Paisley Barracks Explained

Paisley Barracks
Type:Barracks
Map Type:Scotland Renfrewshire
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Renfrewshire
Location:Paisley, Renfrewshire
Ownership:War Office
Built:1822
Used:1822-c.1880
Built For:War Office

Paisley Barracks was a military installation in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

History

The infantry barracks, which were built on the south side of the Glasgow Road in the Williamsburgh district of Paisley as part of the response to the Radical War, were completed in 1822.[1] [2] The Earl of Glasgow used the infantry barracks to raise a regiment of yeomanry and a volunteer rifle corps.[3] Units subsequently based at the infantry barracks in the 1820s included the 10th Hussars and the 13th Regiment of Foot.[3] As part of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot was linked with the 74th (Highland) Regiment, and both were temporarily based at the barracks.[4] These regiments moved out to Hamilton Barracks in Hamilton a few years later and the infantry barracks were disused and empty by 1882.[1]

The militia barracks, which were built on the north side of the Glasgow Road in the Whitehaugh district of Paisley, were also completed in the 1820s.[1] The 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, the 1/6th (Renfrewshire) Battalion and the 2/6th (Renfrewshire) Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were all raised at the barracks at the start of the First World War.[5] Part of the site formerly occupied by the militia barracks was redeveloped for the Kelburne Cinema in 1933.[6] A building on the eastern boundary of the site, which still displays the "Ubique" crest of the Royal Artillery above the lintel, is currently used by Renfrewshire Council to store museum exhibits.[7]

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical. Francis H. . Groome . Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh . 1882.
  2. Web site: Watson's Directory for Paisley. 1875. 6 November 2016.
  3. Web site: From radicalism to socialism: Paisley Engineers 1890 to 1920. 6 November 2016.
  4. Johnston, pp. 262–263.
  5. Web site: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Long, Long Trail. 6 November 2016.
  6. Web site: Paisley Kelburne Cinema. Paisley Council. 6 November 2016.
  7. Web site: Regeneration on Renfrewshire's horizon. The Gazette. 26 June 2015. 6 November 2016.