Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/169

PAISLEY. 1-57 PAISLEY. a double entrenchment, and at the foot runs a branch of the Stroud river. From the heights above the town an ex- tensive view of the Severn valley is obtained. A portion of the inhabitants are engaged in the manufacture of woollen cloth, although comparatively on the decline. There are quarries of freestone and weather-stone in the vici- nity. The land is nearly evenly divided between arablo and pasture, besides 680 acres of woodland. In the reign of Edward VI., Sir Anthony Kingston, their knight-marshal, being lord of the manor of Painswick, caused a gullows to be erected on Shepscomb Green, in this parish, for the execution of insurgents, and gave three plots of land in his lordship, since called " Gallows' lands," for the purpose of keeping in readiness a gallows, two ladders and halters, besides a field hold by the tyth- ingman of Shepscomb for the time being, as hangman, and still known by the appellation of " Hangman's acre." The impropriate tithes belong to the landowners. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Gloucester and Bris- tol, val. 449. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is chiefly remarkable for the incongruous combination of the Grecian and English styles. It has a tower sur- mounted by a lofty spire, and containing a peal of twelve bells. The church contains tombs of the Jerninghams, to whom the manor belonged in the reign of Elizabeth, and an altar-piece. There are also district churches at Shepscomb and SIu<l, the livings of both which are perpet. curs.,* val. 135 and 130 each. The parochial charities produce about 66 per annum. There is a grammar-school, founded in 1724, by Giles Smith, and known as the Painswick commercial, mathematical, and classical school, with an endowment of 60 per annum ; also the united, National, and free, and a British school, which last belongs to the Dissenters. The Independents, Baptists, Primitive Methodists, and the Society of Friends have each a place of worship. Painswick House and Painswick Grove are the principal residences. C. T. Croome, Esq., is lord of the manor. Market day is on Tuesday. Fairs are held on Tuesday in Whitsun week, and on the 19th of September, chiefly for cattle and sheep ; and a large market on the first Tuesday after All Saints' Day (old stylo) for sheep, but this List is now much reduced. PAISLEY, a market and important manufacturing town, municipal and parliamentary borough, in the upper ward co. Renfrew, Scotland, 3 miles S.S. r . of Renfrew, and 7 W. by S. of Glasgow. It is the junc- tion station of the Glasgow and South- Western and Glasgow and Greenock railways ; there is also a short lino of 3 miles connecting the town with the steam- boat pier on the bank of the Clyde, a little above the mouth of the Cart. The port of Paisley is only a river port, and ranks as a creek to the port of Glasgow. A considerable traffic is earned on by means of the river Cart, which was rendered navigable at the close of the last century, and has recently been deepened and im- proved, so that vessels of 180 tons can now ascend to the town, where ship-building is carried on. The Glas- gow, Paisley, and Ardrossan canal connects the town with Glasgow by water, and a short canal, opened in 1839, affords direct access to the Forth and Clyde canal by vessels from Paisley ; yet all these improvements have failed to render Paisley a port of any considerable consequence, and are now partially superseded by tho several lines of railway, which afford more ready access to all parts of the kingdom. Though Paisley has only become a place of much importance in modern times, it is of very ancient date, and is generally supposed to occupy tho site of tho Pvoman station Vanduaria, or Vanduara, mentioned by Ptolemy. About the end of tho 17th century a large Roman camp was distinctly traceable, and one of the principal streets in the town is still called Causewayside, probably in allusion to tho Human causeway, which branched from the great Clydes- dalo road at Glasgow, and passing tho Clyde at a ford which existed till 1772, went across the country to !'}. This place appears to have been the farthest Roman station to the W., though traces of roads, coins, and other antiquities have been found farther inland. After tho departure of the Romans the town, however, appears to have been entirely swept away, for in tho grant made by King Malcolm IV., in 1157, to Walter Fitz-Alan, High -Steward of Scotland, confirming a previous grant of this district by King David, no men- tion is made of any village or monastery. At this time the district was designated 1'asscleth, which subse- quently was spelled 1'assclay and Faslay, and in the ISth century took its present form of Paisley. Tho priory, alterwards so famous, is said to have been founded in 1 163 by the above-named Walter on tho eastern bank of the Cart, and in 1219 Pope Honorius raised it into an abbey. Under the protection of the monastery there arose a small town on the opposite bank of the Cart, inhabited chiefly by the retainers and "kindly tenants" of the monks, to whom it belonged. In 1488 the town was erected into a free burgh of barony by James IV., but for several centuries appears to have made but little progress, as its population at the close of the 17th century was only 2,200. It had, however, even at this time, a considerable trade with the Highlands, which it supplied with coal and lime in exchange for timber, slates, and fish, and shortly after- wards the manufactures of linen and muslin were in- troduced with great success. At this time the town lay solely on the W. bank of the river, and consisted merely of ono principal street, with a few struggling lanes branching off to the right and left. It is now the fifth town of Scotland in population and commercial im- portance, and is the poliiical capital of the upper ward of Renfrewshire. Though Renfrew is the county town, Paisley has long been the seat of the sheriffs' courts, and is increasing rapidly in importance and population. Tho present town occupies an advantageous site on cither bank of the White Cart, about three miles above the confluence of the United White and Black Cart with the Clyde, and at the point where the Glasgow and South-Western and Glasgow and Greenock railways fork from their common main-trunk line. It consists of an old and a new town, the former lying on the W., or left bank, and the latter on the E., or right bank, of the Cart, but connected by three stone bridges, each of two arches, and the railway viaduct which crosses the river between the Sneddon and Old bridges, the former being that nearest the harbour. The old town of Paisley is situated on and around tho gentle ridge of hills west- ward of the Cart, occupying an area of about 1 sqtmre mile, and commanding a panoramic view of the vicinity, including the Gleniffer braes, celebrated in the pocma of Tannahill, and the western environs of 'Glasgow, with the rich Strath of Clyde and tho spurs of tho Grampians in the distance. The main streets are broad and well edificed, but the houses are less handsome than those either of Edinburgh or Glasgow. The High- street, running from E. to W. for about 2 miles, forms part of the road from Glasgow to Beith, and is crossed at right angles by another lino of streets forming part of the road from Inchinnan to Keilston. But tho most spacious streets are George and Forbes' streets, which are both modern ; intermediate between these streets are numerous winding and narrow thoroughfares, forming part of the original town, mainly lined by rows of low, thatched dwellings, sometimes closely packed together, and at other times interspersed with gardens and plots of open ground. The new town is built upon a regular plan, occupying a level site on the opposite or eastern bank of the river, where were formerly the monastic gardens. It was commenced in 1779 by James Earl of Abercorn, the chief heritor, and comprises numerous uniform streets designated from tho trades of the inhabitants, as Cotton, Gauze, Muslin, and Thread streets. Adjoining both the old and new towns are extensive suburbs, chiefly inhabited by the working population. The suburbs of the old town are Charleston, Dovesland, and Lylesland, on the S. ; Fer- guslie, Maxwelton, and Millerston on tho W. ; Seedhill, on the same side of the river as the new town, but forming part of the original burgh, besides the suburbs of the new town, Croft, Smith-hills, Wallncuk, and