Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

;PAISLEYJlarjory or not must remain doubtful, liut the finecarvings show that the person to whose memory thetomb had been raised must have been of high rank. Itis certainly peculiar that the figures on the' sides shouldbe those of ecclesiastics. From the presence of a shieldcharged with a lion rampant some have imagined thatit is the tomb of Euphemia Ross, wife of Robert II., butthe lion rampant is also the cognisance of the family ol'Stewart of Blackball, lineally descended from Robert III.The elaborately carved canopy at the head is particularlynoteworthy and uncommon. A suspicion might arisethat it does not belong to the tomb, and may haveoriginally been over a canopied figure, but a minuteinspection does not bear this out, and the top of thecanopy, which in such a case would not be seen, ishere elaborately carved with a representation of thecrucifixion.The popular name of the 'Sounding Aisle ' is appliedto the chapel on account of thewonderful echo, whichwas first described by Pennant with a considerableamount of exaggeration. 'The echo,' he says in hisTour, ' is the finest in the world. When the end door,the only one it has, is gently shut, the noise is equal toa loud peal of thunder. If you strike a single note ofmusic you hear the same gradually ascending with acountless number of repetitions. If a good voice sings,or a musical instrument is well played on, the effect isinexpressibly fascinating, and almost of a celestialcharacter. When a musical instrument is sounded ithas the effect of a number of instruments of a like sizeand kind played in concert. A single instrumentsounding a particular note, and then instantly its fifthor any other concordant note, both sounds can be heard,as it were, running into and uniting with each other ina manner particularly agreeable. But the effect of avariety of instruments playing in concert is transcendinglyenchanting, and excites such emotions in the soulas to baffle the most vivid description,' and there is agood deal more to the same effect. Either, however.Pennant was particularly keen-eared when he was atPaisley, or in course of time, and as a result of manyapplications of whitewash to the walls, the echo hasbecome seriously injured since his day, for althoughit is still strong, it can hardly now be described asdying away, ' as if at an immense distance,' or ' diffusingitself through the circumambient air,' with almost' a celestial character.' To the N of the nave and theW of the Sounding Aisle was the cloister court, and theother buildings of the monastery seem to have stood tothe SW, but of these no trace now remains. Whenthe houses in Abbey Close were removed in 1874,an old foundation was found which was supposed to bethat of the ' staitlie yett house ' erected by AbbotThomas Tervas. St Roque's chapel, which stood atthe top of Castle Street, was pulled down in 1618,the materials being used in the erection of the town'shospital.The original Low or Laigh Church was built in 1736,but the congregation removed in 1819 to St George'schurch in George Street, which is a good Grecian building,erected in that year at a cost of"£7000. The organand organ chamber were added in 1874 ; there are 1850sittings. The High Church at Oakshawhead was builtin 1756, and the steeple was added in 1770 ; it contains1890 sittings. The Middle Church, with 1555sittings, was built in 1782 ; the Gaelic Church (StColumba), originally a chapel of ease, in High parish,with 1085 sittings, in 1793 ; and Martyrs' Church, alsooriginally a chapel of ease, in High parish, with 1200sittings, in 1835. The South Church, originally achapel of ease, in Laigh parish ; and the North Church,originally a chapel of ease, in Middle pari,sh, do not callfor particular notice. The Free High Church is a goodbuilding in the Norman style, with a massive squaretower 100 feet high. The other Free churches areMartyrs', Middle, Oakshaw, South, and St George's.The United Presljyterian churches are those of AbbeyClose (1827, with 1178 sittings), Canal Street (1783,with 1545 sittings), George Street (1822, with 1058PAISLEYsittings), Oakshaw Street (1826, with 954 sittings),Thread Street (1808, with 1640 sittings), and St JamesChurch at Underwood Road, which, built in 1880-84,and replacing a former church erected in 1820 and with1212 sittings, is particularly worthy of note. Cruciformin plan, it has a deep polygonal apse, wide side aisles,and twin transepts on each side. The whole interior isfinished with stone, with open woodwork roof. Thefloor is laid in tesselated mosaic work. Behind thechurch are halls, class-rooms, session room, and vestry,and in the apse is an organ. There is a fine peal ofbells in the spire, which rises to a height of 180 feet.The style is Early French Gothic ; the number of sittingsis 1100 ; and the total cost, exclusive of specialgifts — such as the bells, reading desks, organ andscreen, etc. —and the cost of site, was about £19,000.The spire first erected had to be removed in consequenceof the failure of its foundation, and the present one isfounded on iron cylinders filled with cement and sunkabout 40 feet into the underlying clay. There arealso a Reformed Presbyterian church, a Congregationalchurch at Old Sneddon, an Evangelical Union churchin Gilmour Street, Baptist churches in Storie Street,George Street, and Victoria Place ; a Unitarian church,a Primitive Methodist church, a New Jerusalem church,Trinity Episcopal church (1828 ; 400 sittings), and twoRoman Catholic churches, St Mirren's (1808 ; 1000sittings) and St Mary's (1871 ; 450 sittings) ; but noneof them call for more particular notice.Schools.—The Grammar School and Academy datesas an institution from 1576, and stood originally inSchool Wynd, on the site of the manse of the chaplainof St Ninian's chapel in Abbey Church. In 1756 it wasremoved to another building farther up the wynd ; andin 1864 a new school, which is a handsome Tudorbuilding, with accommodation for 580 scholars, wasprovided at a cost of about £3473. Up till 1873 itwas managed by the town council and a committee ofsubscriber.s, but then in terms of the Education Act itpassed into the hands of the school board. It is atpresent conducted by a rector, three masters, threejunior masters, and a mistress. The Neilson EducationalInstitution on Oakshawhead was erected andendowed in 1851-52 from a bequest of £20,000 made byMr John Neilson of Nethercommon. It is a handsomebuilding in tlie form of a Greek cross with a centraldome, and the work is carried on by nine masters andtwo mistresses. Under the burgh school board arethirteen public schools— East, West, North, South,Carbrook Street, Adelphi Hall, George Street Central,Stevenson Street, Stow, Queen Street, Graham EducationalInstitute, Mossvale, and West End Missionand these, with total accommodation for 6049 pupils,had (1883) an average attendance of 6029, and grantsamounting to £4334, 17s. 9d. Some of the buildingsare poor and inconvenient, but others, and particularlythe Ferguslie school on the NW, finished and openedin 1882, are handsome and well-designed. The otherschools are an Infant Training school in Lawn Street,Hutcheson's Charity school, the Industrial school,Miss Kibble's Reformatory Institution (1859), an Episcopalschool, and three Roman Catholic schools. 'TheGovernment School of Art and Design, established in1848, is in the centre of the town not far from theCounty Buildings. Though it performs good work, itsown appearance is by no means compatible with itspurposes. On an average about 88 pupils are trainedin it every year.AhmicipalUy , etc.—After the crown charter of 1665,Paisley was in all but the election of a member of:parliament on the same footing as a royal burgh, andby the Reform Act of 1833 it was made a Parliamentaryburgh. The municipal government is carried on by aprovost, four bailies, a treasurer, and ten councillors,who also, under the General Police and ImprovementAct of 1862, manage police affairs. The police force intheir employment is 53 officers (1 to every 1099 of thepopulation), and the su])erintendent's salary is £290.The number of persons tried at the instance of the155