THE CHURCHES OF HOUSTON, ST. FILLAN’S, AND KILMALCOLM, Renfrewshire.

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[215] 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 MCCCCL; et D. Maria Colquhoun sponsa dicti Domini Johannis quae obiit MCCCCLVI.”

The parish of Kilfillan or Killallan 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 time the openings were probably changed into their present forms, and the pre-Reformation character of the building was altered to suit Presbyterian

Fig. 1492.—Houston Church. Effigies of Sir Patrick Houston and his Wife.

ideas. The old plan (Fig. 1493), however, resembles many of the ancient churches in its long proportions, and in having the north and south doors

Fig. 1493.—St. Fillan’s Church, Killallan, Renfrewshire. Plan.

opposite each other. Adjoining the church and churchyard there still exists a quaint old Scottish mansion house of seventeenth century style, which may probably have been the residence of the clergymen.

Kilmalcolm.—The church here was dedicated to King Malcolm III., who along with his wife, Queen Margaret, were commemorated as saints. A fragment of the east wall of a pre-Reformation church remains, with three plain lancet windows, which may possibly belong to the thirteenth century. It forms a part of the parish church. The above three churches, along with all the others in Strathgryfe (except Inchinnon), were comprehended in the grant which Walter, the son of Alan, made to the Abbey of Paisley in 1164.