The principal obstacle to improvement arises from the want of capital among the tenantry. Raw Produce.—The average gross amount of raw produce raised in the parish may probably be as under: Produce of grain of all kinds, of green crop, potatoes, turnip, &c. of crops cultivated for the arts, as flax, Total, L. 15,200 6,500 1,500 40 7,000 L. 30,240 Manufactures.-Manufactures have never been introduced into the parish to any extent. Navigation.-Lochryan affords great facilities for shipping. There is excellent shelter and excellent anchorage opposite the village of Cairnryan. Here, with proper ground tackle, a vessel may ride out the heaviest gale. Lochryan has long been a place of refuge for the shipping of the Clyde, and vessels navigating the Irish Channel. It has often been suggested as the best station for the mail-packets between Scotland and Ireland. A Government survey was lately made with reference to this object, and it is understood to have been the opinion of the distinguished naval officer employed in that service, that Lochryan is the fittest sta tion. V. PAROCHIAL ECONOMY. Market-Town.--The nearest market-town is Stranraer. It is three miles distant from the parish church. Villages. The principal village is Cairnryan. Its population is about 300. It is seven miles distant from the parish church. Another village contains about 200. A suburb of Stranraer has been lately built within the parish of Inch, containing nearly 100. Means of Communication.-The great road from London to Portpatrick passes through the parish; also the road from Glasgow to Portpatrick. Three mail-coaches travel daily through the parish. The Stranraer and Glasgow steamer, and the Stranraer and Belfast steamer call regularly at Cairnryan, and receive and land passengers and goods. The parish thus enjoys facility of communication with all parts of the world. Ecclesiastical State. The parish church is the only place of worship within the parish. It is eight or ten miles distant from some of the extremities of the parish. Many of the parishioners are situated at an inconvenient distance. It is proposed, however, to remedy this evil by the erection of a church at Cairnryan. The parish church was built in 1770. It is not in good repair, and is too small. It only contains 400. Its situation is very beautiful. The woods and lakes of Castle-Kennedy are close adjoining. On a fine summer evening the scene is exquisitely sweet. The manse was pulled down and rebuilt during the summer of 1838. The glebe is about 18 acres in extent, and may be valued at about 15s. or 20s. per acre. I am adding four acres more by draining a loch. The stipend is L. 258, 12s. 3d. The number of persons professedly belonging to the Established Church is 1965. The number of persons belonging to other religious denominations is 689. The number not known to belong to any religious denomination is 30. Divine service at the Established Church is well attended in proportion to the size of the church, but not in proportion to the population. The number of communicants is 400. There is an association in the parish for the purpose of promoting the General Assembly's four schemes. From L. 12 to L. 20 may be raised annually. Education. There are generally four schools in the parish, sometimes a fifth during the winter months. One of these is parochial, the rest are on the teachers' own adventure. The branches taught in the parochial school are, Latin, Greek, English, writing, arithmetic, practical mathematics, geography. In the private schools, the branches taught are chiefly English, writing, and arithmetic. The parochial teacher has the minimum salary, house and garden. The school fees are 2s. 6d. or 3s. for reading; 5s. for the higher branches. The fees may amount to L. 20 per an num. The teacher receives about L. 6 as session-clerk. The number of persons between six and fifteen years of age who cannot read or write may be 16. The number upwards of fifteen years of age who cannot read or write 20. The people are in general alive to the benefits of education. There is one part of the parish three or four miles distant from any school, but the population there is very scanty. Poor and Parochial Funds.-The average number of persons receiving parochial aid is 50. The average sum allotted to each per annum is L. 1, 12s. About L. 90 is annually disbursed by the session for the support of the poor, for coffins and funeral expenses for the poor, and for paying precentor, session-clerk, presbytery-clerk, synod-clerk, beadle, &c. The amount of contribu tions may be stated as follows: Church collections, L. 43; proclamations, L. 3, 2s. 6d.; mortcloth, L. 4, 16s. ; fines, L. 5, 4s.; donations, L. 12, 15s.; interest of funds left for the poor, L. 20, 16s. 8d.; total, L. 89, 14s. 2d. There is a disposition among the Scottish poor to refrain from seeking parochial aid. There is no disposition of this kind among the Irish settlers. Fairs.-There is a monthly cattle-market from April to October, held within the bounds of the parish. Though held in the parish of Inch, it is called the Stranraer cattle-market. Inns, &c.-There are nine inns or public-houses within the parish. Three would be sufficient. The part of the parish where public-houses are most numerous is the lowest in point of morals. Fuel. The fuel in general use in the parish is peat. Peats can be cut and prepared for from 5d. to 7d. per cart-load. Whatever coal is used in the parish is imported from Ayrshire. January 1839. PARISH OF STRANRAER. PRESBYTERY OF STRANRAER, SYNOD OF GALLOWAY. THE REV. DAVID WILSON, MINISTER. I. TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. Name, Boundaries, &c.