Lennoxtown

Lennoxtown is a street set down in the centre of the strath for the purpose of accommodating the labourers employed in working the mineral and other manufactures of the surrounding district.

The most extensive of the public works is Lennox-mill, which was first established as a calico printing field about 1786. In 1790, it contained twenty printing tables, and six flat presses. At that period, however, a great many women were employed to pencil on colour a method which has been entirely abandoned. About 1805, Messrs. Robert Dalglish, Falconer & Co., became tenants of the mill, which had by that time been considerably enlarged, as it contained fifty tables and eight presses. In 1810, the first surface-painting machine was erected, it being an improvement on the copper-plate press, similar to what the ”surface was on the ”block. Here, every fabric of cloth is printed from the finest muslin, or challis, to the coarsest calico. Kincaid field, for the bleaching and printing of cotton fabrics, was started in 1785; Glenmill bleachfield, and Lillyburn printfield, for the printing of linen and calico handkerchiefs, in 1831; the Alum work, in 1806; and a manufactory for the production of muriate of potash, and of soda ash, in 1834. With the introduction of these various industrial establishments, the population of Campsie rose rapidly from about 1785. In 1783, it was 1,627; in 1793, 2,517; in 1831, 5,109; and in 1836, 6,000.

The parish church, which occupies a commanding position near the centre of the village, was erected in 1829. It looks, however, much older, from the soft and inferior quality of the stone with which it has been built. Its style is Gothic. The Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod, previously at the clachan, was the first minister of the church; and, in 1836, was translated from this to a Gaelic charge in Glasgow. His more popular son, of the same name, who, with his Good Words, will be long and affectionately remembered, lies interred in the north-east corner of the high burial-ground; but, as yet, without any memorial. True! he needs it not.

Milton

Milton lies two miles further east. It is a hamlet where peace and industry seem united intolerably equal proportions. Through it, the Glazert passes, getting up the appearance of a very respectable stream, as it runs in a brown torrent, speckled with foam, beneath the bridge. At Birdstone, a number of English coins, of the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., have been found, which had probably been hid by some of the inhabitants, when forced to flee from their homes by the depredations of Montrose’s troops at the battle of Kilsyth.

By a viaduct, 120 feet long, the Kelvin Valley Railway crosses the Campsie and Killearn branch, and also clears the Glazert water. This railway, which was formally opened on 3rd June, 1878, is about twelve miles in length, and extends from near Maryhill, on the North British system, to Kilsyth; placing that town, by means of a loop-line near, in the direct communication with Glasgow. Strange that the directors of the ”old E & G, carried their line to the barren heights of Croy, instead of coming up the fertile valley of the Kelvin, rich also in mineral resources. But a direct route and a dead level way between the two cities were the objects mainly contemplated.