Place:Abbey (Paisley), Renfrewshire, Scotland

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, based on a former Cluniac monastery. Following the Reformation in the 16th century, it became a Church of Scotland parish kirk.

Paisley Abbey was considered as a specific parish in the Old Parish Registers and continued to be used as a civil registration area for births, marriages and deaths after 1855.

History

"PAISLEY, town and parishes in upper ward of Renfrewshire. ..... The parishes are Abbey, High, Low and Middle. The Abbey parish includes part of the town, but extends far beyond it, and has been separately noticed. The other three parishes lie wholly in the town and comprise respectively 259, 94, and 517 acres. Pop. 17,914, and 7095, and 13,117."

Source: The Gazetteer of Scotland, by Rev. John Wilson, 1882, and reproduced online by GENUKI Scotland

From Wikipedia:
"...Though Paisley lacks contemporary documentation it may have been, along with Glasgow and Govan, a major religious centre of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. A priory was established in 1163 from the Cluniac priory at Wenlock in Shropshire, England at the behest of Walter Fitzalan (d. 1177) High Steward of Scotland. In 1245 this was raised to the status of an Abbey. The restored Abbey and adjacent 'Place' (palace), constructed out of part of the medieval claustral buildings, survive as a Church of Scotland parish church. One of Scotland's major religious houses, Paisley Abbey was much favoured by the Bruce and Stewart royal families. It is generally accepted that William Wallace was educated here. King Robert III (1390–1406) was buried in the Abbey. His tomb has not survived, but that of Princess Marjorie Bruce (1296–1316), ancestor of the Stewarts, is one of Scotland's few royal monuments to survive the Reformation."