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Welcome
to Paisley! Scotland's largest town. When you visit Paisley you will
soon realise that this is a place with a strong sense of its own identity. The town sits astride the White Cart Water, a river now teeming with life from salmon to kingfishers, coots to herons. In summer, swans are to be seen busy tending cygnets, while swifts scream overhead. A ford in the river, just downstream from the Hammills waterfall, provided the reason for the settlement's beginnings, beside the church founded by the 6th century celtic St Mirin. Later, the Baron of Renfrew, Walter Fitzalan, founded a monestery close to the site, to celebrate his appointment as High Steward of Scotland. The magnificent Abbey church now welcomes visitors throughout the year. Paisley's real claim to fame is as centre of the world's textile industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. The town's hand loom weavers were highly skilled, weaving fine lawns, muslins and silks and so were able to seize the opportunity when the intricately patterned Kashmir shawls imported by the East India company became the height of fashion. Paisley's output soon dominated the market to the extent that the shawls and their traditional patterns became known throughout the English speaking world as 'Paisleys'. A visit to the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery will show the world's finest collection os Paisley shawls and pattern books. To complement this, the Paisley Thread Mill Museum will be open in late 1999 just in time for the Millennium. Also visit the Sma' Shot Cottage in Shuttle Street which is a restored 18th century weavers cottage where the Old Paisley Society explain the daily life of the weavers and the artisans of the 19th century. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Paisley's prosperity depended on the great thread mills of the Coats and Clark families, mills where tens of thousands of local people made sewing thread for all parts of the world. Some of the mill buildings still remain and the wealthy mill owners gofted to town a wonderful legacy of buildings - the Museum, Coats Memorial Church, Coats Observatory, Clark Town Hall and others. Nowadays Paisley is a thriving shopping centre with national chain stores and interesting independent shops and lots of lively pubs, cafes and nightclubs. Two modern shopping malls make browsing a real pleasure, while the newly pedestrianised High Street has been paved and furnished to the highest standards. For more information contact: Paisley
Museum and Art Galleries, High St, Paisley - 0141 889 3315 The above information has been compiled with the assistance of Paisley Town Centre Management Trust |
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