Paisley

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Paisley
Scottish Gaelic: Pàislig


Paisley Town Hall
Paisley (Scotland)
Paisley

Paisley shown within Scotland
Population 72,970 (2004 Estimate)
OS grid reference NS485635
 - Edinburgh 49 mi (79 km) E
 - London 347 mi (558 km) SSE
Council area Renfrewshire
Lieutenancy area Renfrewshire
Constituent country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town PAISLEY
Postcode district PA1 - PA3
Dialling code 0141 & 01505
Police Strathclyde
Fire Strathclyde
Ambulance Scottish
European Parliament Scotland
UK Parliament Paisley North
Paisley South
Scottish Parliament Paisley North
Paisley South
West of Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland

Coordinates: 55°49′00″N 4°25′00″W / 55.833333, -4.433333

Paisley (Scottish Gaelic: Pàislig) is a town and former burgh in the west-Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is situated on the northern edge of the Gleniffer Braes, straddling the banks of the River Cart. Paisley is the administrative capital of the Renfrewshire council area, and forms a continuous urban area with Greater Glasgow; Glasgow City Centre being 6.9 miles (11.1 km) to the east.

Paisley was once reckoned to have been the site of the Roman fortification of Vanduara (or Vandogara) chronicled by Ptolemy. The identification of the site of modern Paisley with this fort is based principally on the similarity of the name of the station to the Brythonic Gwen-dwr ('white water') which was inferred to have been the name at that time of the White Cart Water.

In the 12th century a priory was founded at Paisley around which a settlement soon grew. Within a hundred years of its foundation the priory had achieved the status of an Abbey. The town became famous during the 18th and 19th centuries for the production of cloth, especially cotton with the distinctive Paisley Pattern.

Paisley is the second largest town in Scotland, after East Kilbride with a population of 72,970 [1], however the difference in population is negligible and will be confirmed in the 2011 Census. Whilst smaller than Scotland's major cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee, it forms the sixth-largest settlement in the country, having a greater population than Inverness or Stirling, which both have city status. Paisley forms much of the south-western part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation.

Contents

[edit] History

Map of Paisley in 1923
Map of Paisley in 1923

Formerly known as Paislay [2] the burgh's name is of uncertain origin; some sources suggest a derivation either from the Brythonic word, pasgill, 'pasture', or more likely, passeleg - 'basilica', (i.e. major church), itself derived from the Greek basilika. However, some Scottish place-name books suggest "Pæssa's wood/clearing", from the Old English personal name Pæssa and leāh - "clearing, wood". Pasilege (1182) and Paslie (1214) are recorded previous spellings of the name.

Paisley has monastic origins. A chapel is said to have been established by the 6th/7th century Irish monk, Saint Mirin at a site near a waterfall on the White Cart Water known as the Hammils. Though Paisley lacks contemporary documentation it may have been, along with Glasgow and Govan, a major religious centre of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. A priory was established in 1163 from the Cluniac priory at Wenlock in Shropshire, England at the behest of Walter Fitzalan (d. 1177) High Steward of Scotland. In 1245 this was raised to the status of an Abbey. The restored Abbey and adjacent 'Place' (palace), constructed out of part of the medieval claustral buildings, survive as a Church of Scotland parish church. One of Scotland's major religious houses, Paisley Abbey was much favoured by the Bruce and Stewart royal families. It is generally accepted that William Wallace the great hero of Scottish independence who inspired the film Braveheart was educated here. King Robert III (1390-1406) was buried in the Abbey. His tomb has not survived, but that of Princess Marjorie Bruce (1296-1316), ancestress of the Stewarts is one of Scotland's few royal monuments to survive the Reformation.

Paisley coalesced under James II's wish that the lands should become a single regality and, as a result, markets, trading and commerce began to flourish. In 1488 the town's status was raised by James IV to Burgh of barony.

Many trades sprang up and the first school was established in 1577 by the Town Council. By the mid-nineteenth century weaving had become the town's principal industry. Paisley is still very well-known for the Paisley Shawl and its distinctive Paisley Pattern which originated around this time.

Through its weaving fraternity, Paisley gained notoriety as being a literate and somewhat radical town, although it could be argued in a fiercely positive direction. By this time there was a real mixture of religious opinions and healthy drink-fuelled debate raged at night amongst the weavers, poets, merchants, masons and others. The poet Robert Tannahill lived in this setting, working as a weaver. The weavers of Paisley were also active in the Radical War of 1820.

[edit] Geography

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.
Paisley's location locally and nationally.
Paisley's location locally and nationally.
North: Renfrew
West: Elderslie Paisley East: Glasgow
South: Barrhead

The town is surrounded by several large residential areas that were created after the Housing Act of 1946. These include Glenburn (south), Foxbar (south west), Ferguslie Park (north west), Gallowhill (North East) and Hunterhill (South East). Ferguslie Park was named by the Scottish Executive's most deprived area in 2006.[3]

Castlehead, situated to the southwest of the centre of the town, is a wooded area of Victorian villas where many of the town's leading industrialists made their homes in the late 19th century. It is a conservation area.

