Elderslie
| Elderslie | |
| Renfrewshire | |
|---|---|
 Wallace Monument, Elderslie | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NS445625 |
| Location: | 55°49’50"N, 4°29’3"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 5,180 (1991) |
| Post town: | JOHNSTONE |
| Postcode: | PA5 |
| Dialling code: | 01505 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Renfrewshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Paisley and Renfrewshire South |
Elderslie is a village in Renfrewshire, midway between the nearby towns of Paisley and Johnstone.
Elderslie is disputed as the birthplace of Sir William Wallace, on the basis of a poem written 150 years after his time by a minstrel called Blind Harry. Later scholarship puts Wallace's father in Ayrshire though.
Once the village was a factory village producing luxury carpets.
Today, Elderslie chiefly serves as a dormitory village for nearby towns, most notably Paisley and Glasgow.
Churches
Elderslie was once divided between two parishes of the Church of Scotland, Elderslie West and Elderslie East, which amalgamated around 1977. Worshippers now meet in the former West church, renamed Elderslie Kirk.
History
The area has been settled since prehistoric times as evidenced by the cup and ring marks to be found to the south of the village above the bend on the road to the Peesweep. The stream running through the village is officially the Old Patrick Water but colloquially known as the Brandy Burn.
Local ledgend assures us that that William Wallace was born and grew up in Elderslie. Born around 1270, Wallace served as the military leader of the Scots in the early phases of the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was presumed that Wallace was the son of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie on the basis of a poem written 150 years after his time by a minstrel called Blind Harry. However examination of the seal which was sent on a letter to Lubeck after the battle of Stirling Bridge named Wallace's real father as Allan Wallace, a royal tenant living in Ayrshire at that time.
On the site of the ancient Elderslie Castle there now stands a monument to commemorate Wallace. As late as the 1970s remains of the buildings on this site still stood with roofs intact although it is very doubtful how much of that existed in the time of Wallace. Auchenbathie Tower a few miles to the south is a site associated with William Wallace in an action against the English king.
It is reasonably well documented that the Wallace lands were in Ayrshire and seems to connect the Wallace family to lands at a similarly named place - Ellerslie, near Riccarton, now a suburb of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire.
Carpets
The village was once the home to Stoddard Carpets which made the carpets for the Cunard liners RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 which were built by John Brown & Company in their shipyard in Clydebank. The firm also produced carpets for the ocean liner RMS Titanic and for the Concorde aircraft, and the carpet laid at Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen Elizabeth II.
A remaining example of the work which was carried out here can be seen in the circular carpet which covers the floor of the drawing room in Culzean Castle.
Recreation
There is a golf club called Elderslie Golf Club and a bowling club.
Football pitches are located at Old Road and Glenpatrick Road although it appears only the grass pitch is open to local use, the "blaze" pitch out of use now the Stoddard factory has gone, and been replaced by a new grass pitch.
The village had a swimming pool located at Stoddart Square for many years; but closed in April 2013.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Elderslie) |
