The following text is obtained, with permission, from www.happyhaggis.co.uk. For detailed information of areas around Paisley, see www.happyhaggis.co.uk/renfrewshire.htm .

Paisley is thought to have been a possible site of an extensive Roman camp, known as 'Vanduara' which appeared on Ptolemy's map, although there has never been any evidence. A Paisley map of 1839 refers to 'remains of a Roman Castellium or Pretorium' where the Neilston Institute Building now stands. The map also refers to a possible Roman fort site at today's Woodside cemetery although at the time of printing the map no sign of a fort existed. There is also reference to the remains of a Roman fortification at Castlehead, at today's High Road. These boulder clay hills may have been temporary outposts, directed possibly from the fort near Bishopton. Roman coins have been found in the area. Tracks would have converged on the ford over the White Cart, probably used by Roman units going to/from the Antonine Wall.

According to legend an Irish monk called Mirin came to this settlement about 560 A.D. and founded a Celtic church. Mirin was buried here and later canonised. In 1163 a community of Cluniac monks set up a monastery near St Mirin's shrine between the ford and the waterfall, where by this time there was a corn mill. This monastery later became Paisley Abbey. Paisley became a flourishing market. It had goods of its own to offer since the Abbey had brought together all kinds of craftsmen to serve its needs, and it was also a place of exchange for the surplus eggs and cheeses of the surrounding countryside. In the 15th century King James IV made the monastic village a Burgh of Barony. A Market Cross was erected, the sign of a protected place of trade. Later a Town Hall was built. The main part of the Burgh lay along the highway to the west (High Street).

Traffic from Glasgow and the Royal burgh of Renfrew would pass through Paisley, and continue via the Lochwinnoch Gap to Ayrshire. This was also the site of a river course in pre-glacial Clydeside, and in Pleistocene times a major overflow channel for the area. This route was one of the most important in the west of Scotland during medieval times, although only a track through wooded river flats. Paisley was the last hospitable place of any size before the long ride into the woods and down the gap. The River Cart ford was replaced by the Abbey bridge in 1490. The Kings Highway crossed the Cart at it’s lowest point at Paisley. There were extensive forests by Paisley according to an 1812 map, but they were mainly gone within 70 years.

The Plague reached Paisley in 1588. On the 23rd October 1588 the Council of Glasgow prohibited all dwellers in Glasgow from visiting fairs, such as Kilmacolm without the permission of the bailies. The penalty was a fine of £5.00 and banishment from Glasgow for a year and a day.

On the 13th February 1832 the first case of cholera, in New Sneddon Street, was recorded on a hawker. 18 people died in this area in the first four days. A total of 446 eventually died. A common graveyard had to be opened on the north east edge of the town off Greenock Road to accommodate the victims. (now playing fields). Further outbreaks occurred in 1834, 1848 and 1854. Further outbreaks of diseases connected with insanitary conditions occurred from 1865 to the early 1900’s (Enteric Fever) and 1855 to the 1880’s (typhus).

According to town records, Paisley had markets in the 16th century for meal, fish, flesh, fowl, eggs, cheese, butter, salt, lint, wool, linen, cloth, cows and horses. The main market was held at this time at the Cross, by today’s Moss Street. A market cross existed here until 1696.

In 1860 James Robertson, a grocer, had a surplus of oranges. He and his wife made marmalade, and a small factory was established in Storie Street. The company grew to manufacture Robertsons Marmalade.

Paisley’s prosperity before the mid-19th century was caused by the dramatic increase in manufacturing, which in turn was made possible by the influx of migrants into the town. Highlanders moved into Paisley in high numbers between 1770 and 1780. This flow grew heavier in years of famine, and one of the most serious famines occurred in the Highlands in 1795. Proof of the large numbers of Gaelic-speaking Highlanders in the town is in the presence of a Gaelic Chapel founded on Oakshaw Hill in 1793 and the establishment of a Gaelic-speaking mission in 1837. Most incomers seem to have come from Argyll and the Isles . The heaviest wave was of Irish immigration, which took place after the great famine of 1847-48.

Although Paisley was the first town in the world to have filtered water, it was not until 1834 that piped water was supplied from the bleachworks of Mr Gibb on the Stanely Braes (available at 1/2 penny per gallon), and some of the old wells were still in use after 1850. Paisley took precautions to the 1832 cholera movement by cleaning streets of waste matter and stagnant water, attempting to provide better ventilation in the small, overcrowded houses of the working class, and providing lime and soap for the cleaning of houses, and the prohibitation of public begging.

Christian Shaw, a daughter of the Laird of Bargarran in the parish of Erskine, was responsible for bringing the thread industry to the west of Scotland. She moved to Bargarran around 1720 when widowed. It is thought, some years earlier, she had paid a visit to Holland and managed to smuggle out a twisting machine. With this she spun the linen yard and twisted a strong, white sewing thread on 12 bobbins at a time. A demand was created from English manufacturers. By far the most prosperous sid eof the textile industry in Paisley was the weaving of silk gauzes. Handloom weavers were replaced by mechanisation in the early 1800’s. Paisley silks were the most fashionable wear through all the polite circles of Europe. The original shawls came from Kashmir and were expensive to make in Britain. These shawls bore the destinctive ’pine’ motif, which formed the basis of the design now known as ‘the Paisley Pattern’.