Oakshaw, situated on a hill to the north of the High St, is a conservation area and home to many fine buildings including the High Kirk, the Coats Observatory and the former John Neilson Institute, now converted into apartments.

Thornly Park is located to the south of the town. The area is classed as a conservation area with many examples of various architecture ranging from mock Tudor to Art Deco. Many of the houses were designed by W D McLennan who also designed several local churches such as Saint Matthew's.

Nearer the centre of the town remains many areas of older housing. The town centre, Williamsburgh and Charleston areas contain many examples of Scottish tenement flats. Three to four storeys tall, with shops on the ground floor and constructed of local blond and red sandstone. These tenement flats have been extensively restored and modernised over the last two decades.

Gockston in the far north of the town has many terraced houses and, after regeneration has many detached and semi-detached houses as well as several blocks of flats.

Ralston a residential area in the far east of the town bordering Glasgow was outside the Paisley burgh boundary when constructed in the 1930s but, as a result of local authority re-organisation in the 1990s, it is now generally regarded to be a suburb of Paisley.

Dykebar, situated to the south east of the centre of the town, is a residential area which also the site of a secure mental hospital.

[edit] Economy

Several ties showing the Paisley pattern that made the town famous in the 19th century
Several ties showing the Paisley pattern that made the town famous in the 19th century

Paisley was at one time famous for its weaving industry. For nearly a hundred years until the 1870s shawls of the Paisley pattern were in fashion. Until the Jacquard loom was introduced in the 1820s weaving was a cottage industry. This innovation led to the industrialisation of the process. As a result many weavers lost their livelihoods and left for Canada and Australia. One of these, a man named John Hart and a Paisley mill owner, settled at Perth, Ontario, where he had a Book Store and Mercantile shop.

Due to its damp, mild climate Paisley was for many years a centre for the manufacture of cotton sewing thread. At the heyday of Paisley thread manufacture in the 1930s there were 28,000 people employed in the huge Anchor and Ferguslie mills of J & P Coats Ltd (Coats Viyella) said to be the largest of their kind in the world at that time. In the 1950s the mills diversified into the production of synthetic threads but with cheap foreign imports and the establishment by Coats of mills in India and Brazil the writing was on the wall for Paisley and production began to diminish rapidly. By the end of the 1980s there was no thread being produced in Paisley. However, both industries have left a permanent mark on the town in the form of the many places with textile related names, for example, Dyer's Wynd, Cotton Street, Thread Street, Shuttle Street, Lawn Street, Silk Street, Mill Street and Incle Street.

The town also supported a number of engineering works some of which relied on the textile industry, others on shipbuilding. With the demise of both these industries in the west of Scotland the engineering works too have all but gone.

In the mid 1970s industry in Paisley went into rapid decline. The preserve manufacturer Robertsons which was founded in Paisley in the 1860s closed its Stevenson Street factory and transferred production to Bristol, Manchester and London. This closure was followed by those of the engineering firms of Fullerton, Hodgart and Barclay and Whites Engineering.

In 1981 the area was dealt a massive blow when Peugeot Talbot, formerly Chrysler and before that Rootes, announced that their Linwood factory just outside of Paisley would cease production.[4] Almost 5000 workers were laid off. The knock on effect on other businesses in the area was immeasurable and, despite numerous regeneration projects, Linwood has never recovered.

Brown and Polson commenced producing starch and cornflour in Paisley in the 1860s. It later became CPC Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of Unilever, which produced Hellmann's mayonnaise, Gerber baby foods and Knorr soups. The company ceased production in Paisley in 2002.

Other businesses to have closed since the 1990s are the Scottish Gas distribution and service centre, Cadbury's distribution centre and William Grant & Sons the Scotch whisky producer.

Some of the remaining employers in the town are Scotch whisky blenders and bottlers Chivas Brothers now a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard and the pigment manufacturers of the Swiss company Ciba Geigy. Both companies employ considerably fewer people than in the past.

[edit] Retailing

The Piazza Shopping Centre, based in the heart of Paisley, has forged many links within the community and is the town's busiest centre. Featuring household names such as Somerfield, Subway, New Look, D2 and The Carphone Warehouse, The Piazza is also home to one of the Top 50 Post Office branches in the UK - one of two Scottish flagship stores, it was made a Crown Post Office in 2007. The Piazza has also recently launched a Student Card, providing a range of discounts for the thousands of students that pass through Paisley every year.

