Buildings.- The old church at the Clachan had no architectural beauty, though the situation at the opening of the Kirkton Glen is very fine.  The belfry still stands; and the old bell which was deposed for several years, has lately been reinstalled in its ancient honours, and is again daily rung at funerals, and on Sunday evenings, when the neighbourhood assembles in the school-house for divine service.

The present parish church, which was erected in 1829, is situated at Lennoxtown.  The style is Gothic, and the building is handsome and large, being capable of accommodating 1600 persons.  The interior is fitted up in a very commodious and superior manner.  Indeed, everything connected with the church reflects credit on the liberality of the heritors, who expended on it ,nearly L. 8000, including the cost of ground, levelling, fencing, &c.  In the tower, at the west end of the church, is a clock, presented by the late Miss Lennox of Woodhead, and a very sonorous bell. A very magnificent set of communion vessels was presented, at the opening or the new church, by James Denistoun, Esq., merchant, Glasgow, a native of this parish, and a man truly illustrious, if generosity entitles any one to be so esteemed. His liberalities were almost innumerable, and were not more distinguished for their magnificence, than for the judgment and delicacy with which they were conferred.

By far the noblest building in this parish, or indeed in this part or the country, is Lennox Castle, the seat of John L. Kincaid Lennox, Esq - who is proprietor of nearly half the land in the parish. This magnificent mansion, which is situated on the brow of the South Brae, near the position of the old house of Woodhead, was commenced in 1837, and is now (May 1841), just finished. The character of this building, which is in the boldest style of the old Norman architecture, from a design by Mr David Hamilton of Glasgow, harmonizes well with its lofty and picturesque situation, nearly 500 feet above the level of the adjoining valley, and with the bold and striking scenery around. Nearly opposite Lennox Castle, on the other side of the valley, stands in a snug sheltered situation, the House of Craigharnet, more celebrated for its hospitality than for its architectural pretensions; and a mile further eastwards, in a very beautiful situation, at the embouchure of the Kirkton Glen, is the House of Bancleroche, or Kirkton, as it was till lately called. The other principal mansion-houses in the parish are, Kincaid and Antermony, both the property of Mr Lennox; Glorat House, the situation of which is striking, though not very accessible; and Anchinreoch, at pre sent occupied by the tenant on the farm.

Historical Events.---If those times and places which are the best to read of are the worst to live in, the inhabitants of this parish must be held to have been fortunate beyond the ordinary lot of mankind, there being almost no events connected with it which can be called historical; and the names of its past or present inhabitants, that are most known, or are likely to be long remembered without its bounds, are those of Mr Bell of Antermony, the traveller; Mr Charles Mackintosh of Campsie, the inventor of the celebrated waterproof cloth, which bears his name and Mr James Bell,. the author of several important geographical works, who spent his last years in this parish, and a short account of whom will be found below, kindly furnished me by a member of the family in which Mr Bell spent his last years.* I may add the names of Mr Robert Dalglish, formerly Lord Provost of Glasgow, in the affairs of which city, especially of its charitable institutions, he took, during a long series or years, a deep and effective interest, and who has long been connected with Campsie; and of Mr John M'Farlan, of Bancleroche, the early companion of Sir W. Scott, and the author of numerous publications.

* Mr James Bell, the celebrated geographer, was born at Jedburgh, 1769 in 1777, Mr Bell removed with his father to Glasgow, where, after receiving a liberal education, he served an apprenticeship to the weaving business, and in 1790, he commenced business as a mannfacturer of cotton goods. In the universal depression, 1793, occasioned by the shock of the French Revolution, Mr Bell having a large stock on hand, in common with many others, lost his all, and for a number of years, was employed as a common warper in the warehouses of different manufacturers, It has been said, while Mr Bell occupied this situation, he was frequently more intent on tl,e metres of Horace, the delineaIion of Mela and Strabo, and tlie glowing narratives of Xenophon and Thucydides, than upon the porters and splits into which his baskets of bobbins were to be adjusted upon the warping-mill, in consequence or which his chains, when they came into the hands of the workmen, were found to be inextricably entangled. About the year 1806, Mr Bell relinquished this uncongenial occupation, and betook himself to a more laborious mode of earning his subsistence, but one for which he was better qualified, viz. teaching the classics to young men attending the University. This he pursued for some years with diligence and success, being at the same time himself a most indefatigable and arduous student, especially in history, systematic theology, and above all, in geography, which he pursued with unwearied enthusiasm. Mr Bell made his first appearance as an author in 1815, when he was engaged to improve the Glasgow Geography, a work in four volumes, which had been well received by the public, and was now, by the labouts or Mr Bell, extended to five volumes. It formed the basis of his principal work. -  Some years after this, he again appeared as an author in conjunction with a young gentleman, (the late Mr John Bell of Glasgow,) in a small volume of Chinese geography and oriental philology. This work is now rare, but it is said to display a considerable amount of talent. Mr Bell had long been subject to severe attacks of asthma. These gradually assumed a more alarming character, and compelled him to leave Glasgow for a country reaidence. The place he selected for his retirement was Lukestont, Campsie, where he spent the last ten or twelve years of his live. While he resided at Lukeston, he published an elegant edition of Rollin's Ancient History, interspersed with copious and interesting notes, here he also published his principal work, "A System of Popular and Scientific Geography," in six volumes, He was engaged in preparing for publication" A General Gazetteer," when death put a period to his labours on the 3d of May 1833, in the 64th year of his age.

Several of the clergymen of Campsie have enjoyed considerable celebrity or notoriety, as Lamberton, Beaton, and others, before the Reformation,-and several since.

