OS1/26/19/77

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 77 TOWN OF PAISLEY

destroyed by the inhabitants of the town in 1711 And made into a Bowling Green;- from its Situation and elevation, it would Appear to have been an Admirable Place for a Military Station, being Situated on the most elevated Part of the town and commands an extensive range of view, its proximity to the other two Camps Viz. the remains of one near Castlehead House, and the one which is Said to have Stood West of, and Adjoining the Cemetery, on the lands of Woodside; Would render the Site a desirable Place for a Pretorium, the three being Situated on high eminences and not more than a quarter of a mile between either, forming nearly an equilateral triangle; When the Neilson Institution was being built Some excavations Were made for laying the foundation as Well as with the view of Ascertaining Whether Any Vaults existed underneath as asserted by Some historians; the excavations were narrowly Watched by Mr David Semple, Writer of Paisley, And the result would tend to refute the historians Assertion, as neither Antiquities or Vaults of Any Kind were discovered, ____ This Place is Also Shown on the Plan of Paisley dated 1822, ____ "The Whole of the County of Renfrew, in which Paisley is now the Chief town, lay within the Roman Province of Valentia. The general voice of Antiquarians Assigns Paisley as the Place designated by Ptolomy, the Celebrated Egyptian Geographer, Vanduaria, That the Romans had here a Post of importance is unquestionable, Principal Dunlop wrote his description of Renfrewshire About the end of the Seventeenth Century, and has given the following Account": "That the Romans came to Renfrewshire, is more than probable; for as there are in many Places, from the one end of Clydesdale to the other, of an Old Roman Street from Erickstone" in