Houston and Killallan

"HOUSTON, village and parish in north centre of Renfrewshire. ..... The parish contains also Crosslee village and part of Bridge of Weir. Its length is 6 miles; its greatest breadth 3¼ miles; its area 7585 acres. ..... Pop. 2191. The western section is uneven, and partly pastoral. The eastern section is flat, and consists mostly of fertile arable land, but includes a moss of about 300 acres. The moss was leased in 1879 to Glasgow City Corporation, and began immediately to be subjected, with aid of local railway, to a process of fertilization, by distribution on it of refust from the city. Coal, limestone, and sandstone are found. Cotton-spinning and bleaching are largely carried on. The seats are Houston House and Barrochan; and chief antiquities are Barrochan Cross, an altar-tomb in chancel of ancient church, and the site of a fine old baronial castle. A Free church is at Bridge of Weir. 5 schools for 561 scholars are in the parish, and class-rooms in them for 125 are new."

[From The Gazetteer of Scotland, by Rev. John Wilson, 1882.]