The Paisley Centre is a three floored centre including a department store, an indoor market and over 50 shopping units including Marks and Spencer, Boots, Superdrug, Vodafone, Thorntons, The Body Shop and T-Mobile as well as many local outlets.

In recent years, however, the quality and variety of shopping has declined, with many of Paisley's more affluent customers choosing to shop at the (1998) Braehead Shopping Centre which lies within Renfrewshire's boundaries. Through this competition and high tax rates for local businesses[citation needed], many stores have been forced to close their doors.

Despite a poor perception, however, many retailers are still thriving in Paisley's shopping centres, and adding colour to the town is the variety of busy Continental and Farmers Markets which often take place in the town.

[edit] Landmarks

In the 1960s the town centre underwent considerable redevelopment resulting in the demolition of the County Buildings in County Square and the adjacent police station and town gaol. These fine Victorian edifices were replaced by the brutalist concrete Gilmour House and the Piazza shopping centre which spans the White Cart Water.

[edit] Paisley Abbey

Paisley Abbey was the burial place of many Scottish Kings during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
Paisley Abbey was the burial place of many Scottish Kings during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

The west of Paisley Abbey provides an example of original Gothic architecture dating to the 12th century. The east end and tower date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are examples of Gothic Revival architecture.

[edit] Other notable buildings

Paisley Town Hall (the George A. Clark Town Hall) was funded by Clarks, the owners of the Anchor thread mill. In response, their main competitor in the production of thread in the town, Sir Peter Coats, funded the building of the equally magnificent Paisley Museum and Library in 1871. These, and many other remarkably grand buildings in Paisley, testify to the power, influence and success of the textile industry in the town.

Thomas Coats Memorial Church
Thomas Coats Memorial Church

The Thomas Coats Memorial Church is an example of Gothic Revival architecture. It dominates the town's skyline with its crown spire more than 60 metres high. Opened in 1894 and designed by Hippolyte Jean Blanc[5] it is the largest Baptist church in Europe. The exterior is made of old red sandstone. Inside, the church is decorated with wood carvings, mosaic floors and marble fonts. The church also contains a 3040 pipe Hill Organ.

Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mirin, Paisley, Scotland
Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mirin, Paisley, Scotland

The Cathedral Church of Saint Mirin (St Mirin's Cathedral) in Incle Street is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Paisley. The church was completed in 1931 to replace an earlier building, in nearby East Buchanan Street, which dated from 1808. The original St Mirin's church was the first Catholic church to be built in Scotland since the Reformation. With the erection of the Diocese of Paisley in 1947 the church was raised to cathedral status.

St Matthew's Church (Church of the Nazarene) at the junction of Gordon Street and Johnston Street is Art Nouveau in style. Designed by local architect William Daniel McLennan, a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, it was built in 1906.

The Russell Institute was built in 1926.[6]

The "A"[7] listed Anchor Mill (built 1886)[8] was converted, in 2005, into modern apartments. The building is an example of successful redevelopment of old industrial areas.

Paisley Civic Centre designed by Sir Basil Spence and Partners was built in the 1960s to house the Renfrewshire county offices. It was intended to become the civic hub for Paisley but the absence of any shops and non-council premises prevented this from happening.[9] It became the home of the Renfrew sub-region of Strathclyde Regional Council in 1975 and of Renfrewshire Council in 1996. It is listed by the conservation organisation DoCoMoMo as one of the sixty key Scottish monuments of the post-war period.

[edit] Education

In 1992, Paisley College of Technology, founded in 1896 as Paisley Central Institution, became the University of Paisley which merged with Bell College in Hamilton on the 1st of August, 2007. The merged institution was then renamed as the University of The West of Scotland on the 30th of November 2007. The town also contains Reid Kerr College which provides Further Education. There are four Secondary Schools in Paisley: Paisley Grammar School, Castlehead High School, St. Andrew's Academy and Gleniffer High School. The oldest of these is Paisley Grammar which was founded in 1586.

Until the late 1990s there were five more secondary schools, now no longer in existence having been the casualties of the reduction in pupil numbers - Merksworth High School (to the north west of the town), John Neilson High School (founded 1852) and St Mirin's High School (on the west side of the town), St Aelred's High School and Stanely Green High School (both on the south side of the town).

[edit] Media

Viewers in Paisley can receive all the UK terrestrial channels and radio listeners can receive all the major UK stations plus a number of local services. The local daily newspaper is the Paisley Daily Express whose offices are located on New Street in the town centre of Paisley. The locally based radio station Q96, has gone off air and has been replaced with 96.3 Rock Radio. Despite being based in Baillieston, Glasgow the terms of the licence state that it must carry Renfrewshire based material.

