Old Cathcart

CATHCART, a parish, partly in the Lower ward of the county of Lanark, but chiefly in the Upper ward of the county of Renfrew; including the villages of New and Old Cathcart, Clarkston, Crosshill, Crossmyloof, Hanginshaw, Langside, Millbridge, and Netherlee; and containing 2349 inhabitants, of whom 174 are in Old Cathcart, 3 miles (S.) from Glasgow. This place, which is supposed to have derived its name, of Celtic origin, from the situation of its castle on the river Cart, is of remote antiquity. It appears at an early period to have formed part of the possessions of Walter, lord high steward of Scotland, who in 1160 granted the church, together with all its dependencies, to the abbey of Paisley, which he had founded. The remainder of the lands became the property of the ancient family of Cathcart, of whom Sir Alan, in 1447, was raised to the peerage by James II. under the title of Lord Cathcart; the estates were alienated by Alan, the third lord, in 1546, and then belonged to the Semples for several generations. Of the Cathcart family, who have again become owners of the castle, three were killed in the battle of Flodden Field in 1513, and another in the battle of Pinkie in 1547; the fourth Lord Cathcart distinguished himself at the battle of Langside, and the eighth lord, as colonel of the Scots Greys, contributed to the victory obtained over the rebel army at Sheriffmuir. William, the tenth lord, who commanded the British forces at the taking of Copenhagen in 1807, was on that occasion created Viscount Cathcart, and in 1814 Earl Cathcart: he died in 1843.