PAISLEY ABBEY, ABBEY CLOSE
When viewed from a distance, you would be forgiven for thinking that the tall spire of the Thomas Coats Memorial Church was the spire of Paisley Abbey, but it's not. The abbey doesn't really have much of a spire, merely a squat grey rectangular lump with no real pointy bits. The abbey is very old, which basically means I'm not entirely sure when it was built, but certainly, whenever it was, it was before the invention of mobile phones, that's for sure. Or things that go bleep. As you look at its frontage the whole structure looks to be sagging slightly, like an old man who finds that gravity is coming close to winning. [See Feb 2010 News.]

FOUNTAIN GARDENS, LOVE STREET
This plain little park is not one you will usually find on any tourist's itinerary. But it should be. It is Paisley's oldest park, and was a gift from Thomas Coats in 1868. Within its unassuming charm you will two magnificent testimonies as to the skills of sculptors and iron founders in the past. First there's a stunning statue of poet Robert Burns, as modelled in the 1890s by London sculptor Frederick Pomeroy. Then there is a fountain, as magnificent a fountain as you will find anywhere (although alas and alack there's precious little skooshing or squirting going on with the plumbing nowadays). It was made in George Smith's foundry in Glasgow in 1868, and depicts a whole range of painted cast iron animals ranging from giant walruses to dolphins and lizards. George Smith, it seems, got the contract for every piece of iron work in the park, including the railings, benches, gates, urns, and even the small 'Keep Off the Grass' signs. Sigh, those were the days.

PAISLEY MUSEUM, HIGH STREET
Like many old town museums this building is almost an exhibit in itself. It is also little used by the people of the town, and the dusty stuffed animals (I don't mean the staff - honest) must get very bored of a day. And yet it is here that you will find the world's 'finest collection of Paisley shawls and pattern books,' and discover the utterly ingenious, almost computeresque methods used to create such an interesting swirling design that came to be used the world over.

COATS OBSERVATORY, 49 OAKSHAW STREET WEST
At the top of a winding set of stairs inside Coats Observatory you will find a Heath Robinsonish gizmo that can be used to look at the stars. There is something faintly scary about it. Because in the small room in which the gizmo is housed you've got to watch where you're putting your feet, and there's always that dark hanging worry that if you accidentally touch something wheels will be set in motion, cogs will turn, and the dome will part to reveal a large hand from outer space which will then clip you around the ear.

CHURCH HILL
This is one of Paisley's many wonderful old cobbled lanes. It leads steeply up towards Oakshaw Trinity Church, then drops down on the other side of Oakshaw Street East into St James Street. These lanes offer a real feel of bygone times.

SMA' SHOT COTTAGES, GEORGE PLACE
This is a lovely series of little cottages all linked by the past. There's a weaver's cottage dating to the 1750s with a layout that 'exactly matches written descriptions of such cottages', along with a yard and other cottages that at one time 'provided housing for Hutchinson's Scouring Works and originally formed one side of St. Mirrin Square.' The name 'Sma' Shot' comes from binding thread that was used in the weaving of a Paisley Shawl...

This small fine thread bound all the other coloured threads together and occurred every eighth row. It was never seen when the shawl was completed and the manufacturers (or corks) did not wish to pay for it. The weavers fought hard and eventually won the argument for payment and marched through Paisley to the tuck of the drum to celebrate. From 1856 the first Saturday in July became a permanent holiday known as 'Sma' Shot Saturday.' This remained a holiday unique to Paisley, for many years. Thousands of workers in the thread industry took excursions to other towns and resorts on Sma' Shot Day. At the time of Regionalisation, it was dropped from the statutory list of public holidays, but in recent years the celebration has been revived by the District Council.

The above is taken from the Sma' Shot Cottages promotional leaflet. I do believe that such was the level of hatred felt for the manufacturers (or corks, as they were known) that even today, during Sma' Shot Saturday, they burn an effigy of a 'cork'.
The opening hours of this wonderful attraction are quite restricted. At the time of writing (2011), they were noon to 4pm on just Wednesday and Saturday from the beginning of April to the end of September. Entry is free.