5 Paisley: The Secret Collection Paisley: The Secret Collection is the first publicly-accessible museum store on a UK 9 High Street. Getting here The large basement unit houses tens of Whatever your mode of transport, you’ll thousands of items from Renfrewshire’s find it very easy to explore Paisley. museum collections—many unseen by Paisley made textiles, the general public for decades. By road textiles made Paisley The collection includes some of Paisley’s Paisley town centre is only a five minute world-famous textiles, plus a mix of Cotton Street, Silk Street, Gauze Street… drive from Glasgow Airport and is less ceramics, world cultures, social history, walk around Paisley town centre and a than 15 minutes from Glasgow city centre. art and sculpture, natural history and quick look at the street names makes local archives. Paisley sits just off the M8 motorway—with clear that Paisley made textiles, and lots of surrounding areas to explore. Take textiles made Paisley. Some of the items in the collection are M8 Junction 27 westbound coming from a product of the town’s former textile Paisley weavers developed a reputation Glasgow, or M8 Junction 29 eastbound wealth—with the mill-owning Clark and for their ingenuity in producing fine-linen coming from Greenock / Loch Lomond. Coats families having been famed for fabrics such as lawns and gauzes. By 1781, their generosity. ȋ www.trafficscotland.org there were 6,800 looms in Paisley and in 1783 and 1784, records show nearly two The building is run by Renfrewshire Leisure, million yards of linen was produced locally. whose museum experts are on hand to give By rail tours of the collection. By the time of the Industrial Revolution Regular trains run between Paisley and and the mechanisation of the textiles Free guided tours last approximately 45 Glasgow Central and Ayrshire/Inverclyde. trade, Paisley, led by the Coats and Clarks mins—1 hour. Places are available to book It is just a 12-minute train ride from Paisley Gilmour Street Station to Glasgow Central. firms, was at the forefront of the global online at www.renfrewshireleisure.com threadmaking industry. ȋ www.scotrail.co.uk By the 1910s, the merged J&P Coats firm was the world’s third largest company —and is still the world’s largest thread manufacturer and distributor today. Discover Paisley A story woven over time A skyline of steeples and spires Paisley’s rich heritage stretches back over Look up, and your breath will be taken 1,000 years and takes in royalty, radicalism away by a beautiful skyline matched by Surrounded by rolling countryside, and and national heroes. very few towns of Paisley’s size. home to a host of architectural treasures, The first Stewart king, Robert II, grandson The 850-year-old Paisley Abbey is the hidden gems and a vibrant cultural scene, of King Robert the Bruce, was born in town’s most famous landmark, but Scotland’s largest town is just waiting for 13 Paisley Abbey in 1316. Perhaps the most architectural gems abound. you to discover. famous Scotsman of all, William Wallace, The neo-Gothic Thomas Coats Memorial An easily-walkable historic centre has was born in Renfrewshire and folklore has Baptist Church is colloquially known as Scotland’s largest concentration of listed he was educated by the monks of the ‘the Baptist Cathedral of Europe’ while St Radical roots buildings outwith Edinburgh, including the Abbey. Visitors can take a guided tour and Matthew’s Church has been described as iconic 850-year-old Paisley Abbey, cradle of admire a stained glass window dedicated ‘the most significant Art Nouveau church Paisley has a long and proud tradition the Stewarts and reputedly where William to Scotland’s Braveheart among a series in Europe’. of radicalism. A dispute between the Wallace was educated by the monks. of stunning artefacts and wood carvings. weavers who made the shawls and their And, there is literally history beneath your The legacy of the Coats and Clarks Synonymous with the world-famous Paisley 19th Century ‘middle managers’ over the feet with the Great Drain, a subterranean threadmaking dynasties can be seen in Pattern, the distinctive design that took the unseen cotton thread that bound the medieval passageway. many of the town’s buildings, including town’s name around the world, Paisley’s garments—the sma’ shot—saw Paisley’s the Town Hall, Coats Obsevatory and the time at the centre of the global textile trade Between the late 18th and mid-19th radical roots come to the fore. Paisley Museum