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Paisley - My Pics Of Old Or Unusual Buildings Or Places Of Interest.


Sonny

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THANK YOU once more, good buddie!  :)

ALL those images are fabulous!  For me, at least - provoking memories.... but I'm happy to share with an avid audience... 

 

If you have little interest, you can "skim".    :rolleyes:

The space on the right with the lower wall and gate entrance was the entry to a dead-tyre depot.  It was separated from all the buildings in Barclay Street and Barr Street by a single skin 30' high brick wall around it apart from one bit of old wall leading to a gable end…

The tyres were stacked about 30-40 high on their sides.  and there was a mountain of inner tubes conveniently placed under the standing gable end of whatever factory had been in the place previously. This was the original 1950s Adventure Centre.  :)

Jumping from the top of the gable end onto the inner tubes was a rite of passage, as was walking along the top of the brick wall.  The inner tubes still had their metal valve attached, so occasionally you might have your own wee puncture.

In hide and seek, sitting at the foot of one of those long tubes of tyres meant you were pretty well unseeable, but not if you were claustrophobic.  The seeker would shoogle each tube to hear squeals of fear...  When they collapsed, which was also great fun,.  It took a while for the 'victim' to escape from the jumble.

.I never knew anyone to fall from the brick wall.  It was narrow.  You had to have conviction, but with hindsight a brick-width was pretty wide for a kid's feet.  I'd likely be more concerned these days.

(btw Earth's current greatest climber Alex Honnold free solo'd El Capitan in Yosemite and the movie made of that immense feat by a human is stunning.  These slums got me into climbing.  He'd have loved doing the tyre jump and wall walk in the 50s....  Go see the movie Free Solo,  He has been doing Q+As here in London recently.  Catch it if you can.)

 

The tall grey tenement was posh in those days and still stands looking pretty good today, next to the garage which replaced the smaller slums beside where the Cavern was built. (I mentioned in a previous post that Toshie and his family -Elizabeth - lived in the upper floor of one of those buildings.)

 

Desperately Seeking Susans lived down Barclay Street on the rhs.

 

14 hours ago, Eric Arthur Blair said:

You'll probably like these then...

Looking west from the junction with Barclay St (no longer exists, was 2 along from Wardrop St)barclayst.jpg.258e2f7cf7d9c0c32f8bcc0582e5c889.jpg

 

 

Next fotie

The person on the right is approaching what I think USED TO BE the entrance to Canal Street Kirk - over the Canal and then the railway.  The cones/acorns adorning the columns might be like the cups on the Paisley Crest - something to do with the arms of the family of Christian Shaw who was the witch hunter?

The tall tenement reverse side of Camphill is seen in this pic on the RHS.  Lou Costello visited there with his wife to one of her family members.  It was quite a stir.  Big crowd.   I had no idea what was going on at the time.   

 

The cobbles lead up, Past Canal Street Kirk to Castlehead, across the rail line.

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Looking east from junction with Castle St, Canal railway line on the right

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Next fotie.

My street.  Borr Street.  We were still  living here at the time.  The Adventure Playground had expanded.  As soon as folk moved from their homes we were in there, exploring.  All the buildings on the lhs of the above pic George Street as well as this Canal Street side were entered yet us. Every dwelling in that whole George Street/Canal Street redevelopment was checked out. People leave interesting things behind...

one source of interest was the amount of clothing abandoned.  That was taken and exchanged for pennies in the Rag Store in Canal Street. (To the right of the pend in pic below showing the foot of Camphill).  Empty ginger and beer bottles also got ye 3d each.

Looking back I see it as an uncanny time and life, but it was utterly normal for us.

 

And as building were being demolished we'd be clambering all over them.  No fear.

Losing that paper shop was a big blow - all my literature was sourced there. Beezer on Monday Dandy on Tuesday Beano on Thursday Friday was the Topper. 

Plus Reveille, Weekly News, News of the World Sunday Post and Mail People's Friend and the ubiquitous PDE.

