[1] Both names relate to the Royal lands here held by King Robert II and later Stewart monarchs.

[3] The name 'Ron' in Scots refers to a thicket of hawthorns or rose briers, an area of stunted and crowded woodland.

[10] Walter fitz Alan (born c. 1110; died 1177), as High Steward of Scotland in the reign of David I (1124-1153), constructed the first castle here in the 12th century.

It was probably mainly a wooden fortification with stone foundations on an earth motte surrounded by a flooded moat.

James IV made Sir John Ross the hereditary constable of the original castle.

[10] Thirteen monks from Much Wenlock arrived at Renfrew c. 1168 and were lodged at the Steward's castle on King's Inch at a church dedicated to Saints Mary and James.

The King of Scotland accepted the challenge, but was for some time unable to find a man equal to the task, and in his perplexity offered the Inch as a reward to any one who successfully encountered the Englishman.

He dressed himself in a tight-fitting skin with the smooth side outwards, and in order to make it more slippery, rubbed it well with grease or oil.

[20] In 1775 a small mansion house is marked with the Pudzeoch Burn running to the Clyde nearby to the north.

[24] Elderslie House (NS 5140 6762) was in turn demolished in 1924 after the death of the last occupant, William Peacock, a manufacturer of rope and cord in Paisley.

This shows that up to that time the River Clyde's main current flowed to the south of the Kings Inch, directly in front of the mainland Renfrew Castle, partly the line of the Pudzeoch Burn.

[12] The extensive dredging operations in the River Clyde in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in the island finally becoming joined to the mainland.

[17] Timothy Pont's map of the late 16th century shows the island with roughly equal width channels of the River Clyde either side.

[6] The later mid-17th century map by Robert Gordon shows the same channel width and a castle of other significant building.

[7] In 1745 Herman Moll's map shows the island with a minor channel on the south side and no buildings appear to be present.

[8] In the mid-18th century no buildings are indicated on William Roy's map; however, a minor channel still divides the island from the south bank.