and Art Galleries. left a fascinating architectural and cultural centuries, Paisley was transformed by the The weavers’ victory is still celebrated legacy still visible today. Industrial Revolution into an economic Look out for former mill buildings, statues annually on the first Saturday of July with powerhouse, and catapulted to the and monuments as you walk around town. Paisley is proud, bold, friendly and fun. Sma’ Shot Day—one of the oldest workers’ forefront of the global thread industry. Come and see for yourself! festivals in the world. The skills of Paisley weavers meant the Check www.paisley.is for more town was ideally-placed when the intricate information about Sma’ Shot Day, and a teardrop motif of Kashmiri origin became wide variety of other events across Paisley popular in fashionable European circles— and Renfrewshire. and the iconic Paisley Pattern was born. The pattern became favoured around the world and has been worn since by everyone from Queen Victoria to The Beatles! Paisley Museum is home to the Paisley Shawl Collection and Loom Gallery. 7 1 Discover Paisley Please check www.paisley.is for the latest information on opening times and contact details for each place of interest. Don’t forget to tag @paisleyis in your photos! 2 3 4 10 ALBION STREET Rail station Public toilets ADIUM GA ST LLOWHILL Parking Photo highlight ROA ST MIRREN D TO Taxi rank National Cycle Network Route T O M8 E T 26 RE 1 6 ST Thomas Coats Memorial Paisley Town Hall Fountains Gardens A7 RN REET Baptist Church SGOW AIRPORT In 1873, George A. Clark of the famous CO ST AD ER AD VE GLA thread family left £20,000 in his B This majestic neo-Gothic building was A LO will to build a town hall in his native TO initially budgeted at £20,000, but by Paisley; in the New Town, east of the NIDD RY ST REET the time it was completed in 1894, A7 26 River Cart, where Clark was born and ST RENFREW RO costs had soared to £110,000—over GREENOCK RO his family’s mills were based. This £6m in today’s money. But take a look magnificent building has been at the B7 75 ST JAMES STREET at this stunning building and we think heart of Paisley’s civic life since. TO ST MIRREN STADIUM you’ll agree it was worth every penny! A7 REET TO PAISLEY ST JAMES STATION 2 6 ST EIR NEW SNEDDON W 8 7 Paisley 2 Paisley Abbey MO Gilmour CENTRAL ROAD Paisley Museum REET GLASGOW ROAD A761 TREET ST S Street Station S The jewel in Paisley’s crown and the S TO GLASGOW S SI and Art Galleries LS WN L T K cradle of one of the most enduring R ST EE Piazza LA 4 royal dynasties, the Stewarts. Take a OA T The museum and art galleries were KS Shopping HA REET free tour of this imposing 12th Century W ST Centre SMITHHIL gifted to the town by Sir Peter Coats in ST ST ZE 3 R U EE REET WE GA K building. Admire the stone work of the T T 1871 and built to a design by Glasgow E EAST I L RE ST rare 10th Century Barochan Cross. See ST N architect John Honeyman. A £42m HA W 6 S OA KS I D 5 E if you can spot the gargoyle modelled MILL project will transform the museum REET R ST OA 2 HIGH 7 REET complex into an international-class by a modern stonemason on a monster AE ST D BR from the film Alien. N EST destination by 2022. W E ON S W T TO Abbey Close T 1 S Paisley Centre T 26 RI CO WEL RE LM E A7 EA D ET OW S STR TR EET T E E 8 ET 14 3 St Mirin’s Cathedral ROBERT RE Coats Observatory TANNAHILL’S ST University of the 15 ET COTTAGE RSP OON STRE Designed by Thomas Baird, this West of Scotland WITHE GE Further evidence of the legacy of S E 13 BRID EDH spectacular neo-Romanesque building ILL the Coats threadmaking dynasty, RO AD O became a cathedral in 1948. Named 12 R T REET CH Scotland’s oldest public observatory LANE A E RD RE after the patron saint of Paisley, it is ST S T makes for another stunning addition DY 11 9 S the mother church of the Catholic LA EE to the Paisley skyline. SIDE D H diocese of the town. GEOR GE STREET IL L USEY ET RE A ST C ON A7 10 RD Visit Paisley museum and observatory 26 GO before they close in autumn 2018 for CANAL a £42m project which will create an 9 TO S Paisley Thread ELDERSLIE TRE ET international-class visitor destination TO JOHNS A761 TONE LO reopening in 2022. Mill Museum NEND 74 Explore the social and industrial B7 National Cycle Network Route 7 Paisley Canal Station heritage of the Paisley and 4 TO Renfrewshire thread mills with mill LO C Oakshaw Trinity HW A INNO ND BR CH (7) TO GL ASGO W (7) machinery, photographs, product ID GE OF Church WE IR (75) samples and sewing artefacts.