or DUMBARTON, a county in Scotland, situated between $55^\circ 53'$ and $56^\circ 25'$ N. Latitude, and between $3^\circ 55'$ and $4^\circ 53'$ W. Longitude from Greenwich, consists of two districts, six miles distant from each other. The western, which is much the larger, is about 40 miles long and 12 broad, and is bounded by Perthshire on the north; by Argyleshire, from which it is separated by an arm of the sea called Loch Long, on the west; by the river Clyde and Lanarkshire on the south-west and south; and by Stirlingshire on the east. The eastern district is completely enclosed by Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire. The whole county contains 230 square miles, or 147,200 English acres, of which the smaller division may comprise 25 miles or 16,000 acres. It is divided into 12 parishes, of which there are only two in the eastern district, Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld. This last belonged to Stirlingshire, till the Earl of Wigton, whose property it was, became heritable sheriff of Dunbartonshire, when he procured it to be annexed to this county.
The prevailing winds are from the west and southwest, but easterly winds are frequent in the spring months. Showers are very common, but heavy and continued rains of rare occurrence. Frosts are seldom severe, and, except on the mountains, snow never lies long. The climate is, upon the whole, more favourable to pasturage and the growth of timber, than to tillage crops, but not insalubrious. The range of the barometer is about 280, and of the thermometer from $6^\circ$ to $80^\circ$. The soils of the lower grounds are schistose clay, mixed with small stones; rich black loam on the banks of the Clyde; and gravel on the river Leven; but about two-thirds of the county consist of lofty mountains, some of them 3000 feet high, part of the ridge which crosses the island from Forfarshire to the Firth of Clyde, known in the districts to the eastward by the names of the Sidlaw, Ochill, and Campsie Hills.
Coal, iron-ore, limestone, freestone, and slate, are minerals its most valuable fossil productions. The only coal now worked is at Langfauld, in the parish of East Kilpatrick, on the southeast border, where the quantity raised annually is about 11,000 tons. About 3000 tons of ironstone are sent yearly to the Carron foundry from the parishes of Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld. Limestone abounds in various parts, but, partly from its inferior quality, and partly from the want of coal to calcine it, it is not worked to a great extent, except at Langfauld, where the coal is quarried along with it, and at Netherwood and Cumbernauld. White and red freestone are met with in several places; the finest quarry is at Garscube, on the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal. The only slate quarry that has been worked with success is at Camstran, in the parish of Luss. The principal market for the slates is Glasgow, to which they are conveyed in lighters by the Leven and the Clyde.
The only river of any note which can be said to belong to this county is the Leven, the outlet of Lochlochend, which, flowing for about five miles through a fine valley, joins the Clyde at Dunbarton Castle. Its waters, which are singularly pure and soft, are well adapted to the business of bleaching and printing cottons, branches which are established to a great extent along its course. The other streams are Luss, Froon, Finlays, Douglas, Fal- loch, and Luggie. Clyde, Endrick, and Kelvin, flow along its borders. Lochlong and Gareloch are arms of the sea; the first of which separates this county from Argyllshire; and the other penetrating the land for about seven miles, nearly detaches the peninsula of Roseneath from the mainland. While this extent of sea-coast affords the benefit of water carriage to so large a portion of the county, the in- land tracts are benefited in almost an equal degree by the Forth and Clyde Canal, which passes through it for more than sixteen miles. The only remark- able lake is Lochlomond, which is about twenty-four miles long, and in its greatest breadth, towards the south, above six. About two-thirds of the shore, and most of its islands, thirty in all, are in Dumbartonshire; the rest belong to Stirlingshire. It is probably not to be equalled by any lake in Bri- tain for the variety and magnificence of its scenery; the picturesque beauty of its wooded banks and islands, affording a striking contrast to the rugged and lofty mountains that rise in its vicinity. It covers about 20,000 acres, and its surface is sup- posed to be increasing. The best view of the lake is from a promontory above Luss, a village on the western shore.