-ACCORDING to Chalmers, in his account of this parish, the name is of difficult derivation. Of old the name appeared under different forms, Stranrever, Stranraver, and Stronrawer. He says, "this name is obviously Celtic." Stron appears as the prefix of many appellations in the Scoto-Irish language of North Briton, and is from the Gaelic Sron or Stron, which signifies a nose or promontory, and is usually applied to projections from rising grounds. There is here such a projection, or nose, to which the Stron was probably applied. The annex raer may be the Gaelic Reamhar, which is pronounced Reavar, signifying thick, clumsy. So Stronreaver would signify the " thick nose or clumsy projection." The general opinion, however, and perhaps the best founded, is, that it derives its name from the strand or rivulet which divides the row, raw, of houses on its banks. Strandraw became in time to be named and spelt Stranrawer, and afterwards Stranraer. The parish consists entirely of the burgh, the buildings of which cover a space of ground extending to about forty acres. In the year 1617, it was erected and created a royal burgh by authority of the Crown, and a portion of the parish of Leswalt, as also of Soulseat, now called Inch, were disponed to the burgh. The corporation consists of a provost, two bailies, a dean of guild, and fifteen councillors. Stranraer is the seat of the presbytery of the same name. The Parliamentary constituency at present is 217. The revenue of the corporation in 1833 was L. 225. It is bounded on the east and south by the parish of Inch; on the west by the parish of Leswalt; and on the north by Lochryan, a very beautiful bay, about 10 miles in length. The villages of Clayhole and Hillhead, in the parish of Leswalt and Tradeston, in the parish of Inch, being separated from Stranraer by an ideal line, are usually considered by strangers, and even by the inhabitants, as part of the town. They contain a population of about 1000. Climate. The climate is temperate, and has always been considered healthy. The atmosphere is pure and free from fogs. The winters in general are mild, except when north or north-east winds prevail, which they seldom do for any length of time. Zoology. Various kinds of fish abound in Lochryan, such as skate, flounders, turbot, halibut, cod, haddocks, whitings, crabs, and lobsters. I sometimes hear it said, that, if the fishermen were more industrious, our fish-market would be better supplied than it is. Lochryan at one time was famous for its herring-fishery. I have heard old people say that they have known 300 sail-boats in the bay at one time, which had come from the Highlands and other places, in order to fish or purchase herrings. For many years past the shoals of herrings may be said to have deserted the loch. Oysters, of an excellent quality, and in great abundance, are to be found in the bay, particularly on a sand-bank called the Scar, which runs a considerable way across the loch from south-west to north east. IL-CIVIL HISTORY. Land-owners.-As above-mentioned, the parish is entirely burgal, but the whole property is not directly held burgage,—part, belonging to the Earl of Stair, is let in long leases of 99 and 999 years, and part is subfeued by Vans Agnew of Sheuchan. The remainder is held burgage, and the magistrates exercise jurisdiction over the whole parish. Eminent Characters.-The famous John Livingstone was mi nister of Stranraer for ten years previously to 1648, in which year he was translated by the General Assembly to the parish of Ancrum, in Roxburghshire. On the accession of Charles II., sentence of banishment was passed upon him: he was ordered to leave Scotland in two months, and until his departure to remain north of the Tay. He removed to Rotterdam, where he afterwards continued to reside till his death, which took place in 1672. He was one of the leading clergymen of his day; and is also well known for the valuable papers, particularly a MS. account of his own life, and "Remarkable Observations upon the Lives of the most eminent Ministers and Professors," both of which throw great light on the history of the times. (Murray's Lit. Hist. of Galloway, 2d edit. pp. 96-106.) Mr Livingstone was succeeded at Stranraer by Mr John Park, previously minister of MochMr Park was ejected from his charge at the Restoration; and though having accepted the Indulgence, he was anxious to return to Stranraer, the people also "as one man,” says Wodrow, "adhering to him; yet a Mr Naismith, a minion of the bishop of the diocese, was put in his place. Mr Park," says Wodrow, "was a man of great solidity, very sufficient learning, and is the author of the treatise on Patronages, so well known in this church. The book was published, and, as I am well informed, considerably enlarged by his son, Mr Robert Park, Clerk to the General Assembly, after the Revolution, and town-clerk of Glasgow, who was basely murdered in the Clerk's Chamber at Glasgow, a little after the Revolution."-Church History, ii. p. 147. rum. III. POPULATION. In the Old Statistical Account of this parish, it is stated, that, by the return from this parish made to Dr Webster about forty years prior to 1790, the amount was 649 souls, and at the beginning of 1791 it was 1602; according to the census of 1831 it was 3329. The increase of the population for the last forty years may be accounted for by the improvement of the agriculture of the neighbouring parishes. Stranraer being the principal sea-port, and having vessels which trade between it, Glasgow, Liverpool, and other large towns, they import the necessaries and comforts of life. The population of the neighbouring parishes having increased in consequence of the increased culture of the land, more shops have been opened to supply them with these necessaries. Besides, of late years, a great many of the natives of the sister island, having left their country in quest of food and employ |