THE TOWN OF PAISLEY:

HISTORICAL SKETCH. [WRITTEN FOR THE DAILY EXPRESS.]

BY J. W. C.

Paisley, under the name of Vanduara, was occupied by the Romans during their sway in Scotland between the years 80 and 446; and, till the middle of last century, there existed on Oakshawhead the remains of a well-fortified Roman Prætorium, with fosses and ramparts. Little, however, is known of the place till its possession by the Stewards in the twelfth century, when we find it called Paslet, Passeleth, Passelay, &c.

On King David's retreat from England in 1141, there accompanied him a young man, called Walter, son of Alan, a Shropshire potentate. Walter soon ingratiated himself with the King, was made Lord High Steward of Scotland, and received large territory, including that of Renfrew, Passeleth, Pollock, &c. His duties were of a varied nature, embracing the collecting of the revenue and the command of the army; he had likewise to furnish a certain number of knights in time of war. Walter built his baronial castle at Renfrew, and many of his compatriots joined him from England and became his vassals. In 1164, Somerled, Thane of Argyle, as on previous occasions, landed on Strathgryff and plundered the country as far as Renfrew, where he was confronted by Walter, who routed the invaders with great slaughter and captured their chief. Somerled was brought before King Malcolm IV. and hanged. For this service the king granted Walter additional territory, and confirmed the title of Lord High Steward on himself and heirs.

Having firmly established himself in his pos sessions, Walter determined to found a Monastery. In his native country there was a religious house of Benedictine Monks at Wenlock, which was an offshoot of the Abbey of Clugny, in Burgundy. To this monastery, then, he looked for a scion to plant in his feudal territory.

After some delay in gaining the consent of his superiors, Humbald, Prior of Wenlock, set

THE TOWN OF PAISLEY:

out with thirteen monks for Renfrew, where he arrived in 1169. Osbert, one of their number, was chosen for their Prior, and Humbald returned to his charge in England. The monks remained at Renfrew till the completion of the convent at Paisley, when they removed thither. At this period there was a village with a mill contiguous to the monastery. The village also possessed a church, as we learn from the charter of the founder, which grants to the monastery "the Church of Passelet, with all its possessions." The monks were clad in loose black gowns, with scapularies and cowls; their beds were straw, on each of which was placed a mat and pillow; their covering was a blanket and piece of serge; with the exception of what was granted them by the convent, they were allowed to possess nothing; they went to prayers every third hour throughout the whole day and night; and the bell of the monastery called them to their duties.

"The New town was a village, the old one was
non est,

The Prior was lord, and his vassals were honest;
The Cart was clear crystal, its pools full of salmon;
No prison held thieves then, no Bailies talked

gammon;

The monks were all jolly, the folks all contented; Though their cash might be scanty, they thought ere they spent it."

In his grants of land to the monastery, the Steward reserved to himself the manor of Blackhall, where he built a lodge. In his old age he became a monk of Melrose, and died in 1178. He was buried in Paisley, and succeeded by his son, Alan, who further endowed the monastery with land. He died in 1204, and was succeeded by his son, Walter, who gave large grants of land to the monastery, but reserved to himself the birds and beasts of chase, and prescribed penalties for any cattle found trespassing on his hunting grounds.

In 1219 the Pope granted a bull for the creation of an Abbot to the monastery of Paisley. Owing, however, to the objections of the Abbey of Clugny, this was not effected till 1245.

Walter, the third Steward, died in 1246, and was succeeded by his son, Alexander, who was the last of the Stewards by whom the monastery greatly benefitted. He was succeeded by his son, James.

Paisley Abbey, on account of the munificence with which it was endowed, not only by the lands and fisheries presented by the founder, but also by further grants by his successors and their dependants, held a distinguished place among the religious houses of Scotland, and was one of the few monasteries to which pilgrims resorted. Doubtless these pilgrims would be a

CONTRIBUTED BY J. W. C.

source of gain to the village, which had extended itself on the opposite bank of the river. The Stewards reserved to themselves the electing of the Priors and Abbots, and deposing them when found in fault.

