Paisley – The Largest Baptist Cathedral, a Golden Key, and a Magic Lantern.

Our Scottish adventure started in Paisley, a town full of surprises. It's where we rented our first flat, and so this place will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Paisley borders Glasgow to the east and is often cited as the "largest town in Scotland". Despite being the fifth largest settlement in the country, it still hasn't been granted city status. It lies on the River White Cart, a tributary of the River Clyde.

In the 18th century, Paisley became famous across Europe for its production of silk and cotton shawls. The town had 23 mills, the largest of which belonged to the brothers Peter and Thomas Coats. This is where the famous pattern known around the world today gets its name – the "paisley" pattern.

The town's modern industry includes blending and bottling whisky, along with a range of service activities. We know this well, as our first casual jobs here were related to whisky – we worked in several factories washing bottles, packing them, or assembling packaging. Sometimes we got to see the latest whisky or gin releases before they hit the shelves, such as a whisky specially dedicated to fans of the TV series "Game of Thrones". It came in a bottle with wintry colours, and when frozen to the right temperature, the words "Winter is here" would appear on the label.

Fun fact: Did you know that if you fly to Glasgow, you actually land in Paisley at Glasgow International Airport? ;) It's a bit confusing, but worth knowing when planning your journey into the city centre.

Paisley town centre contains no fewer than 110 listed buildings! That's a higher concentration than anywhere in Scotland outside of Edinburgh. We especially recommend visiting the local museum and library from 1871, the Town Hall from 1882, and the Thomas Coats Memorial Church – which we'll focus on in this post.

The Thomas Coats Memorial Church is the largest Baptist Cathedral in Europe.

Thomas Coats (1809–1883) was the co-founder of the world-famous thread manufacturing company J.&P. Coats. It was in this company from Paisley that fabrics with the so-called "Turkish pattern" – the distinctive teardrop shape – began to be produced for the European market.

The Coats family were philanthropists and members of the Baptist Church. Thomas Coats himself was involved in the renovation of Paisley and in funding projects such as the construction of the Coats Observatory (a public observatory) and the Paisley Fountain Gardens (a park with a cast-iron fountain featuring statues of herons, dolphins and walruses!).

After Thomas Coats' death in 1883, his close family funded the construction of a Baptist church in his memory.

The Thomas Coats Memorial Church

After Thomas Coats' death in 1883, his close family funded the construction of a Baptist church in his memory.

On both sides of the presbytery, you can see the organ with about 3,040 pipes. Built by William Hill & Sons, the organ is one of the few of its kind in the United Kingdom.

The former host showed us an extraordinary golden key from 1894 to the massive church doors.

The Golden Key of 1894

Impressive, isn't it? That would be quite the thing to lose!

The Magic Lantern

In one of the rooms at the back of the church, we had the chance to see a magic lantern up close.

The magic lantern was invented in the 17th century. It was the precursor to the slide projector and has a long and fascinating history.

The earliest magic lanterns were lit by candles, and their name comes from the experiences of early audiences who saw how, seemingly by "magic", various figures mysteriously appeared on a wall. Even in the earliest period, the shows featured moving images – created using moving pieces of glass.

When we visited this church in February 2019, a fundraising campaign called "100 Days to Save Coats Memorial" was underway, organised by the Coats Memorial Preservation Trust, aiming to raise £1.5 million to save one of Scotland's most iconic buildings from ruin.

The campaign closed at the end of 2019 and the building was handed over for renovation to serve as a multi-purpose venue. Today, the building hosts a variety of events such as weddings, graduations, performances and concerts.

See you next time!

Our upcoming posts will be travel memories from St Abbs and Corran. You'll see the stunning Pettico Wick Bay and Konrad's face as he prepares the bait! ;) There'll be night fishing, crabs, sharks and even a lobster with a capital L!

We'll definitely be back to Paisley more than once. The historic buildings of Paisley Abbey and Anchor Mill, the Halloween festival, multimedia shows About Us... There's still so much to say about Paisley and its attractions.