Month: July 2016

  • County and Sheriff Court Buildings

    County and Sheriff Court Buildings

    By an arrangement entered into between the County and Burgh authorities, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1887, under which the County authorities renounced their interest in the old County Buildings in County Square, and they erected the new County Buildings, which contain a County Hall, offices for the County Clerk, Treasurer and Collector,…

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  • Free Library and Museum

    Free Library and Museum

    Ionic in style, with a tetrastyla portico and wings, this fine building was gifted to the town by the late Sir Peter Coats of Woodside. Originally £15,000 was expended on the structure, which was handed by the donor to the town, on condition that the Free Library Act was adopted. It was opened for public…

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  • Infirmaries of Paisley

    The Old Infirmary in Bridge Street, built in 1850, occupies the site of a Hospital founded in 1784, and is now (in 1896) used as a Dispensary and Hospital. The New Infirmary at Calside  (which is in course of erection) is approached by Causeyside the Main thoroughfare south wards from Gilmour and Canal Street stations.…

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  • Paisley Technical School

    This (in 1896) will soon be another addition to the educational institutions of the town, and, like most of the other institutions, is indebted to the liberality of her citizens for its existence. By the will of the late Peter Brough, £300 yearly was allocated for establishing a Science Lectureship. The trustees, however, instead of…

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  • Robert Tannahill – A Paisley Poet

    THE TANNAHILL STATUE In the Abbey Churchyard, opposite the main entrance to the Clark Town Hall. Robert Tannahill, son of a Paisley weaver, and himself trained to follow his father’s calling, was one of Scotland’s sweetest native minstrels. Indeed, he takes rank with Lady Carolina Nairne -with whose genius his had much in common as…

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  • West End Cross, Paisley

    This is a corner dear to the born Paslonian. The present buildings were erected some years ago on the site of the old “Coffin En’,” and are at once ornamental and, by virtue of the clock, extremely useful. It is on the highway to Johnstone on the west, and Glasgow on the east, and stands…

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  • William Dunn Square

      This handsome Square, with its beautifully designed parterres and elegant retaining walls, was gifted to his native town in 1894: by Wm. Dunn, Esq.,M.P. for the constituency (now Sir Wm. Dunn, Bart.). The ground is laid off according to a competitive plan secured by Mr James Donald, architect, Paisley; the whole work costing about £9000. The space was formerly occupied…

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  • John Neilson Institution

    From its central and commanding situation on Oakshawhead, as well as from its great architectural beauty, this Institution must be reckoned among the three or four most notable of Paisley’s public buildings. The fund of about £20,000, from which it was erected, was bequeathed by the late John Neilson, Esq. of Nethercommon, in 1839. The…

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  • Walter Fitz Alan & Paisley Abbey’s Foundation

    Renfrewshire’s place in Scottish History begins in the early medieval period when the newly crowned King of Scotland, David I, granted lands in the county to Walter Fitz Alan in the mid 12th Century and appointed him as the hereditary High Steward of Scotland.  Little was Walter to know that several generations later, one of…

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  • Volunteer (TA) Drill Hall

    This hall, which is 100 feet long by 50 feet wide, is certainly more useful than ornamental. It is in contemplation, however, to provide a hall more commensurate with the importance of the objects to which it is dedicated. The entrance to the hall is flanked by two cannons, which were captured at Sebastopol. The…

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