The Abbey at Paisley has its beginnings in the Cluniac Priory founded by Walter Fitzalan, High Steward to King David I of Scotland. A Prior and twelve monks travelled from Shropshire in 1163, and six years later the first priory buildings were being erected on the chosen site beside the River Cart, close to a major fording point and an existing mill. There was also a shrine to a local saint by the name of Mirin (different spelling to the football team – St Mirren), so the site was already a place of pilgrimage. The priory was raised to the status of Abbey by Pope Honorius III in 1219, and even founded its own daughter monastery of Crossraguel in Ayrshire c1240.
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In 1307 the Abbey at Paisley was burnt down by English soldiers, meaning that we do not know how much of the original architecture remains from before that time. Repair work must have continued throughout the 14th century, and probably included the great main drain which ran under all the major buildings of the monastery, before discharging into the River Cart. One master mason for the work on the abbey has been identified as John Morrow of Paris, who is also known to have worked at Glasgow, and Melrose where an inscription records his contribution.
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King Robert III died in Rothesay in 1406, after hearing the news that his son had been captured by the English, and was subsequently buried in front of the High Altar at Paisley, continuing Paisley’s royal connections.
A dispute over the office of Abbot of Paisley, in the early years of the fifteenth century, led to a 25 year battle which had, amongst its many other effects, the result of neglecting routine maintenance of the buildings, and in particular the main drain was allowed to silt up. Without this many of the wonderful archaeological finds would not have survived. After the dispute was resolved, a succession of capable Abbots, in particular George Shaw, who was also tutor to the future James IV, allowed Paisley to return to its former strength.
The Reformation in Scotland, brought about by Act of Parliament in August 1560, saw the lands of Paisley Abbey converted into a “temporal lordship”, inherited by Claud Hamilton, nephew of the last Abbot. He was created Lord Paisley in 1594 and died at the Abbey in 1621. This meant that Paisley, unlike most Scottish monasteries, retained its domestic buildings as living quarters for the new owners.
There seems to have been little damage to the Abbey buildings at the time of the Reformation, but that was probably due to the church building already having suffered badly when the Tower collapsed earlier in the century, destroying the whole east end. A new East wall was created and the Abbey became a Protestant parish church for the townsfolk. It remained the only church in Paisley until 1738.
In 1652 the Abbey buildings were bought by William Cochrane, later to become the Earl of Dundonald, who set about improving the living quarters. During the eighteenth century, the Abbey lands were gradually fued off to provide for the ever increasing population of the town. New streets were laid out, and the unused monastic buildings were quarried to provide stone for the construction work. In the 1760’s the Abbey church had deteriorated to such an extent that there was talk of demolition and a new building. But a new minister, Robert Boog, appointed in 1773 persuaded the Heritors (trustees) that restoration would be a better option. This work was undertaken in 1788, year of Paisley’s 300th anniversary as a Burgh. Another period of restoration began in 1862, work which unfortunately led to the demolition of the Mediaeval West range of the cloister, under the assurance of a respected local historian who claimed it was a later addition, not worth saving! By the time he admitted his mistake, it was too late.
Further restoration work in the early twentieth century rebuilt the base of the tower and brought the transepts back into use, but work on the rebuilding of the ruined choir was interrupted by the First World War, and the rededication ceremony for the completed Abbey finally took place in December 1928.
Work has continued in recent years. For example, in 1982 a “temporary” painted plaster ceiling in the Nave, put up during the eighteenth century renovations, was finally replaced with a new carved timber roof!
The Abbey continues as an active constituent of the community of Paisley and welcomes visitors to the town with displays, volunteer guides and an excellent coffee shop.
The Rediscovery and Investigation of the Drain.
Few of the original monastic buildings survived into the twentieth century, so landscaping of the area around the church in 1990 provided the ideal opportunity to investigate the positions of those now “lost. The main drain, which would have brought fresh water into the complex, and taken away the effluents, would have acted as the spinal column of the buildings. If it was found it should serve to identify the possible positions of the other constructions on the site. Two nineteenth century newspaper references to a huge tunnel in the Abbey grounds, indicated that the drain probably had survived.
