An Account of the ancient Baronies of GREENOCK, with a View of the CASTLE of EASTER GREENOCK.

THE town of Greenock, in the county of Renfrew, is better known to the merchant than to the antiquary. In the year 1592 it was a trifling village, and only then erected into a parish. In 1643 King Charles I. made it a burgh of barony, with a privilege of a weekly market on Friday. Since that time it has continued to increase, and at present contains about twenty thousand inhabitants, consists of three parishes, is esteemed the fourth port in point of rank in Great Britain, and one of the most considerable and flourishing towns in Scotland.

During the ancient practice of connecting titles and privileges with possessions, the lands of Greenock formed a barony of no inconsiderable importance; falling to female heirs, it was divided into two baronies, the Easter and Wester. Under the modern system of granting dignities, Greenock was chosen by Lord Cathcart, after the taking of Copenhagen, for the name of the second title which he received for his services on that occasion. The motives which induced his Lordship to make this choice, probably originated in some prospective family considerations. Meantime his Lordship is but a common peer in the town, holding his property there, according

to the feudal principles of the law, as the vassal of Sir John Shaw Stuart, the superior.

The barony of Greenock, till the reign of Robert III. belonged to the Galbraiths. Malcolm Galbraith, the then baron, dying without male issue, it was inherited by his two daughters, and being in consequence divided, remained as two separate baronies till the year 1669, when the ancient estate was re-united.

One of the co-heiresses married Shaw of Sauchie, said to have been a collateral descendant of Macduff Earl of Fyfe, whom Shakespeare has renderred so famous in the incomparable tragedy of Macbeth. Her portion of the barony was called Wester Greenock, the lands of which continued to descend to the lairds of Sauchie till the reign of James V, when Alexander Shaw gave them as patrimony to John, his eldest son by his second wife.

The family of Sauchie furnished two abbots to the abbey of Paisley. There is still extant a charter granted on the 2d of June 1490 to the town of Paisley, signed by George Shaw the then abbot; and among the Cottonian manuscripts there is an original letter dated the 8th of May (the year wanting) from Robert Shaw his successor, to Cardinal Wolsey, soliciting the influence of his Grace at the Court of Rome in aid of his promotion to the Bishopric of Moray.

The male issue of Alexander Shaw し

by his first wife failing, John Shaw, a descendant of John the son of Alexander, became chief of the name, and succeeded to the primogenitureship of the lands of Sauchie. It was this John who in 1592 built the West Kirk of Greenock. His grandson John in 1651 was Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment of horse which the Earl of Dunfermline commanded at the Battle of Worcester. Charles II. in acknowledgement of his gallantry, conferred on him the honour of knighthood; and James VII. for his services to the crown, by letters patent dated the 28th June 1687 at Windsor, made him a Baronet. In 1694 he died, and was buried in the chapel of Holyrood - house. Shaw's grandson John, who succeeded in 1702 to the title and estates, is still remembered among the oral historians of Greenock for his magnificence and bashawic disposition *. He was the first member of Parliament for the county of Renfrew, after the union of the king doms: an anecdote is told of the journey to London of a band of the Scotch members, who in going to the first Session resolved to travel together, in order, it is supposed, to save expence. Sir John Shaw happened to join the party, and the anecdote seems to show what sort of gentry his companions were, as well as to illustrate his character. When they had crossed into England, they stopped at an inn to dine: a smart waiter came into the room, and with much assurance enquired what they would have for dinner. "Do you eat pork, Sir?" said this officious gentleman to one of Sir John Shaw's honourable friends. The independent and worthy member to whom the question was put, abominated pork as much as he did state-corruption, but like many other members of a certain assembly, bamboozled by eloquence,

* Possibly the Great Moguls were of Scottish origin, as their family name is Shaw.

said aye when he should have said no. The waiter then went round the company, and the ayes were like to have proved unanimous, till he inquired at Sir John Shaw if he would eat pork. No, I'll be damn'd if I do eat pork, said Sir John, enraged at the sheepishness of his fellow-travellers. " I'll no tak' pork neither," quoth he that first said aye; "nor me," said the next,

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nor me, nor me," said all the others, The motion for eating pork was accordingly lost.

The daughter of Malcom Galbraith, who inherited the barony of Easter Greenock, married - Crawford, the laird of Kilburny. The history of the descendants of this lady is not unlike that of the offspring of her sister.One of them, Hugh Crawford, adhered to Queen Mary, and led his vassals to the battle of Langside, for which offence the regent Lennox granted him a remission in 1576. In 1661 the male issue of the Kilburny family failing, the estates descended to a daughter, who in 1669 alienated the barony of Easter Greenock to Sir John Shaw, by which the ancient barony of Greenock, after being divided more than two hundred and fifty years, was reunited in the person of a descendant of the original stock.

The view annexed represents the ruins of the castle of Easter Greenock, as they appeared about five years ago. The tower has since fallen, and in the course of a few years the plough will probably pass over the remains. The castle of Wester Greenock was greatly amplified by the anti-porkist Sir John, and is a large structure, resembling in appearance those manor-halls of England which were built about the beginning of the last century *.

J.G.

* Some account of the rise and progress of the town of Greenock would te very acceptable to the readers of the Scots Magazine.