The landed property of this county is divided among about 150 individuals, exclusive of the feuars in towns. None of the estates are of great yearly value, and two-thirds of them are small. The valued rent is £35,382, 7s. 8d. Scots, of which near a third is held under entail; and, in 1811, the actual rent of the lands was £56,972, 15s. and of the houses £5791, 15s. Sterling. There are a number of seats belonging to the larger proprietors, among which Roseneath, the splendid mansion of the Duke of Argyle, is by far the most magnificent; and a great many villas, the property of manufacturers. The county sends one member to Parliament, and the town of Dumbarton joins with Glasgow, Rutherglen, and Renfrew, in electing one for the Scottish boroughs.
The arable land of Dumbartonshire is divided into small farms, averaging not more than fifty acres; in the highland district it is common for artisans and others to hold pendicles, as they are called, below £12 of rent; and still lower in the scale are the cottagers, possessing from two roods to an acre, with grazing for a cow, at a rent of £5. The hill pastures are necessarily let out in farms of several hundred acres. Since the introduction of sheep, farms of this description, that formerly let at £20 and £30, have risen to £300 and £400. There are still instances of farms let to three or four ten- ants jointly. In addition to money rents, kain-fowls, and lambs are sometimes paid, and even the barba- rous practice of exacting labour from the tenant and his horses is not altogether unknown. Hence agri- culture, throughout the greater part of the county, is in a very backward state, and does not produce grain enough for the wants of the inhabitants. Two or more crops of corn are taken in succession. Po- tatoes come in place of fallow as a preparation for wheat, even on very unsuitable soils. Flax was cul- tivated till within these few years, to a small extent upon almost every farm, but the quantity is now nearly confined to what may give employment to the farmers' families in winter, very little being sown for sale. Oats and potatoes are the principal crops. The land, upon the whole, is well enclosed, partly with stone walls, and partly with hedge and ditch. All that is let out to farmers is held on lease, com- monly for nineteen years. Few cattle are bred in the county, and not many fattened. It is the practice to buy Highland cattle, keep them for a season, and then resell them to go farther south. The dairy is now a source of profit on most farms. The cows are generally of the Ayrshire breed. Sheep are confined to the mountains, and are almost all of the black-faced breed. Much improvement in farm- buildings has taken place within these forty years; but so long as farms are so small, the accom- modations must be of a very inferior description, to those met with in well cultivated districts. Cottages are, with few exceptions, very wretched. Some that have been lately built are covered with paper. The paper is repeatedly dipt in tar, and, when dry, nailed on like slates; a layer of pitch is then spread over it, and fine sand or smithy-ashes sifted above all. The roof is formed so flat as to incline to the horizon at an angle of only 10° or 12°. This is not only a cheap but a dura- ble covering, and serves for other buildings than cottages. Sheathing paper, such as is used for the bottoms of merchant ships, is most commonly em- ployed, though some give the preference to brown packing-paper. It must be composed of hemp or linen rags, as that which is made of cotton does not imibe a sufficient quantity of tar.
The woods and plantations of this county are cop- pice extensive and valuable. According to the agri- cultural survey in 1810, their extent appears to be near 7000 English acres, of which about the half is coppice; yielding to the proprietors an yearly income almost equal to the rent of the arable lands. On spots unfavourable to oak, these coppice woods consist of ash, yew, holly, moun- tain-ash, birch, hazle, aspen, alder, crab, thorn, and willow. The age at which they are cut is from twenty-two to twenty-four years, when they are worth about £30 an acre; but there are in- stances of woods, of considerable extent, selling at much more, where proper attention has been paid to enclosing them, and afterwards thickening them by means of layers, or thinning them, as may be neces- sary. It is the usual practice to reserve a certain number of young trees at each cutting, the greater part of which are cut down at the second fall, when they are nearly fifty years old, and the rest left to grow up to timber trees. The soil and climate of this county are particularly favourable to planta- tions, which begin to make a return to their owner in ten or twelve years, and in thirty years afford sup- plies to the carpenter. The most extensive planta- tions are on the estate of Luss. There is a very fine ash in Bonhill church-yard, the branches of which cover an area 100 feet in diameter. Its trunk is about nine feet high, of which the smallest dia- meter is six feet, and its three principal branches are from ten to twelve feet in circumference. the banks and islands of Lochlomond there is a considerable number of yew trees, some of them of great size.
