This site is a record of some
of the more interesting old Paisley mansions many
of which are associated with the golden age of
the textile industry. Unfortunately the majority
were turned into hospitals or other public
institutions then demolished before the days of
listed buildings. It was inspired by the
availability of the many wonderful old
photographs (particularly by Thomas Annan)
available online. The idea was simply to lay
them out with a little background information.
However the residents of the
houses turned out to be a lot more interesting
than expected. Read about the ghost of a famous
poltical activist which haunted a hospital, the
glamorous high society woman who lived in
Gallowhill, a Brodie Park resident who was a
celebrated artist and a friend of Charles Rennie
Mackintosh, the nineteenth century Paisley
concerts which attracted 30,000 crowds, the birth
of the Stewart dynasty, the king born in Paisley.
The local man who won an olympic gold medal, the
aristocratic soldier who fought alongside Richard
the Lionheart on the Third Crusade. The remains
of a grand house which lie unknown in a field a
few yards from a modern estate, the Paisley
wrestler who won the King's most prized land. A
water pipe which ran two miles to a whisky
distillery. Plus the story of the men who made
huge fortunes from textiles around the world.
Pointing at the pictures will
show some text saying what they are, clicking on
them opens a new window with larger versions.
Underlined text links open in a new window and
will usually lead to the sources of information
on the page. The photographs can be saved by
right clicking the mouse and choosing "save
picture as .. ". On the top right hand side
of the screen is a link to a Google map of the
location which doesn't open in a new
window. All the locations are more or less exact.
On this page, the map points at Paisley Cross.
For those interested in exploring further. there
are some useful history links at the end of 'The
Rest' page as well as links to old Paisley
photographs.
For enthusiasts, there are
sections from two nineteenth century books with
detailed histories of the sites at the botttom of
some of the pages. The books are Millar A H
(1889) The castles and mansions of Renfrewshire
and Buteshire and Ramsay Philip (1839)
Views in Renfrewshire, with historical and
descriptive notices. Both available from
Renfrewshire council libraries.
Dedicated to those who ploughed
the fields, toiled in the factories, fought
in the wars and died in the slums over the
centuries.
Additional information, comments etc. please
email by clicking here.
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