Kilnside House
Welcome

Hawkhead  House  engraving - click for larger version

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.



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