The manufactures of this county are various and extensive. Of these the printing of cottons is entitled to the first place. Next to this is the bleaching of cotton, carried on at nine fields, which forms a part of the business of the calico-printers. There are also three extensive cotton-mills, three paper-mills, an iron-work at Dalmotter for edge-tools and all sorts of wrought iron goods, large glass-works and several tan-works at Dunbarton; a manufacture of alkali at Burnfoot of Dalnuir, and a distillery of pyroligneous acid at Milburn. On the short course of the river Leven, not much exceeding three miles in a direct line, there are six large printfields and five bleachfields; and the rivulet of Duntocher or Dalnuir, in a still shorter course, turns no fewer than sixteen water-wheels. The extent of the whole, in 1810, is thus stated:
| Ground occupied, about (Scots acres) | 350 | |--------------------------------------|-----| | Value of buildings and machinery | L.250,000 | | Coals consumed annually, tons | 32,000 | | Yearly expense in fuel | L.19,000 | | Number of hands employed of both sexes, and all ages | 3000 | | Average earnings about 2s. a-day | | | Total yearly wages, allowing for interruptions from sickness and other causes | L.90,000 | | Excise duties annually | L.140,000 |
Besides these large establishments there is a number of lint-mills, two woollen-mills, chiefly employed in carding, and several fulling-mills.
The gross produce of the salmon-fisheries of this county may be about L.1000 a-year; the principal Dunbarton one is upon the river Leven. Those on the Clyde and Lochlomond are comparatively of little importance. About fifty boats are employed in the herring fishery, of which the annual value may be about L.4500.
The wages of labour are higher in this than in most of the Scottish counties. In 1810, farm servants, who are for the most part unmarried, had from L.35 to L.42 a-year, and when manufactures are prosperous, many of the workmen in them earn nearly twice as much. Provisions are also dear; and fuel, which is principally coal, the greater part of it brought from the adjoining counties, is in many parts higher priced than in our largest cities. There were about 274 paupers in the county in 1811, but few of them were maintained solely on parochial charity. Such as are able to gain their subsistence in part by their own industry, receive only what is necessary to support them in addition to their own earnings; and those who are altogether incapable of work, are in most cases relieved by the charity of individuals, the parish paying only for clothes and house rent. The whole sum expended by the parishes does not much exceed L.1000 a-year, of which only L.290 is raised by assessment. The rent of land and interest of capital amount to L.200, incidental funds to L.120, and the collections at the churches to L.390.
The population of Dunbartonshire, in 1756, was Population 13,253; in 1790-8, 17,743. The population in 1800 and 1811 is given in the following tables. About a third of the inhabitants live in Dunbarton and six other smaller towns. See Statistical Account of Scotland.—Beauties of Scotland, Vol. III.; and Whyte and Macfarlan's General View of the Agriculture of the County of Dunbarton, 1811.
### 1800
| HOUSES. | PERSONS. | OCCUPATIONS. | |---------|----------|--------------| | | | | | Inhabited. | Uninhabited. | Males. | Females. | Persons chiefly employed in Agriculture. | Families chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft. | All other Persons not comprised in the two preceding classes. | Total of Persons. | | 3375 | 4418 | 107 | 9795 | 10,914 | 4633 | 7952 | 8151 | 20,710 |
### 1811
| HOUSES. | PERSONS. | OCCUPATIONS. | |---------|----------|--------------| | | | | | Inhabited. | Uninhabited. | Males. | Females. | Persons chiefly employed in Agriculture. | Families chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft. | All other Persons not comprised in the two preceding classes. | Total of Persons. | | 3218 | 4934 | 90 | 11,369 | 12,820 | 1123 | 2689 | 1122 | 24,189 |