Thread has been produced in Paisley since the early 18th century. Cotton thread was developed by James Clark, who opened a small factory at Seedhill in 1812. The Coats' factory opened in competition at Ferguslie in 1826. In 1827 there were a dozen cotton thread manufacturers and at least six had big steam-powered factories; Carlile, Clark, Kerr, Farquharson, Ross and Duncan and James Coats of Ferguslie. However, Coats and Clark took over all opposition and eventually merged in 1896 to form J & P Coats.

Paisley's Tolbooth, in common with that of other towns, had three distinct purposes. It served as the Municipal Buildings where the council met, and where the official weights and measures were held in order to keep an eye on the market traders around the cross. The Tolbooth also served as the Burgh Courthouse and the town jail. It was in the Tolbooth that the seven accused in the famous Bargarran witch trial were tried and held until their execution. The original Tolbooth was granted to the newly formed Burgh in 1491 by the Abbott. By 1600 it was so ruinous it had to be rebuilt. Two further rebuildings took place in 1757 and 1810.

Woodside Mansion - The name Woodside is thought to have derived from the proximity of the estate to Darskayt Wood, which appears in early chapters as a boundary. A large tract of land, including the portion still known today as Woodside, was granted to the monks of Paisley in 1208 by Walter Fitzallan, High Steward of Scotland and they retained possession of it until the Reformation. In 1445, John Hamilton, Abbot of Paisley, feued the greater part of the land to a Mr John Stewart and the estate remained in the hands of the Stewart family until 1680 when it was sold to Ezekiel Montgomorie, the deputy-Sheriff of Renfrewshire. Over the years there were several other owners and in 1846 Woodside was acquired by Sir Peter Coats who had a long association with Paisley as one of the partners of the firm of J and P Coats, the world-renowned thread manufacturers. The mansion was built shortly afterwards by Sir Peter Coats and later became the residence of his son. The mansion was gifted to Paisley Corporation under the will of Mr WH Coats and in 1931, following the death of his wife, the council became owners after all the furniture and effects in the building were sold privately. The building was used to provide a home for children, but it was destroyed by fire in 1952 and the damage was so severe the council decided to demolish the historic mansion. The site is today occupied by two rows of flats built by Paisley Town Council.

The Paisley Canal followed in the main the old road route to Ayrshire. The journey to Glasgow took two hours. but a fast barge, pulled by two horses could reach Glasgow in an hour, compared favourably with the coaches running at the time, but capable of transporting about 100 people per journey. In 1785 a coach ran from Paisley to Glasgow 6 times a day. By 1824, 32 coaches operated. Construction of the canal began in 1806 and as a result attracted great numbers of Irish labourers into the area.

The 1781 survey
In 1781 Paisley had the following:
3723 families in Paisley and suburbs
18,615 persons 5 to each family
3,800 weavers Looms
132 thread mills
1,441 fronting houses Houses built in 1781 (403), 1780 (64), 1779 (43), 1778 (45), 1777 (83).

The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnockshire & Ayr Railway between Glasgow and Ayr was opened in 1839-40.

Paisley proved to be a popular place for a day-jaunt by its Glasgow neighbours. In just three days in 1875, no fewer than 385 trains with a total of 4567 carriages brought Glaswegians to the town. No wonder it was reported the public-houses did “a roaring trade”.

The appearance of the town improved in the late 1800’s. The decaying houses packed around the Abbey were cleared so the restored Abbey could be seen.

Paisley’s official insignia was matriculated in Edinburgh by Lord Lyon King of Arms in 1912, replacing a common seal that was not heraldically correct. Some of the features are, however, incorporated in the crest. The prominent blue-and-white check pattern in the centre of the crest represents the strong connections of Paisley Abbey and the burgh with the Royal Stewart family. Walter Fitzalan, High Steward of Scotland, whose descendants were the Stewarts, founded Paisley Abbey in 1163. Two cinquefoils, in red, are part of the coat-of-arms of the House of Hamilton. An eminent Abbot of Paisley was John Hamilton, a son of Lord James Hamilton, first Earl of Arran. His nephew, Lord Claud Hamilton, was his successor; and after a stormy time during the Reformation and the subsequent internal strife in Scotland, Lord Claud returned to Paisley and lived in the Abbey. The abbey lands were erected into a temporal lordship and he was made Lord of Paisley in 1587. At the base of the crest, two covered cups represent the association of Paisley thread with Christian Shaw, the daughter of the Laird of Bargarron. Her interest in the manufacture of thread in the Low Countries resulted in the setting-up of a thread-factory in Paisley. The central point of the design is the mitred Abbot. With his right hand raised in blessing and his left holding a crozier, he represents the very strong connections of the town with the Abbey. The history of Paisley dates from the foundation of the Abbey and, under its protection, the burgh flourished.

One of the earliest air races, the ‘Circuit of Britain’ in 1911 used the old Paisley racecourse (now St. James Park) as one of it’s stopping stages.

The first American troops to reach Britain in the Second World War came to Paisley in 1942.

The first private telephone exchange was laid between two houses in Renfrew Road, and Paisley also had the first automatic telephone exchange and the first traffic lights in Scotland. It gave the world both marmalade and corn flour.

Trams were first suggested early in the 1860’s, but rails were only laid in 1885. The first tram service was electrified in 1904. Services were eventually extended to Johnstone, Kilbarchan, Renfrew and Barrhead.

On 31st December 1926 the worst fire disaster in the history of Paisley happened. Smoke from a very slight fire caused panic at a matinee for children in the Glen Cinema at the cross, and 70 children, aged 18 months to twelve years, were crushed to death in a rear exit way.

 
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