A couple of weeks ago LanarkshireGran (LG), LittleSheBear (LSB) (with grand-daughter A (GDA)) and I visited Paisley. My having visited a friend in hospital there earlier this year had aroused my interest in the historic town and my granny friends were interested too, so we arranged to meet up. LSB, GDA and I got the ferry from Kilcreggan to Gourock and then a train to Paisley Gilmour Street station where we met LG. In the square just outside the station there was a show of vintage American cars. I only took a couple of photos. The main impression on me was their hugeness! Nice to see though.
LG's daughter and son-in-law lived for a time in the cobbled street (Church Hill, I think) that has the church spire at the top.
Having perused the display of cars, and in 3grans tradition, we headed to a cafe. I was going to refer to it as The Purple Cafe but I looked it up; it is Cafe fairfull. LanarkshireGran and I tested Fairfull's empire biscuit and a salted caramel brownie (half of each each; both scored highly), LSB had a scone, and GDA had a strawberry pavlova for one which was actually enough for two. She did her seven-year-old best to munch through it all but gradually, via a meringue-mashing, cream-dolloping stage, ground to a halt.
We wended our way around Paisley noting nods to famous Paisley people such as the sewing thread Coats family who funded an observatory and Alexander Wilson, "the father of American Ornithology". Knowing of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology through my Ithaca-based brother, I wondered if Alexander Wilson had any connection there. It seems not directly, but I'm sure they know about him.
We came upon the Sma' Shot Cottages. We went in the back door so we didn't see the lion outside the front till later but I'll start with it here:
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| "Sma' shot" refers to the spool on which yarn was wound and which was loaded into the spool holder that was shot between the warp threads on the loom (I think!) |
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| A loom on the side of the lion |
Inside we enjoyed the knowledgeable tour guide's tales. The whole Sma' Shot project is run by volunteers and is impressive. During much of our tour GDA occupied herself quietly on the floor of one of the rooms drawing in her notebook but she joined us to bong the bell that used to call Paisley weavers to work (two of we 3grans in the background).
Two pics from inside the workshop
I don't seem to have taken photos of the living rooms of the cottages – small rooms housing a lot of people; too busy looking, I expect. I learned that old wooden potato mashers did indeed look very like carvers' mallets of the past but potato mashers had a more rounded edge at the bashing end.
I did take a photo of this child's toy. It shows three different sizes of what the Scots call a "gird and cleek". The gird is the hoop and the cleek is for pushing it along – requires practice to get skilled at this!
We then wandered over to Paisley Abbey. I particularly liked the new stone roof of the choir and the awesomely good quilted hangings on and behind a lectern. Our guide here told LG and me interesting stuff about stone masons' marks which, I gathered, are recycled. After the mason using one has died that mark is available for use by a new mason.
We enjoyed a few minutes beside the river, White Cart Water, than runs through Paisley before parting for our journeys home. We tried to work out where the White Cart ford could have been, presuming it to have been near the abbey, but it wasn't easy. It's quite a big river.
All in all a very successful 3grans (plus tagalong) outing.
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