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


Sonny

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Fountain Gardens Sonny. One entrance from Caledonia Street, the other from Love street. Spent a large part of my childhood there, in the fountain on them long hot summers, stubbing my toe on the decorative barnacles!!!!

In it's splendour quite a fantastic piece of work. Water spraying from everywhere and a great centrepiece for the gardens which were the best playground possible.

Took a bit of a hammering when the hurricane struck, quite a few massive trees came down but that was just a better place to play.

The staue is Rabbie Burns, I stupidly left my name on this but almost immediatly regretted it, spent 4 hours the following night trying to scrub it off.

What position did he play in.whistling.gif

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The fountain gardens were Paisley's very first public park - donated to Paisley by Thomas Coats(?).

One of the oak trees (if it's still there) is alleged to be grown from an acorn that fell from the Wallace tree in Elderslie.

I too remember having a paddle on a warm summers day, and attempting to climb on the back of a walrus. I'd love to see the fountain up and running properly again.

I paddled in it many a time too. I know it's an old story but I can only remember long hot summers in those days. I suppose it came down like cats and dogs sometimes but don't remember that.

I've never heard that about the oak tree. Great story and it would be nice if anybody can confirm it's still there.

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Have to agree FS. There is so much potential in and around Paisley to develop and create a dynamic and prosperous environment for years to come.

The transport links available from the town centre must be the envy of many other towns of a similar size, but the town planners appear totally blinkered by what they have on their doorstep.

How many towns or cities in the UK can boast a main line train station, an international airport, and a motorway all within 1 mile of the town centre?

By exploiting these transport links, the town planners should look to the long term potential of developing the town centre and look to provide facilities like you say for an outlet style shopping and entertainment facility.

However IMHO to really develop the town you need people living in and around the centre in a mixture of quality housing - private and social which can then bring life back into the town in the evenings and weekends.

There are fantastic buildings that are lying empty that could be developed for housing or entertainment.

I'm no expert on these matters, but if the town is to improve and develop then I'm of the opinion that if you can create an environment where people can live in the town and there are decent shops and entertainment on their doorstep (including a UEFA Compliant football stadium which will be put to use next season when we qualify by winning the Scottish Cup in May!), then the town will become more attractive to businesses that are not bookmakers or charity shops.

I must say I'm really enjoying this thread and learning more about the history of Paisley. It's a great town. Too many people run it down. It's not perfect, but it does have a lot going for it compared to so many other towns in the UK.

I think this is a great post as was FS's. I started the Say Something Good About Paisley thread and was pleasantly surprised. Stu got in a dig about bombing the town but to give him credit he also threw in one or two less negative comments. It's very easy to knock your home town and ignore the fact that most towns are having problems such as those Paisley is suffering. Where I live now was once a thriving holiday resort and it's trying it's best to recover a little of it's former glory. Our councillors are absolutely hopeless so that's common ground with Paisley if half of what you guys say is true. The number of boarded up shops is getting alarming. I think it's the same everywhere.

Sonny's thread is great and we all seem to be enjoying it. It's reminding me about so many things from my youth that I had forgotten. It's not really such a bad place, is it?

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That seems to have jogged something in my memory assuming you're not referring to the obvious. Was it the Lion the Sea Lion and ? Can't remember what. Dug? Donkey?

Naw Rick,it was the Love Street Division.:o

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Picky, picky picky tongue.png

Strangely the Wallace Oak which stood across the road fell in a storm in 1856.

I see the park was originally owned by a Mr Love (I guess this is where Love St comes from) but he went bust and Thomas Coats bought the land - The Google tells me that the current layout stems from 1860ish so maybe someone had saved a wee acorn from the oak that fell over?

Edit:

In 1808 John Love, a rich Paisley merchant, bought six acres in the north end of town and transformed them into Hope Temple Gardens, consisting of a small park, museum and an outdoor menagerie complete with monkeys and bears. The gardens were so popular that Love Street was renamed in John’s honour.

I guess the monkeys and bears must have been an odd sight back then.

Edited by Eddy
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The cottage isnae even his never mind the f'k'n trees. More dodgy misty eyed tartan clad invented history. Walter Fitzalan should have the biggest monument in Paisley - even St Mirren's statue is far too wee. Instead they want to erect another monument to Wallace - arsehole c"ntcillors haven't got a clue.

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The cottage isnae even his never mind the f'k'n trees. More dodgy misty eyed tartan clad invented history. Walter Fitzalan should have the biggest monument in Paisley - even St Mirren's statue is far too wee. Instead they want to erect another monument to Wallace - arsehole c"ntcillors haven't got a clue.

I knew you wouldn't let me down Sid!tongue.png

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Thanks everyone for the feedback. I have copied the text for Bluto's link which is very informative. I would love to see the fountain function again. Occasionally I had a sandwich in the Fountain Gardens before a game at Love St and found the place very tranquil but pretty much deserted. Pity.

