Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/547



8. A chevron chequé between three water budgets, for Ross of Halket.

9. A chevron chequé between a hunting horn in dexter chief, a water budget in sinister chief, and a demi hunting horn combined with a demi water budget in base, being the shields 1 and 8 dimidiated, but showing no dividing line.

On the knight's breast a chevron between three water budgets, for Ross of Halket, as in No. 8.

The Church of Renfrew was granted by David as a prebend of Glasgow, and is believed to have stood on the present site.

In 1557 mention is made of the chaplainry of St. Christopher in the Lord Ross's Aisle on the south side of the Church of Renfrew. The monument is situated on the south side of the present church. The Chapel of St. Christopher was probably connected with the ferry across the Clyde.

THE CHURCHES OF HOUSTON, ST. FILLAN'S, AND KILMALCOLM,.

These three churches lie to the north-west of Paisley, in a straight line, about four miles apart. The Church of Houston is modern, and the only thing belonging to the ancient church which formerly stood there is shown in Fig. 1492, being the recumbent figures of one of the Houston family and his wife. The monument which contained these statues is entirely gone, and they now lie in a lighted closet, built for their reception, beside the new church. The Houston arms are carved on the knight's armour (a fesse chequé between three martlets). The figures probably date from the fifteenth century, and are believed to represent Sir Patrick Houston of that Ilk, who died in 1450, and his wife, Agnes Campbell, who died in 1456. Crawford states that Sir Patrick, departing this life 1450, was buried in the Chapel of Houston, where there is a fair monument erected to the memory of him and his wife, with this inscription:—"Hic jacet Patricius Houstoun, de Eodem, miles, qui obiit anno ; et D. Maria Colquhoun sponsa dicti Domini Johannis quae obiit ."

The parish of or  was incorporated with Houston in 1760, and the church dedicated to St. Fillan has probably been in a state of ruin since about that time. It stands in a beautiful hollow in an elevated situation overlooking the valley of Strathgryfe, midway between Houston and Kilmalcolm. The walls are fairly entire, but without the gables, and are densely covered with ivy. The masonry shows that they are of considerable age, if indeed they are not of the Norman period. While this may be so, all the openings are of seventeenth century work, and the doorway at the west end of the south wall is dated 1635. About that