 

All those papers were recycled.  We did, after all, share an outside lavvy with the other families in the close.

The Clark family lived above the shop.  Eric and brothers.... and a sister, IIRC

At the far end of the street in George Street, flanking its northern side, were the rid (red ) buildings, tall posh tenements - now student homes.  On the western corner of Barr Street, just beyond an egg-warehouse!) was a Kirk.  I've no idea what denomination and I was never in that one, before it was demolished..  On the eastern corner was Campbell's Bar. Source of some antagonism in my fhousehold... for some reason.. 

 

There was a lad, think it was Tommy MacNamara in Barclay Street and him and I built dozens of 'gang-huts - easily doable with the constant supply of doors ripped (by the demolition teams) from the old houses and we'd swiftly knock up posts with new wood from the new houses being built and an unlimited supply of new-build 6" nails.  We'd make them waterproof (it rained occasionally in Paisley in those days) with again a seemingly limitless supply of linoleum taken from abandoned houses.

Me and Tommy also made tree huts high on the several trees between Barr and Barclay Street.  Other eedjit weans didnae climb so well.  Nor did the interfering adults that kept demolishing our huts in their backdoors...  The tree huts stayed till the trees were ripped down..   I learned how to play cards in those days, too.

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Junction with Barr St

barrst.jpg.839dff9e77ae5a7ee1d785db19e9ba65.jpg

 

Next fotie

Aye, Toshie was in the lhs close of low buildings, upstairs where the windae is open, I think.  Big fat Boabie, the bookie, lurked in that close-mooth.

Highlight of my memories of the Cavern was that my Maw and all the other Camphill school cleaners used to pop in there for a small libation after finishing on a Friday evening.  And my faither went across to have a word with my Maw, but could only wave to her before he went into the toilets to bloodily spew his stomach all over the porcelain.. to be discovered lying there by someone several minutes later.  His stomach ulcer had perforated.

Happy Days...  :)

 

He did recover after surgery, but it wisnae nice...

More recently the (now Horseshoe) Cavern which chucks out at 1.00am-ish had a mini riot on the Friday night... well Saturday morning.... 

Screaming and shouting and men and women kicking and punching men and women who'd been knocked to the ground and on the dual carriageway (that you can see under construction in the fotie.),  Cars slewing to a halt and having to negotiate the madness and the multiple sweery words till within a mere 15 minutes the polis cars sirened into position as the participants had parted up AND down Canal Street.

The Cavern (now The Horseshoe) during construction

cavern.jpg.7cbe75ba6530b2bf0dee6ab2654e1ce3.jpg

Next fotie:

The demolition of all these rubble built houses is almost complete in this picture and building the new homes (with inside toilets!) had already started.  Work had commenced at both east and west ends of the area.  They worked inwards towards my beloved Borr Street. Ours were the last buildings to go.  And we lifted our meagre possessions and carried them into the new lives.

The number  and variety of these shops give you some idea of just how many people must have been living in these slums, in order for the shops to make a living...

Opposite these shops you can just make out what was Buchanan Stree.  It vanished.  pedestrianised Buchanan Place is there now.(WEe Lady Lane also vanished, as did Sir Michael Street)

Junction with Camphill

camphill.jpg.82ffed8593820f163243406151940e26.jpg

I only came on here to check how the darling Buds were doing about 8.30... and I still don't know.  Must dash...

 

If you have been... Thanks for sharing...   :P

 

Edited by antrin
Got a street wrong. Worried all night about that...
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On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 3:03 PM, Eric Arthur Blair said:

From 1970, Piazza carpark and Municipal Buildings.

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Seem to remember there was quite a lot of weekend summer evening shagging went on up there , after the pubs closed at 10pm !

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On 2/6/2019 at 10:51 AM, antrin said:

Great image, Orwell.  Thank you for the memories...