Glasgow University’s Department of Archaeology began to survey the site using magnetometer and resistivity techniques, but were unable to find anything (shades of John Gator!). A Ground Probe Radar survey similarly proved negative, as did a trial excavation by the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust. At this point the investigators were approached by an employee of the local water department, who politely enquired if they would like to see inside the old Abbey drain? It transpired that as a young apprentice he had worked on replacing a manhole to the drain, so he walked across the grass, lifted a turf and exposed the access!
Safety considerations prevented all but the most cursory of examinations to ascertain that the drain had indeed survived. From the manhole it could be seen that a considerable stretch of tunnel existed, and so the next step was to employ a robot CCTV camera to survey the drain, which proved that some 90 metres of drain both up and downstream of the manhole still existed. Subsequent research revealed that an early twentieth century attempt to clear the drain had led to 120 cart loads of “rubbish”, including some small artefacts and pieces of stained glass, had been dumped on what is now a local playing field. This operation had involved the removal of the section of drain beside the manhole and its replacement with a concrete construction, but further efforts to reuse the drain at that time seem to have been halted by difficulties in clearing the blockages at each end of the extant section.
It appeared at that stage that it would be fairly simple job to remove an estimated 2 inches (OK 5cms – but I work in a Museum – if I can’t keep the Imperial measurements alive, who can?) from the floor of the drain so that its true dimensions could be measured. Professional archaeologists raised no objection to the procedure, since no artefacts in the silt would be stratified. In In the event it transpired that there was some 2 feet (60cm) of compacted silt! The operation involved the removal of large artefacts by hand, then the rest of the silt was sucked up and taken off site for examination. Most impressive of the finds was an intact chamber pot, standing 9 inches (23cm) high. Examination of the drain at this point revealed the astonishing quality of its architecture, and as had been hoped, the position of the inlet drains served to pinpoint the positions of two major monastic buildings, the Kitchen and the Monks’ Dormitory.
The silt removed from the drain was washed and sieved by students from Glasgow University, and a large assemblage of material was recovered, which has been described as being of the highest archaeological significance. The finds fell into certain groups, some of which provided new and important information about monastic life in Scotland in the fifteenth century. Amongst the general finds were pottery fragments (both local and imported), and metal objects such as hooks, book clasps, and belt buckles, some of the latter providing useful dating evidence. There were also domestic items such as fishing and loom weights, a bone knife handle, and gaming tokens and bone dice possibly used by pilgrims sheltering at the Abbey.
Much rarer was the discovery of the matrix of an Abbot’s seal. This was badly damaged, partly because it was the custom for such a matrix to be put beyond further use when an Abbot died or left office. It is thought that it may be for the seal of John de Lithgow, one of those Abbots whose dispute led to the silting up of the drain. Some of the other finds were sent for specialist examination.
Lead Cloth Seals
This is the largest group of such items found in Scotland thus far. It was normal in Europe between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries for cloth producers to attach a seal to each bale of cloth as a mark of quality. These seals were hammered, in a process similar to the striking of coinage, and like coins they sometimes suffered from being badly struck, which can make them difficult to decipher. However the insides of the seals do sometimes preserve the imprint of the cloth and give information about cloth structure (weave and thread count etc.).
The seals found at Paisley include one from London, four from Arras, one from Valenciennes, one from Ulm and three of uncertain origin. Dating sequences for seals are uncertain, but it appears that all the Paisley ones predate the Reformation, and show that the Abbey was engaged in trade across a large part of Europe.
Slate Pieces
In the washing of the silt, a large number of pieces of slate were found and initially discarded as building materials. However, it was eventually realised that some of them had scratches on them which could be deciphered as writing. One in particular has fragments of a love lyric, which might be thought an odd thing to find within the confines of an Abbey! But there were many pilgrims passing through Paisley and enjoying the hospitality of the Abbey, as well as a large lay community, so it was not necessarily a case of a lovelorn monk. The writing style has been dated to early- to mid-fifteenth century and the language appears to be Scots. Other slates had what appeared to be practise at forming letters, or at drawing complex interwoven patterns.