'Fountain Gardens are Paisley's oldest public gardens. They were developed on the site of earlier gardens, the Hope Temple Gardens, which were created by John Love in 1797. John Love was a local manufacturer after whom Love Street was named. Hope Temple Gardens were formal gardens open to the public. They also contained a bowling green and the Hope Temple Museum.

The gardens were put up for sale in 1866 and bought by Thomas Coats of Ferguslie, an industrialist who with his brothers ran the Paisley thread manufacturing company J&P Coats. Thomas Coats had the site redesigned by the landscape architect James Craig Niven of Glasgow. Niven's new design was a grand, geometric layout with broad walkways all leading to an ornate fountain at the centre containing statues of herons, dolphins and walruses. A major feature of the new gardens was the elaborate ironwork which included lamps, gates and railings. Coats also paid for ornate seats, drinking fountains, a cast-iron verandah, rock garden and alpine beds. A cottage for the park superintendent was built on the left hand side of the main entrance on Love Street. A sitting room for ladies was built on the right.

A sapling taken from the original "Wallace Oak" at Elderslie, prior to the tree's destruction in 1856, was planted in the new garden. Legend tells that William Wallace hid in the tree to avoid capture by his enemies.

The gardens were renamed Fountain Gardens and gifted to the public of Paisley by Thomas Coats. As Paisley grew in size and became more industrialised, Thomas Coats wanted to give the people of Paisley an open space which they could enjoy. The garden's inauguration took place in May 1868.

A statue of Robert Burns was erected in the Gardens in the 1890s. The cost of the statue was funded from money raised by concerts given by the Tannahill Choir, (1884 - 95) which took place on the Gleniffer Braes. The statue is located next to the fountain and is reputed to be the finest Burns statue in Britain'.

And there is more......

'This elaborate and idiosyncratic fountain, forms the centrepiece to Fountain Gardens. It incorporates a wealth of decorative detail. The unusual addition of full-sized, accurately modelled walruses and the surrounding cast iron rocks, complete with barnacles, makes it a unique structure. Fountain Gardens are situated on the site of previous Gardens. These, the Love Street Gardens, had fallen into general disuse and the land was bought in 1866 by Thomas Coats of Ferguslie. He bought the gardens with the intention of altering and improving them and then handing them over for the community to use as a 'place of healthful recreation and resort'. Thomas Coats used the Glasgow landscape architect, James Niven, as designer and allowed him to do whatever he wished, with no thought to the expense. In the event, the gardens were laid out to a geometric pattern, with broad, leafy walks all of which led to the decorative fountain at the centre. The fountain is described in detail in The Builder of June 27th 1868.

Thomas Coats gave the gardens to Paisley Town Council in 1868, with a gift of �5000 for their upkeep. Other elaborate iron work, all by the same foundry, was incorporated into the park, including lamps, gates, railings, seats and drinking fountains, but the fountain is one of the few pieces to remain.

Scotland had a thriving, productive ironfounding industry in the latter half of the 19th century, exporting work to other countries, including Brazil, India and South Africa. The Sun iron foundry of George Smith and Co Ltd, Glasgow was founded in 1858 and was one of the most significant and productive. It closed in 1899 and large scale works from the foundry are uncommon. This is therefore a virtuoso piece, showing the scale and complexity of what could be achieved. Upgraded from B to A, 8/6/06.

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Edited by Sonny
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Bluto, the song is Bonnie Wee Jeannie McColl and the first verse is ...

A fine wee lass, a bonnie wee lass,

Is bonnie wee Jeannie McColl;

I gave her my mother's engagement ring

And a bonnie wee tartan shawl.

I met her at a waddin'

In the Co-operative Hall

I wis the best man

And she was the belle of the ball.

The building of course is is the Co-operative Halls in Causeyside St built in 1907. I remember when it used to be the furniture department of the Co-op on the first floor but I never got to the function hall on the top floor. The furniture store was open plan and seemed HUGE when I was a kid. Here are a few more wee photos ...

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post-2737-0-87482400-1330718005.jpeg

Edited by Sonny
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me and my siblings were ordered to attend the co-op halls every saturday morning for elocution lessons, they must have been free with the dividend or the fact we were one of their biggest customers for food, milk , clothes - six boys and two girls, and the elocution lol.gif "howw noww browwn coww" would trip off the tongue whist standing in the splendour of the hall with the erse o yer troosers aw ripped and snotters blindin ye

Edited by buddiecat
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I went to a few weddings on the top floor, here. A great venue. One of the songs ALWAYS sung at those weddings was "Belle of the ball"(?).

It contains the line "I met her at a waddin in the Co-operative Hall...".

I was AWFY impressed there was a song about Paisley, just like OWTS also was....

Ah, the innocence of youth. smile.png

Jesus, I remember being at a wedding in the old La Scala (or did I make that up) ans THAT was the song I remember. thumbup2.gif

Wait, was it no "Bonnie Wee Jeani McCall"?

Sorry, just seen Sonny's post, damn it. lol.gif

Edited by faraway saint
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