Eastern and Western -each returning 1 member. The representation of
the county was increased from 1 to 2 members in 1885.
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