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A familiar Paisley building?
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So what is this building in the picture? It is on Paisley High Street, close to two Paisley landmarks, but today it is a lot different! The two canons might just give it away. This is the original Volunteer Drill Hall, between Coats Memorial Church and Paisley Museum & Art Gallery. I’m not sure…
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Paisley to Sarasota, Florida: The Browning’s
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It’s late November 1885, around one 100 Scots are gathering at the docks in Glasgow to board Anchor Lines SS Furnessia with the intention of forming a new Scots Colony in Sarasota, Florida. Amongst the 100 are two Paisley families the Lawrie’s and the Browning’s who have sold their possessions at auction and are…
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Annan to Paisley: The Carlile family of Paisley
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Over the last 8 to 10 years a lot of my research has focused on the introduction of fine Linen Thread production into Scotland by Christian Millar or Shaw of Bargarran at Erskine in 1722. Over the next 30 years Paisley had become home to many linen thread manufactures, all copying the techniques of…
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Mr John Neilson of Nethercommon, Paisley
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Today the John Neilston Institution as a place of education is but a mere memory, even though the building proudly dominating the skyline of Paisley still exists. But who was John Neilson of Nethercommon? John (born 14 December 1778[1], died 12 November 1839[2]) was descended from the Neilson’s of Rashiecrook in Erskine Parish, though…
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Situation and Surrounding of Paisley Abbey
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Let us recall the beautiful situation and surroundings of the abbey in the palmy days of the Abbots. The river Cart then ran clear and sparkling between green wooded banks. The monastic buildings: the great Gatehouse built by Abbot Tervas, about 9 meters north-west from the north-west turret of the Abbey, “a great pend…
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John Wilson and the Earl Grey Steamboat disaster
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When you visit the Choir of Paisley Abbey do you ever look down? Following the collapse of the Abbey tower around 1550, and more so following the reformation in 1560 the ruins of the Choir were used as an extension of the Abbey’s graveyard. When the choir was reconstructed in the early 20th century…