[edit] Sport

St Mirren F.C., the local Paisley Scottish Premier League football team, have been given planning permission to move to a new 8,000 seat stadium from their home on the town's Love Street, to one located on Greenhill Road to help regenerate the deprived Ferguslie Park area. Their last major success was on 16 May 1987[10] when St Mirren won the Scottish Cup, with thousands crowding the streets to see the team.

In (2006), the team won the Scottish Football League First Division and has returned to the Scottish Premier League. They have a very active youth development system and are part of the social fabric of the town. This was demonstrated when at a Renfrewshire Council planning committee board meeting on the new stadium and supermarket to replace Love Street came to be heard. With the initial recommendation that St. Mirren be denied permission for the supermarket but allowed the stadium, something that threatened the future of the club due to the supermarket being only solution to clear its debts, some 300[citation needed] buddies stood outside the final meeting of Renfrewshire Council in Cotton Street on a dry Tuesday Morning in support. The club was granted permission at this meeting with a majority vote of 9-5[citation needed] in favour. Abercorn F.C. were Paisley's other professional team, but fell into decline and subsequent liquidation in 1920.

Paisley is also the base for Scotland's only professional basketball team, the Scottish Rocks and ice hockey team Paisley Pirates, both of whom use the 5,300 seat Braehead Arena for home games. The Rocks are one of the leading basketball teams in the United Kingdom, competing in the elite British Basketball League. The franchise relocated to Renfrewshire from Edinburgh in 2002 and have built up a loyal and passionate fanbase in the area since.

Paisley also has two cricket grounds by the name of Kelburne Cricket Club and Ferguslie Cricket Club. Both cricketers Majid Haq and Omer Hussain, Scottish internationalist cricketers have played for both Kelburne and currently play for Ferguslie Cricket Club. In addition, Paisley is home to two rugby clubs. Paisley RFC who play Union and Paisley Hurricanes who play League. Both are currently based at the Anchor Recreational Grounds and run several teams and youth and senior level while also providing coaches to local schools.

Paisley is also home to the Kelburne Hockey Club who have dominated domestic hockey in the last 3 seasons. Kelburne HC run 5 gents teams, 3 ladies teams and have over 100 juniors regularly competing for the club at District and National level. Kelburne HC has also supplies the Scottish National Team the vast majoirty of the Gents team. The club has also had success in Europe with recent tournament victories in Austria and Switzerland.

Motorcycle speedway was staged at St Mirren Park in 1975 and 1976 when the Paisley Lions raced in the second division of the British Leagues. The Lions were moderately successful but despite the best efforts of their supporters, the venue was lost to speedway.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Air

Glasgow International Airport's terminal buildings are located in the North of Paisley at Abbotsinch. The airport authority and the many businesses located in around the airport are a major source of employment for Paisley and towns nearby.

[edit] Road

Paisley is connected to the UK motorway network with the M8 running along the northern edge of the town. This forms part of the unsigned E5 Euroroute from Greenock to Gibraltar. Many major A roads converge through the town including the A726, A737 and A761.

[edit] Rail

The town is linked by rail to Glasgow city centre as well as Inverclyde and the Ayrshire coast, being served by four stations (Paisley Gilmour Street, Paisley St James, Paisley Canal and Hawkhead). The rail links also connect to Glasgow Prestwick International Airport and ferry routes to Dunoon, the Isle of Arran, Isle of Bute and Ireland.There are plans in place, and Royal Assent has been given, for a rail link from the Inverclyde Line to Glasgow International Airport, planned for completion in 2009, with services starting in 2010.

[edit] Canal

Built in 1807 the Glasgow & Ardrossan canal ran from Port Eglinton in Glasgow to Paisley. Despite initial plans, the canal never reached Ardrossan and it terminated at Thorn Brae in Johnston. (See Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal). After closure in 1885 the canal was de-watered and formed the basis for the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company's Paisley Canal Line connecting Glasgow to Paisley, and onward to Elderslie, Bridge of Weir and Greenock. The second Paisley Canal railway station is operational.

[edit] Bus

Bus routes connect to other nearby towns and Glasgow city centre. The town benefits from some of the best transport links in the central belt of Scotland.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ GRO Data. Scottish Government.
  2. ^ Extracts from the records - 1588 | British History Online
  3. ^ BBC News, "Scotland reveals most deprived areas", October 2006
  4. ^ Allan, Robert J (1991).Geoffrey Rootes' dream for Linwood. Minster Lovall: Bookmargue Publishing. ISBN 1-870519-12-4
  5. ^ Thomas Coats Memorial Church: Architecture
  6. ^ History of Paisley - Paisley.org.uk
  7. ^ ArchitectureScotland.co.uk
  8. ^ The Prince's Regeneration Trust
  9. ^ Frank Arneil Walker (1986). The South Clyde Estuary. RIAS Publishing. ISBN 0-7073-0476-8.
  10. ^ Scottish Football Association: The Scottish FA: Scotland :

[edit] External links