Renfrewshire: Summary Table
Parish | Merklands | Pennyland names | Davach names | Comments and Place-name evidence |
Cathcart | 75m 2s 6d | |||
Eaglesham | 100m | Possibly 1 penny kirklands? | ||
Eastwood | 139¼m | |||
Erskine | 100m | Middle Penny | Gleddoch ? | |
Greenock | 63m | Pennyfern (very doubtful) | Goldinhaddok?
Cornhaddock? |
|
Houstoun & Killallan | 128½m | Haddockston? | ||
Inchinnan | 80m | |||
Inverkip | c. 142m | Halfpenny Burn, Dafferlie? | Spangock? | ‘Halfpenny Burn’, a tributary of Kip Water. |
Kilbarchan | 170½m | Pannell, Hairis Pennell | ||
Kilmacolm | 146m + | Pennytersal, Dippany | This is a minimum figure. | |
Lochwinnoch | 175m 12s | |||
Mearns | 240m | This is taken from Purves & Stewart. | ||
Neilston | 137m 8s 8d | |||
Paisley | 326m 4s 6d | |||
Port Glasgow | c. 15m? | |||
Renfrew | 89½m | |||
Total | 2125m | Whole numbers added only | Includes 15m Port Glasgow. |
What conclusions can we draw from this table?
Paisley is substantially the most valuable parish in Renfrewshire. Was there once another parish within the area of Abbey parish? We have no evidence for it but such could have been obscured by the growth of the monastery and burgh. We have other local Kil-names, (from Gaelic cille a cell or church), such as Kilbride and Kilmoluag, where no parish survives.
It is interesting how many parishes come between 100-200m. Cathcart is smaller, but we are not including the part of Cathcart that lies in Lanarkshire.
Port Glasgow and Greenock should really fall under Kilmacolm and Inverkip respectively.
Do we have any other figures we can use for comparison or validation?
Purves’s total, excluding Lanarkshire items, excluding also Knockmaid = £1190 0s 6d.
Stewart’s total, excluding Lanarkshire items, excluding also Knockmaid = £1235 13s 10d (>1853½m). This number aligns quite well with the total in the table above.
(The main difference between Purves and Stewart is because Purves’s source misread Finlaystoun-Maxwell as 50s rather than £50).
The returns to parliament in 1366 only show the ‘true value’ for Renfrewshire at £535 9s 8d. It was then part of Lanarkshire which is listed separately as £4057 9s 0d Auld Extent and £1755 19s 8d ‘true value’. The ratio of former to latter is about 2.31:1.
If we assumed that a similar ratio prevailed in Renfrewshire then a computed total for Renfrewshire’s Auld Extent would be about £1236 or c. 1854 merks. This is strikingly close to Stewart’s figure and a little under the total in the table.
The return to the 1366 Parliament, set beside Stewart’s total, and the figure in the table above, are mutually supportive.

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