Meeting of the Parliament 27 September 2017
I congratulate Paisley on making the shortlist for the UK city of culture. The fact that it has progressed this far is testament to the strength of the bid, and I know that Paisley has got what it takes to win the title. I commend the bid team for all their hard work to date and wish them every success in the months to come.
I also commend Dundee’s bid to be the European capital of culture. In particular, I recognise its appeal for the public to come forward with ideas and to be part of developing the city’s proposal. However, I hope that the chamber will understand that, as a West Scotland MSP and a Renfrewshire resident, my remarks this afternoon will focus on Paisley.
Paisley has some genuinely interesting stories to tell—stories that add to the bid. They are stories of its people, its women, its quirks and its unique history. There is a cairn at the junction of Renfrew Road and Dundonald Road, not far from where I live, that marks the spot where, in 1316, Marjory Bruce fell from her horse in a tragic accident. As members across the chamber will know, Marjory was the eldest daughter of Robert the Bruce, and she was, as the story goes, heavily pregnant when she fell. People from round about tried to save her but could not. Marjory Bruce died aged just 19 and was buried at Paisley abbey. Her son, however, was saved and would go on to become Robert II, the first king of the Stewart dynasty. Behind that cairn that people pass every day, on one of the busiest roads in Paisley, is a story that is tragic but, nonetheless, important in the textured history of Paisley and the rich history of Scotland. It is a story that surely adds something to Paisley’s claim to the city of culture title.
Recent events have brought a very different story from Paisley’s past back into the news. I refer to the gruesome story of the Bargarran witches, who were hanged and burned at the Gallow green in the west end of Paisley in 1697, only five years after the start of the infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. It could even be said that Paisley was Scotland’s Salem. One of the so-called Bargarran witches was Agnes Naismith. Before she died, she cursed everyone present at the trial and all their descendents. In the years that followed, it seemed that every tragedy and misfortune to befall the people of Paisley was attributed to Agnes Naismith and the witch’s curse.
The ashes of those who died on that day were interred at the nearby Maxwellton cross, where there is a memorial to this day. Part of the memorial is a famous horseshoe, which is said to keep the town safe from misfortune and the witch’s curse. I am sorry to inform the chamber that the horseshoe has been dislodged and absolutely nothing is protecting Paisley from the curse. As the Paisley Daily Express said earlier this month, “We’re all doomed.” Two community stalwarts and Paisley legends, Piero Pieraccini and Tony Lawler, and the Paisley Development Trust are racing to restore the memorial and reinstall the famous horseshoe. I know that the chamber will wish them well in their endeavour to keep the town safe while safeguarding Paisley’s heritage.
If the city of culture competition is about using heritage to shape the renewal of a community, the story of Paisley’s weavers and its textiles must be heard. Paisley was a market town before the rise of the textile industry and was transformed by the industrial revolution. As the bid team has said:
“Paisley made textiles and textiles made Paisley.”
As we know, the Paisley pattern is world renowned. The textile industry provided employment not just for men but for women who came from the Highlands and rural communities seeking job opportunities in Paisley. During that period, we saw the rise of what we might recognise today as trade unionism, as men and women got organised and demanded better rights for those working in the mills.
The Dooslan stane, once used as a soapbox for the Weavers Union, now stands in Brodie park and is used as a meeting point for the annual sma shot parade. It is another local monument, with another story behind it, which is every bit as much part of the town as the mills are part of it. It is not just a monument, but a cultural asset.
The Paisley bid is all about using cultural and heritage assets to drive forward regeneration and transform the town. As I have tried to demonstrate, Paisley has no shortage of such assets, which is why its bid is so strong. I hope—I expect—that the bid will be supported across the chamber; I hope that the bid is successful; and I hope that the stories of Paisley, its layers of history and the people who made the place are told for a long time to come.
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