Never seen that before.  I'd forgotten the existence of that Old South Western Bar.  Mibbe called that cos all the buses going to Ayr, Beith,  Lochwinnoch,  largs, etc passed that way along Canal Street?  (Them for Elderslie, Johnstone Greenock etc went along the High Street..) It's no far enough out of the toon centre to be called South or Western...

Must have been round about 56/57?  A side of Wee Storie Street's still standing, though both sides of Wardrop Street are flattened.

 

The row of low buildings going beyond  St Mary's school and Bilsland's bar on the left were all Coal merchants.  The yard behind them was filled with Rail marshalling yards and the coal was delivered intae there, then parcelled intae 1 cwt bags and ontae lorries for delivery.

Memory Lane still husnae been demolished...

The coast buses went west along George Street. I used to pick up a Dalry bus at the foot of Lady Lane on my way home from the JNI.

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2 hours ago, smcc said:

The coast buses went west along George Street. I used to pick up a Dalry bus at the foot of Lady Lane on my way home from the JNI.

You're RIGHT, of course!

 

THAT was a major thoroughfare UNTIL Canal Street opened as a dual carriageway.  Apologies....

The buses only moved to Canal Street after that,  And the fit o' George Street became a one way...

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1 hour ago, antrin said:

You're RIGHT, of course!

 

THAT was a major thoroughfare UNTIL Canal Street opened as a dual carriageway.  Apologies....

The buses only moved to Canal Street after that,  And the fit o' George Street became a one way...

What year did that happen Buddie , can you recall. .

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13 hours ago, saintnextlifetime said:

What year did that happen Buddie , can you recall. .

Sorry, no...  and I've tried searching.. nae use. 

 

After smcc left school, at any rate.  He might know.  :)

In EAB'S image of the Cavern being built, the dual carriageway is also under construction, already.  If that image is dated it would be a clue - it's obviously later than all the demolition ones.

The buses diversion has to be V. early Sixties cos the dual carriageway was open from at least 1959 and IIRC we were playing fitba on newly-quiet George Street, in front of the red buildings.

And I certainly stood at the Canal Street bus stop at the foot of Camphill, there... to get a lift intae Rootes by 1965.

 

So.  Not a clue, as usual.   :)

 

Thanks again, to EAB for posting these.

I never thought I'd ever see any of those - and aye, they do... quite... match my mind's eye.  Although the buildings also look more tatty, frayed and impoverished than my rose-tinted memories.

 

A photographer took a fotie of me, standing outside our close,  in my wellies, shorts and red-indian feathered head-dress and sold  a copy tae ma Maw - Mibbe the same guy who took these?  I note there's a shot of the newsagent's on Barr Street corner before it was demolished as in EAB's earlier post.

(I have on the wall in front of me a clip from a PDE which shows the back of Barr Street houses while we still lived in them.  Some McMillan and McQuillian weans from No 9 in the fotie).

The third image in the more recent array looks to me as though it's the corner at the other end of Barr street (opposite the kirk) with Campbell's bar.  Those closes and buildings look right....

 

Edited by antrin
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On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 5:22 PM, antrin said:

Aye George Street flats were up first. 

Highest in Scotland for a brief time - taking the mantle from Moss Heights just east of the Flamingo Ballroom on Glasgow Road/Paisley Road West...

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My Aunt and Uncle moved in to Moss Heights when they were brand new and only left five years ago, their actual flat was on the fifth floor furthest right in your picture.....what a view you got from up there!!

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On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 10:19 AM, Eric Arthur Blair said:

Canal St looking West from Causeyside St. Wardrop St on the right, Camphill school in the background.

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Thanks for picture.  Didn't think one existed.  My grannies last place of residence was in a flat two stories above the Old South Western Bar before she moved on to Hawkhead.  

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On 2/10/2019 at 2:47 PM, Eric Arthur Blair said:

Calside looking towards Causeyside St, 1962.

The wishing well has been long gone.

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The Public Toilet that was there is long gone,its actually still there as it was underground and is covered over,but the Wishing Well Monument is still there.

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