So lately as the year 1744, black-mail was paid by the farmers in Campsie to Macgregor of Glengyle, who seems, from Lapslie's account of him, to have had some of that honour which is said sometimes to be found among thieves. The great Rebellion had the happy effect of delivering the people from the need of such protectors. The powers of a feudal baron were exercised in this parish so lately as the year 1693, at which period the Marquis of Kilsyth hanged one of his servants for theft on the Gallowhill, in the barony of Bencloick.

The doctrines of the French Revolution were diffused to a great extent in Campsie, chiefly through means of Mr Muir, advocate, who was afterwards tried and banished for sedition, and who had many relatives in this part of the country. Mr Lapslie, then minister, thought it his duty to take steps in relation to this matter, which put him in an unfortunate position with respect to many of his parishioners, and led to many unpleasant consequences-among others, the burning of his manse; thus furnishing another proof, how difficult it is for clergymen to step out of their own peculiar province, without seriously endangering their respectabihity and usefulness.

Old Families -There are several very old families in this parish, the principal of which are the Lennoxes of Woodhead, the Kincaids of Kincaid, the Stirlings of Craigbarnet, the Stirlings of Glorat, and the McFarlans of Kirkton, who are derived, by the female line, from the same stock from which the Lennoxes of Woodhead claim descent. All these families, the Kincaids, Lennoxes, and Stirlings of Glorat and Stirlings of Craigbarnet, have possessed the same estates they now do during nearly four centuries, some of them much longer.* McFarlan of Kirkton, or Bancleroche, a maternal ancestor of John McFarlan, Esq. the present proprietor came into possession of that estate in 1624. Antermony was purchased by Captain John Lennox, a younger son of the Woodhead family. The three families of Woodhead; Kincaid, and Antermony, are now all of them represented, as these estates are possessed by John L. Kincaid Lennox, Esq. the first in right of his mother, the second in right of his father, the third in right or his uncle.

The claim of this family to the Lennox peerage has been brought down to her own time, by Margaret Lennox, late of Woodhead; from which case, it appears that Askill, a powerful Northumbrian baron of the age of William the Conqueror, having found it necessary, with many other northern barons, to flee into Scotland, was kindly received by Malcolm III.; and his son, Alwyne, was, by Malcolm VI. created Earl of Lennox; the name being derived from the river Leven, and the estate extending over Dumbartonshire, great part of Stiriingshire, and parts of the counties of Perth and Renfrew. The earldom continued in this family down to the time of Earl Duncan, who, with the Duke of Albany and his two sons, was executed at Stirling, May 1425. After this, Isabella, his eldest daughter, enjoyed it many years, and she having died without issue on 1459, the earldoin, without any forfeiture having taken place, but by reason of the feudal incident of non-entry, fell into the hands of the sovereign as superior.

Donald, son of Earl Duncan, by a second marriage, was the ancestor of the Lennoxes of Ballcorach. John, the sixth of Ball corach, came into possession of the lands of Woodhead about 1 520.

*The Kincaids were in possession of Kincaid in 1280. as is proved by a charter extant. In 1421, Duncan Earl of Levenax conveyed to his son, Donald, ancestor of the Woodhead family, the lands of Balcorrach, Balgrochyr, Bencloich, Thombay, and others, in the parish of Campsie. The charter still exists. His son, John, was served heir of his father in said lands in 1454, and seems to have been also proprietor of the estates of Kilmordining and Caillie. The estate of Bencloich was sold to Edmonstone of Duntreath in 1660, and was, by the present Sir Archibald Edmonstone, sold to Charles Macintosh, Esq. and William Macfarlan, Esq. in 1834. Glorat was a part of the Earldom of Levenax, and Isabella Duchess of Albany, eldest daughter of the last Earl of the old line, was in possession of it, as, appears from the Exchequer Rolls in 1456. John Earl of Lennox, in the Darnley line, gave a grant of the lands of Inchinnan, in Renirewshire," delecto consanguineo suo Gulielmo Stirling do Gloret et Margaretm Houstoun sposae suae, In 1525, whih is the first trace I can find of the family; but very probably Glorat was acquired by the Stirling about 1470, alter the death of Isabella. In 1550. George Stirling of Glorat was Captain and Governor-in-chief of Dumbarton Castle. The arms and motto, "semper fidelis," were granted to the family for their loyalty to their sovereigns, Charles I. and II., and, in the year 1666, the family was honoured with the dignity of knight baronet. Both the Glorat family and the Stirlings of Craigbarnet are descended from the Stirlings of Calder or Cadder, whose name appears in the Ragman's Roll, 1279. John Striveling or Stirling of Craigbernard (Craigbarnet) is witness to a deed in 1468. Kincaid," Laird of Kincaid of Stirlingshire, for his vallint service In recovering of the Castle of Edinburgh from the English, in the time of Edward I., was made constable of the said castle, and his posterity enjoyed that office for a long period, carrying the castle in their armorial bearings in memory thereof to this day."  There is an old broad sword belonging to a branch of the family, upon which are the arms, gules on a fesse ermine, between two mullets in chief, or and a castle triple towered, in base argent, with these words,-

" Wha will pursew, I will defend , My life and honour to the end ."-Nisbet's Heraldry.

Parochial Reyisters -These are very meagre. One volume commencing 29th October 1689, Mr John Govan, moderator, records the proceedings of the kirk-session down to June 6, 1717. Another volume commences May 27, 1787, and is continued with great irregularity till November 1810. Some few of the matters recorded in the older volume are not without interest The minutes of the kirk-session are continued from the date last mentioned to the present time. The register of baptisms extends from the year 1696 downwards; that of deaths appears not to have been kept previously to 1790.