392 



PAISLEY. 



the earl of Dundonald. then superior of the lordship ; 

 and, in 1782, it was divided into three distinct par- 

 ishes, encompassed on all sides by the original parish 

 of the abl>ey. They aie.in the presbytery of Paisley 

 and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. There are now six 

 churches belonging to the establishment, the most 

 remarkable of which are the High church, the Low 

 church, St George's church, and the Middle church. 

 There are also churches or chapels for the Episcopa- 

 lians, the Roman Catholics, the Secession, the Bap- 

 tists, the Cnmeronians, the Communion of the Relief, 

 the Independents, and the Methodists ; besides seve- 

 ral other denominations of Christians. Here is a 

 public grammar-school ; and in each of the parishes 

 is established an English school, to the emoluments 

 of the master of which is added that arising from the 

 office of session-clerk of his parish. Besides these, 

 there are other seminaries for the education of poor 

 children ; and among the charitable institutions are 

 an almshouse, rebuilt in 1724 ; a house of recovery 

 or infirmary ; a town hospital, a capacious but plainly 

 built edifice ; and a poor house, a large building, in 

 an open situation opposite the quay, supported by a 

 small assessment on the inhabitant housekeepers. 



Among the finest public buildings of Paisley is the 

 castle, founded in 1818, a Gothic structure, which 

 stands in an open space on the western bank of the 

 Cart, and which comprehends a courUhouse, council- 

 chambers, prison, bridewell, and a number of offices 

 for different departments of public business. The 

 market-day of Paisley is Friday ; and fairs, each of 

 three days' duration, are annually held there, be- 

 ginning on the third Thursday of May and February, 

 and the second Thurday of August and November ; 

 but the August fair, called the St James' Day fair, 

 is the most considerable, being distinguished by horse- 

 racing and general holiday keeping. 



The country around the town is called the parish 

 of the abbey of Paisley, the extent of which is about 

 nine miles hi length, and from half a mile to three 

 miles in breadth. The surface is irregular, swel- 

 ling, particularly in the neighbourhood of the town, 

 into gentle eminences. Towards the north of the 

 town it is remarkably level, having formerly been 

 a morass, but now cultivated. On the opposite side 

 of Paisley, the ground is hilly ; one of the eminences, 

 called Stanley brae, being 680 feet above the level 

 of the sea at flood. The soil varies considerably ; 

 but is chiefly light loam, rendered tolerably produc- 

 tive by long culture, but wet and cold, from having 

 a bottom of close impervious till. 



The first species of manufacture for which Paisley 

 became celebrated, was that of linen thread ; and the 

 origin of the trade in this commodity, is attributed 

 to Miss Catharine Shaw, daughter of the laird of Bar- 

 garron, who, a few years previous to the union of 

 Scotland and England, had acquired great dex- 

 terity in the spinning of fine thread. Some of her 

 thread was taken to Bath by lady Blantyre, and dis- 

 posed of to the lace manufacturers there at a very 

 high price. The superiority of the article created 

 for it a great demand ; but there being no free trade 

 between the two kingdoms at the time, considerable 

 difficulties were opposed to the traffic, which were, 

 however, in some measure overcome by the in- 

 tervention of mercantile agents in Holland. The 

 facilities for trade consequent upon the union, soon 

 rendered the spinning of thread an extensive and 

 lucrative branch of trade to the town. Besides the 

 introduction of the thread manufacture, Miss Shaw is 

 otherwise noted in the annals of Paisley; In 1697, 

 when she was a girl of only eleven years of age, she 

 imagined, or feigned that she had been bewitched, 

 and no less than twenty persons were implicated with 

 the offence, five of whom suffered death at the Gallow- 



green of Paisley. Even at the era of the union, ac- 

 cording to Crawford, Paisley manufactured some 

 linen and muslin, but the produce could not be very 

 extensive, as we find that, in the year 1727, twenty- 

 one years subsequent to the union, not more than 

 85,527 yards were manufactured for sale in the whole 

 shire of Renfrew. The extension of trade after the 

 Union induced many persons to settle in Paisley, for 

 the purpose of manufacturing. These persons be- 

 longed chiefly to a class of men, formerly very nume- 

 rous and useful in the kingdom, called pedlars, who 

 were, in fact, travelling merchants. These persons 

 bought the articles made in Paisley, and disposed of 

 them to the merchants in England. Ere long, the 

 enterprising merchants of Glasgow seeing the lucra- 

 tive nature of such a trade, bought largely from the 

 Paisley manufacturers, and sent the articles for sale to 

 the London or some foreign market. As trade in- 

 creased, the capital of the manufacturers increased ; 

 and they began so early as 1750 to trade directly 

 with a London house, and to add to the variety of 

 their articles of produce. The year 1759 is an im- 

 portant era in the commercial history of Paisley. It 

 was at this time that the manufacture of silk gauze 

 commenced, in imitation of the fabrics at that period 

 manufactured at Spittalfields ; and from the cheapness 

 of labour in Paisley, as well as from the care and 

 superior taste displayed by the manufacturer and 

 weaver, the Paisley gauzes soon gained an ascen- 

 dency in the market, so much so, indeed, as to in- 

 duce several of the Spittalfields manufacturers to 

 remove to Paisley. Tide trade extended rapidly, so 

 that in 1781 there were not fewer than twenty mer- 

 cantile establishments in the town of Paisley, some 

 of which had warehouses in London, Dublin, Paris, 

 and other large towns on the continent. At this 

 period, 5000 looms were employed in weaving 

 silk gauze ; and the value of this manufacture alone 

 for that year, has been estimated at .350,000 ster- 

 ling. The manufacture of silk ribbons, and some 

 new silk fabrics, was introduced in 1772 ; and such 

 was the extent of trade, that Wight has stated that 

 the manufacturers of Paisley drew for silk gauzes in 

 each of the years 1775 and 1776, the sum of ,300,000, 

 and upwards of 100,000 for other articles. The 

 value of this manufacture of silk and linen gauzes, 

 thread, and other kinds of goods, amounted to 

 .579,185 : 16 : 6 sterling. In the silk gauze manu- 

 facture of Paisley, there were employed 26,484 men, 

 women, and children. (See Brown's History of 

 Glasgow, p. 247, vol. ii.) From this period, the silk 

 gauze manufacture of Paisley began rapidly to de- 

 cline, and the current of industry was entirely changed 

 in its direction by the introduction of the cotton 

 manufacture. It was about the year 1782, that some 

 cotton spinning factories were erected in the shire, 

 and the muslin manufacture began to form a new 

 and important feature in the commerce of Paisley. 

 The following statement shows the variety and ex- 

 tent of the manufactures here in 1789 : that of silk 

 gauze employed 10,000 persons, and produced goods 

 worth 350,000 ; that of lawns, cambrics, thread, 

 gauze, and muslins, employed 12,084 persons, and 

 produced .180,385 ; that of white thread employed 

 4809 persons, and produced 70,000 ; that of soap 

 and candles produced 48,000; that of ribbons, &c. , 

 2000; the tanneries, &c., 10,000; whence the 

 total value of the manufactures appears to have been 

 660,385". 



From a very careful survey we are enabled to state 

 that in November, 1836, there were in Paisley, 



Manufacturers, 



Harness '.vears 

 Plain weavers, 



4162") 

 1103J 



. 148 

 Total 5270 



