Paisley Abbey

It is believed that Saint Mirin founded a community on this site in the seventh century. Sometime after his death a shrine to the saint was established, which became a popular site of pilgrimage and veneration. The name Paisley may derive from the Brythonic or Cumbric Passeleg, meaning basilica and ultimately from the Greek — that is, a major church. If so, the name itself records an early ecclesiastical importance for which no documents survive.

In 1163 Walter fitz Alan, the first High Steward of Scotland, issued a charter for a priory on land he owned at Paisley, dedicated to Saints Mary, James, Mirin and Milburga. Around thirteen monks came from the Cluniac priory at Much Wenlock in Shropshire to found the community. Paisley grew so rapidly that it was raised to the status of abbey in 1245. Monks from Paisley had already founded Crossraguel Abbey in Carrick the previous year, so the house was exporting communities before it had been promoted itself.

In 1307 Edward I of England had the abbey burned down, and it was rebuilt later in the fourteenth century. William Wallace, born in nearby Elderslie, is believed to have been educated here for a time as a boy, some years before the burning. In 1316 Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and wife of Walter Stewart, the sixth High Steward, was riding near the abbey when she fell from her horse. She was heavily pregnant, and was taken to Paisley Abbey for medical care.

There the future Robert II was born by caesarean section, at a time when anaesthesia would not have been available. Marjorie was later buried at the abbey, and a cairn at the junction of Dundonald Road and Renfrew Road, about a mile north, marks the spot where she reputedly fell. In 1491 Abbot George Shaw, representing the Pope and in the presence of the relics, granted absolution to James IV of Scotland and others implicated in the death of James III at the Battle of Sauchieburn. A king was absolved of his father's death in this building.

By 1499 Shaw had built a new and larger pilgrims' chapel and added the sculptured stone frieze that can still be seen today, showing scenes from the life of St Mirin. It was originally brightly painted, and may well have formed the rear panel of an altar before it was mounted on the wall as a frieze.