Kilnside House
The Glen and Craigielinn

The Glen - click for larger version

Photograph by Thomas Annan

This beautiful house in a spectacular setting in what is now Glen Park on Glenfield Road was built around 1859 by William Fulton, Laird of Glenfield who owned the nearby dyeing and finishing Works. The factory was called Glenfield Scouring Works and was founded in the 1820s as a bleachworks, and largely rebuilt in 1879 . It was latterly owned by William Fulton & Sons Ltd, scourers, dyers and finishers, who used soft water from the Gleniffer Braes in their processing. It closed in March 1966.

garden

They made the household name 'Glenfield Starch' which became so popular that another manufacturer moved to Glenfield in order to also call his starch by the same name resulting in a famous ruling from the House of Lords. That's why the advert below says "When you ask for Glenfield starch, see that you get it". They claimed it was the only starch used in Queen Victoria's laundry.

Glenfield  Dyeing and Finishing Works  click for larger versionadvert  click for larger version


Here is some information about owner William Fulton and the glen concerts..

Rising from humble beginnings as a weaver he eventually became a rich industrialist - but never forgot his roots. When he first took over the estate he expressed a wish that “all the people of Paisley would be at liberty to come and walk by the braes and glens, as if it were their own.” In the same public spirited way he declined to charge the organisers for the use of the land – all the more surprising when you consider the scale of the concerts, which were without parallel in their day and were as impressive as modern pop festivals.

glen concert glen concert 1888


In their heyday, the choir numbered around 700 voices, composed mainly of mill girls and other working class women of the town, and the concerts, consisting of a mainly Scottish repertoire, were performed to astonishingly large audiences of around 30,000. At the time of the Burns statue series however the choir numbered around 400 and their audience peaked at over 20,000. The concerts successfully raised money for good causes from 1874 until 1936, when they were discontinued due to lack of support. One of their first gifts to the town was the fine statue of Robert Tannahill mentioned earlier, but as they embarked on the Burns series they were setting a much more ambitious target.

The Glen - click for larger versionThe Glen - click for larger version


The site can be found in Glen Park today beside the children's play area.

site of house - click for larger versionView from ground level of house - click for larger version

 

 

Photo of the house from the braes


Glenfield  Dyeing and Finishing Works  click for larger version

Annotated by Roddy Boyd.

Glenfield  Dyeing and Finishing Works  click for larger version


Craigielinn


cushion - click for larger version
                                                          

Craigielinn House once stood near the top of the Gleniffer Braes in what was a 45 acre estate not far from Paisley Golf Course and Glenburn reservoir. Remains can be found today beside a style (through a fence) just below the tree line. The map below right  (click for larger version) is annotated with the place names that can be found at the bottom of this 1868 map. The house still appears in the 1947 map (left). It's easy to find by following a line of bushes (marked by a blue line) on the map that veers to the left straight down to the fence. The same line is still visible on Bing maps (right).


cushion - click for larger versioncushion - click for larger version


The building was
described as "a superior dwelling house with garden and ornamental grounds attached the property of Rev P Brewster and occupied by him". The configuration of the property is different in the 1947 and 1868 maps. The wall looks like part of the larger 1947 building.

Brewster was the renowned Paisley Abbey minister, crusading preacher, author and political radical
Patrick Brewster who lived in the house until his death in 1859. In 1922, it was bought by Glasgow philanthropist George Carter Cossar as a training farm for destitute boys before emigration to Canada. More here.

cushion - click for larger version


That there is a style at the remaining wall may not be a coincidence. Either a modern replacement or put there to allow access to the ruin. The house is situated in a significant hollow created by a small stream and there is what appears to be a boundary wall at the other side of the fence (right)  which can be seen on the 1947 map.

cushion - click for larger version cushion - click for larger version


There is also what looks like a brick base a few yards from the wall (left). Witches Corner is on the right.

cushion - click for larger versioncushion - click for larger version

The names Fairy Knowe
Fairy Fall (Geograph) and Witches Corner on the map were actually created by Brewster himself and he applied to Ordnance Survey to have them placed on maps as can be seen by following the link.

It's difficult to see through the foliage, but it looks like a steep gorge from Witches Corner down and easy to imagine that minus the deep undergrowth, this might have been a dramatic piece of (micro) scenery and why Brewster went to the trouble of naming and registering places that weren't even on his land. It was the property of a Mr Fulton owner of the '
The Glen' mansion. The nearby Gleniffer Gorge  made by the Gleniffer Burn is 50 feet deep in places.

They are all on the line of the Glen Burn which
flows out of the Glenburn Reservoir . Further downstream are the spectacular Craigielinn falls. Here is an excellent video made with a drone flying from the beautiful top Linn dam up to the falls.

cushion - click for larger version
















 
 

map