Renfrewshire, a Scottish county, bounded N. by the river and firth of Clyde, and elsewhere by Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It is 31 miles long by 13 broad, and contains 254 sq. m. or 162,428 acres, of which 5642 are water and foreshore. Pop. (1801) 78,056; (1881) 263,374; (1901) 268.980. Till 1889 part of the southern suburbs of Glasgow was reckoned within the -'county. The surface is irregular: besides the low lands fringing the Clyde, there are three principal valleys, those of the Gryfe, Black Cart, and White Cart, with upland pastures and ranges of hills, the highest point being the Hill of Stake (1711 feet) on the Ayrshire border. Agriculture and the breeding of horses and cattle are carried on with success; dairy-farming is largely practised, owing to the proximity of large towns. Rather less than two-thirds of the whole extent is arable, mainly in pasture or grass crops. The minerals are coal, iron-stone, copper, barytes, shale, and lime. Besides mining and agriculture, the chief industries are the manufacture of thread, cotton, and chemicals, print and bleach works, shipbuilding, engineering, and sugar-refining. Renfrewshire is divided into two wards, Upper and Lower, and two parliamentary divisions, eastern and western, each returning one member. The chief towns are Renfrew, Paisley, Greenock, Gourock, Port-Glasgow, Pollokshaws, Johnstone, and Barrhead. Renfrewshire, or at least the western portion, was anciently called Strathgryfe, and it was the chief patrimony of the house of Stewart. In 1404 the title of Baron of Renfrew (still borne by the Prince of Wales) was conferred by Robert III. on his son James; and about the same time Renfrew was disjoined from Lanarkshire and made a separate county. See Crawford's History (1716), and Archœological and Historical Collections (Paisley, 1885 et seq.).