Towards the close of the thirteenth century the great forests of oak and beech, which had covered the district, were becoming gradually cleared, and an enclosure for deer existed east of the rivulet Espedair, and in proximity to the lodge of the Stewards at Blackhall. At no great distance, however, there were still forests sheltering numerous herds of deer and packs of wolves. Bears, which had existed during the occupation by the Romans, had been extirpated. The Stewards were great hunters, and it is interesting to notice in our days of game preservation, that a certain portion of their lands near Paisley was strictly protected for their special sport. This was in the Neilston and Barrhead districts, extending over Gleniffer Braes, and was called the forest of Fereneze, a name that has come down to the present day. No one was allowed to hunt in this forest, and those passing through it had to keep strictly to the tracts. The northern boundary of this preserve was near Stanley Castle, and, a little to the westward of it, stood till modern times, a stone on which was cut figures of animals, and which, probably, had connection with the defined limits of the Stewards' forest. These were the halcyon days for the now much persecuted hawk tribe: no one, within the Steward's jurisdiction, was allowed to molest them or take their nests.

The death of Alex. III. in 1286, was fraught with great calamity to Scotland. His granddaughter was heiress, but she was only six years of age, and in Norway. Several competitors, therefore, laid claim to the Scottish Crown. To make matters worse, the Maiden of Norway, on her way to Scotland, died at Orkney in 1290. Edward I., taking advantage of the disorganised state of Scotland, resolved to subdue it. Then followed the period of Wallace; and his capture in 1305 and subsequent execution must have cast a gloom over Paisley, for he was a member of the Abbey Parish. Then the period of Bruce, the first part of which saw the whole lowlands of Scotland one huge battlefield. In 1307 the English visited Paisley, and burned the Abbey to the ground.

James, the Steward, died in 1309, and was succeeded by his son Walter. It was not till after the Battle of Bannockburn that Scotland found rest. One of the results of that battle was the release of the Scottish Queen and her daughter Marjory from captivity in England. Walter, the Steward, received them at the Borders, and conducted them to Stirling. A year after their return to Scotland, the King

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

gave Marjory in marriage to the Steward, who was then in his twenty-second year. They had but been a year married, when Marjory, riding between Renfrew and Paisley, was thrown from her horse and killed. We will allow the old historian, Crawford, to finish the story:-" She being pregnant, fell in labour of King Robert II.; the child or foetus was a Cæsar. The operation being by an unskilful hand, his eye, being touched by the instrument, could not be cured, from which he was called King Blearie." Down till the close of last century there was a high stone cross, with stairs round it, standing on a slight elevation at the Knock, said to mark the spot where the tragical death and birth took place. This monument was called Queen Blearie's Cross." The wife of the Steward, however, never was Queen, but the fact of her son having been afterwards King Robert II. may have given rise to the mistake. Lord Hailes refutes the generally accepted story of the birth and death. Marjory was buried in the Abbey of Paisley, and Walter erected a "faire monument" to her memory. The last that is known of "Queen Blearie's Cross" is that the column was used as a lintel for a door, and the pedestal to repair a fence. Walter died in 1326, and his body was brought to Paisley, and laid beside that of his wife. The following lines were written of the event :--

"When long their dule had made,

66

The corpse to Paisley have they had,
And there with great solemnity,

And with great dule eirded was he."

On the death of King David, the succession quietly devolved, as had been arranged, upon Robert, son of Walter and his wife Marjory. He was, accordingly, crowned in 1371 under the title of Robert II., and now a Stewart was on the Scottish throne. He died in 1390, and was succeeded by his eldest son, under the title of Robert III., who erected certain of the Abbey lands into a regality, asking in return only the prayers of the monks. Robert III. died at Rothesay in 1406, and was buried in Paisley Abbey. This was the last of the Stewarts buried there.

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In 1454 the Cart overflowed its banks, and we may judge to what extent from the following record of the Clyde "There was ane great speat in Clyde, the 25 day of November, 1454, the quilk brocht doun hail housis, bernes, and millis, and put all toun of Govan in ane flote, quhill they sat in the housis.

Until the time of Abbot Thomas Tarvis, who died in 1459, little seems to have been done in rebuilding the Abbey, since it had been burned by the English. He not only put the church in proper order for holding service, but repaired to