After our visit to the Big Art Show in Paisley last month we decided to visit the Abbey. John can’t remember when he was last there, though I know I went with Mum not long after Dad died in 2015 so probably the best part of 10 years ago.

Paisley Abbey was founded by Walter FitzAlan, the first High Steward of Scotland (the officer who controlled the domestic affairs of the royal household). His descendants adopted the surname Steward, which became Stewart, and later still was changed to Stuart. The sixth High Steward married Marjory, eldest daughter of King Robert the Bruce, and their son became Robert II, the first king of the Stewart dynasty, after which the title of High Steward was merged into the crown. All six High Stewards are buried in the Abbey, as is Marjory herself. A cairn on the outskirts of Paisley marks, roughly, the spot where she was fatally injured falling from her horse in 1316. Her son was born posthumously.

In the gallery above is Marjory’s “tomb chest” which is not original but created in the 18th century. In contrast, the effigy is 13th century and therefore predates Marjory’s death in the early 14th century. Nothing is what it seems! The memorial to Robert III is Victorian and the cairn (photographed on a previous visit) was erected in 1954.

Some more impressions of the Abbey:

Before heading off to Fountain Gardens we had a quick look inside the recently restored Russell Institute. The building, which opened in 1927, was donated by Agnes Russell to the Burgh of Paisley as a memorial to her two brothers, Thomas and Robert Russell, who died in 1913 and 1920 respectively. Initially it served as a child welfare clinic, but today it is used by Renfrewshire Council and Skills Development Scotland.

Then it was on to Fountain Gardens, Paisley’s oldest public park which opened in 1868. The pièce de résistance, as the name suggests, is the fountain with its life size walruses and other creatures. Although I have seen it on social media many times I have never visited in person. It is every bit as over-the-top as I expected – and it was in full working order with water emerging from the strangest of places. A bronze statue of Robert Burns stands nearby.

From the gardens it was a short walk back to the station where a train to Glasgow arrived almost immediately. We’d had a great day out in a town which is often overlooked, but which has a lot to offer.