Another pair of slate pieces had music inscribed on them. This music is noted down in mid-fifteenth century style, and the first slate has been assessed as being the top part of a two- or three- part polyphonic composition. The second slate is in a different musical style, and is said to resemble some popular fifteenth century carols. It is possible that these were for use at choir rehearsals, being a more permanent method of preserving the notations than paper. The slates have been acclaimed as representing the earliest recorded polyphonic music in Scotland.
Plant Remains
Little is known of food, medicine or environment in the Mediaeval period in the west of Scotland, so the Paisley silt provided a rare opportunity for study. Animal and fish bones were discovered when the silt was sieved, as well as a rich variety of plant types. Analysis of the plant remains identified more than 140 different plant types. Obviously, not all of these will have been grown by or for the monks, many will have been the native plant species growing in the vicinity. However, there were several plants that definitely were not native to Scotland, but which were often grown in monastery physic gardens across Europe for their medicinal properties. One of these was the Greater Celandine, the juice of which was used on sore eyes. This was the first time its seeds have been discovered in a Scottish archaeological context. Other medicinal plants found at Paisley included Caper Spurge (a purgative), Monk’s Rhubarb (another purgative, but also used in veterinary medicine), Hemlock and Opium Poppy (both for pain relief and anaesthesia), and Linseed (for stomach complaints). Locally growing wild plants would also have been used in the infirmary. Remains were found of Elder, Greater Plantain, Nettle, Dead Nettle, Tormentil, Yarrow, Water Pepper, Wood Avens and Woundwort. All of these were used in Scottish folk medicine until relatively recently. Bog Moss remains indicate its use as an absorbent wound dressing, as well as other moss remains which probably had a more common use in the monks’ lavatorium!
Some plants in Mediaeval times were used as both food and medicine. An example of this is members of the onion family, including leeks and garlic. As well as forming part of the diet, these plants had antiseptic properties. A major part of the diet in Scotland at that time would have been a broth made from grain and kale, with the addition of meat and fish if available. Evidence in the drain pointed to wheat, oats and barley, the latter probably being mainly used in brewing the monks’ daily allowance of ale.
The bones found were from cattle, sheep (or goats) and pigs indicating that the monks had a meat-rich diet. Fish remains included Eels, members of the Cod family, Salmon and Oysters. But it also appears the Abbey preferred a spicy diet. Mace, the outer covering of the nutmeg, was found for the first time in British archaeology, a spice which must have been imported from the East Indies.
The monks at Paisley are know to have had orchards (indeed Orchard Street in the town preserves their memory), and the remains reflected this as apple pips and damson stones were found. Other fruits and nuts were identified which were most probably imports. These included Walnut, and Common Fig. Wild fruit and nuts were probably also used in the kitchens. Examples of these were Sloes, Brambles, wild Raspberry, Bilberry, Rowan and Hazelnuts. Wild riverside plants may also have formed part of the diet. Seeds of Winter Cress were found. This was a particularly useful plant as it remained green through the colder months.
It is obvious that the study of the plant and animal remains from the drain can tell us a lot about the daily life of the people in and around the Abbey, and comparable assemblages of material are not frequently found. The evidence of imported goods also tells us of the wealth of Paisley and the status that this brought the members of the monastic community.
The information for this piece was extracted from the various articles contained in:-
“The Monastery & Abbey of Paisley”
Edited by John Malden
Published by The Renfrewshire Local History Forum in 2000.
ISBN 0 9529195 7 5
Specialist studies by:-
Lead Cloth Seals – Dr. G. Egan, Senior Archaeologist, Museum of London
Slates inscriptions – Prof. G Caie, Professor of English Language, Glasgow University.
Slate music – Dr. K Elliot, Department of Music, Glasgow University
Plant remains – Mrs. C. Dickson, Glasgow University
Professor J. Dickson, Professor of Archaeobotany & Plant Systamatics, Glasgow University
by Valerie Reilly