In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Renton like this:
Renton, a town and a quoad sacra parish in Cardross parish, Dumbartonshire. The town, standing on the right bank of the river Leven, has a station on the Vale of Leven railway, 1¼ mile S of Alexandria, and 2¼ miles N by W of Dumbarton. It was founded in 1782 by Mrs Smollett of Bonhill, and named in honour of her daughter-in-law, one of the Rentons of Lammerton; grew and flourished in connection with the special industries of the Vale of Leven; has charming environs, enriched with the parks of Strathleven and Bonhill; carries on extensive industry in calico-printing, bleaching, and dyeing establishments; and has a post office with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, a quoad sacra parochial church, three Free churches (one of them Gaelic, and one Reformed Presbyterian till 1876), a public school, a public hall (1882), etc. ...
The novelist, Tobias Smollett (1721-71), was born in the old house of Dalquhurn; and at Renton, within ½ mile of his birthplace, his cousin erected a monument to his memory in 1774. It is a round Tuscan column 60 feet high, springing from a square base; and it bears a long Latin inscription by Prof. Geo. Stuart of Edinburgh, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, and Dr Samuel Johnson. The quoad sacra parish, constituted in 1870, is in the presbytery of Dumbarton and the synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the minister's stipend is £120. Its church, which was built as a chapel of ease at a cost of £700, underwent great improvements in 1869. Pop. of q. s. parish (1881) 4387; of town (1831) 1860, (1841) 2472, (1861) 2891, (1871) 3087, (1881) 4319, of whom 24l4 were females. Houses (1881) 813 inhabited, 5 vacant.—Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Renton through time
Renton is now part of West Dunbartonshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how West Dunbartonshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Renton itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Renton in West Dunbartonshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/21603
Date accessed: 18th April 2024
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