stirling-1963-vol-1/05_041

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : GENERAL
but one unmixed with romance, was given in 1795 by the minister of Campsie parish, ¹ who
stated that, "so late as the year 1744" his father had "paid black mail to McGrigor of Glengyle,
in order to prevent depredations being made upon his property; McGrigor engaging, upon his
part, to secure him, from suffering any hardship ["herschip", i.e. harrying], as it was termed;
and he faithfully fulfilled the contract, engaging to pay for all sheep which were carried away,
if abone the number seven, which he styled lifting; if below seven, he only considered it as a
piking ...."
A second point to be remembered is that, apart from the burghs, the economy was generally
rural until the middle of the 18th century. In this, of course, Stirlingshire does not differ from
the rest of the country, but the circumstance is worth mentioning here in view of the enormous
transformation now effected in the industrialised parts of the county, and of the fact that this
Inventory includes a large number of monuments of the 18th and 19th centuries. Pont's map,
prepared early in the 17th century, ² shows no towns but Stirling and Falkirk.
A third point concerns the industrial transformation mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Before the middle of the 18th century such industries as existed were naturally in a primitive
condition, but they certainly included the mining of coal, ³ the spinning and weaving of various
materials, ⁴ quarrying, and the evaporation of salt. ⁵ These, however, fitted into the traditional
economy, and it was only in 1760 that industry on anything like a modern scale made its first
appearance in the county. In that year Carron Company, founded in 1759, began its operations
at the Carron Works, ⁶ for the purpose of exploiting the local deposits of ironstone and coal
while taking advantage of the Carron estuary for shipping (cf. No. 555); and this led the way
to the great subsequent developments of heavy industry and mining that now characterise
the eastern and south-eastern parts of the county and the Kilsyth and Campsie neighbourhoods.
A review of manufactures prepared at an early stage in the Industrial Revolution ⁷ lists the
following in addition to the iron of the Carron Works. (i) Spinning and weaving. Coarse
woollens and carpets were woven at Stirling, and serge in the neighbourhood; cotton was
spun and woven at Fintry and Balfron. Cotton was also spun in Dunipace parish ⁸ and muslin
was made in Stirling, Kippen and elsewhere. Weaving, in fact, seems to have been practised
very generally; Dr. Graham records ⁹ that the work was done for Glasgow manufacturers,
and that in Kilsyth alone there were between four and five hundred looms. (ii) Calico-printing.
In Denny, Balfron and Campsie parishes (cf. No. 276). (iii) Chemicals. Alum, copperas, soda,
Prussian blue, etc., at Lennoxtown. A minor industry which, like handloom weaving,
influenced the plan of the workers' cottages was that of nail-making; this was practised
particularly in Falkirk, Laurieston and St. Ninians.
The impact of industry on the local 18th-century scene may be judged from some con-
temporary comment on Carron Company's works. Thus Robert Burns likens them roundly
to Hell ¹⁰, while Nimmo, writing in 1777, at which time two thousand men were employed at

1 Stat. Acct., xv (1795), 379.
2 Blaeu, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1654), v, Sterlinensis praefectura.
3 On which see pp. 55 f. below.
4 E.g. "Campsie Gray" at Campsie and shalloons (woollen material for linings) at Stirling since the late 16th century; tartan
at Stirling and Bannockburn in the earlier 18th century (Stat. Acct., xv (1795), 357 n; viii (1793), 283 f.).
5 Geogr. Collections, i, 329. See also p. 56 below.
6 On this see History, 460 ff.; N.S.A., viii (Stirlingshire), 354.
7 General View, 342 ff.
8 Stat. Acct. iii (1792), 334.
9 General View, 343.
10 "At Carron Iron Works", in The Complete Writings of Robert Burns, ed. Henley and Henderson, London, 1927, ii, 243.

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