James Meek - Statistical Account of Scotland 1791

Statistical Account of Scotland 1791

The extensive entry for Cambuslang in the First Statistical Account of Scotland 1791 shows "Dr Meek" to have been a man of wide interests and a meticulous scholar with “reasonable” opinions in religion. He consulted many Parish documents and talked to many parishioners before submitting his report to John Sinclair on the state of Cambuslang in the 1790s. He gives a very extensive and detailed comparison between life in the Parish in 1750 and improved circumstances of 1791. He gives precise prices of commodities and clear descriptions of the farming and industrial methods used. He was familiar with ecclesiastical history and had read recently published works on local early history. His account of the great revival meetings in Cambuslang in the 1720s draws upon local and documentary (pamphlets, etc.) evidence. He is not convinced that the enthusiastic conversions reported were genuine manifestations of the supernatural, though he balances the arguments on both sides. He is familiar with the geological formation of the area and gives an account of it in the scientific parlance of the day. Where appropriate he gives precise measurements for areas, land values, prices, breadth and depth of the river, etc. He gives meteorological measurements taken (presumably by him, or under his instruction) twice a day at the manse for seven years and reports them with averages, maxima and minima. (His measurements were quoted throughout the 19th century, for example in the six-volume The Gallery of Nature, London 1821, and the 26-volume The London Encyclopaedia London, 1839. The data were also used for 20th century histories of weather, such as Historic Storms of the North Sea, British Isles and Northwest Europe, H. H. Lamb & Knud Frydendahl, CUP 1991. He complained about the state of repair of the church and manse, but is proud of the parish school and the treatment of the poor. He is moved by the unparalleled view of the Clyde valley, Bothwell Castle and well-tended counties from a nearby hill, and especially the view of Glasgow, including its cathedral, College and church spires.