Hawkhead, an estate, with a mansion, in Abbey parish, Renfrewshire, on the left bank of the White Cart, 2 ¼ miles SE of Paisley. It belonged in the middle of the 15th century to the doughty Sir John Ross, whose son and namesake appears in the parliament roll of 1489-90 as the first Baron Ross of Hawkhead-a title that expired with the fourteenth Lord in 1754. The estate passed first to his eldest sister, Mrs Ross Mackye, and next to a younger sister, Elizabeth, widow of the third Earl of Glasgow. Her son, the fourth Earl, succeeded her in 1791, and in 1815 was created Baron Ross of Hawkhead in the peerage of the United Kingdom. (See Kelburne Castle.) Hawkhead House, originally a large ancient tower, underwent such enlargement in the time of Charles I. as to take the form of a quadrangle. It was visited in 1681 by the Duke of York, afterwards James VII. Repaired and improved in 1782, it is now an irregular pile of antique appearance, with gardens originally formed in the Dutch style, and a finely-wooded park.—Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)