In a lecture given by Mr. Andrew Wallace[1], clerk to the Govan Parish Council in the time of the Reverend Dr. John Macleod, there are some interesting references to Govan as it was in 1795. The Gorbals had been disjoined from the parish by the Commissioners of Tiends in 1771, and the population was 2518. It was still a rural place; soon the old character was to change, a state of affairs much regretted by Robert Burns.