At 10-years of age our grandmother, Mary Preston Hunter started half-timers school. Half the day she attended school and the other half she worked in Coats'Thread Mill. At fourteen she graduated and began work full-time. One of her job assignments was to guide the thread with her toe to wind it evenly onto a large bobbin of thread. You might recall the wooden bobbin that I had on my piano top. Can you imagine that hour after hour for even half a day?
Coats' Half-Timer School, Maxwellton Street, Ferguslie, Paisley, Scotland.
Elizabeth wrote, "Previously had been turned into a night club then left as a shell for about 10 years since the fire. Apparently it is now going to be restored externally, internally and turned into apartments."
This building, originally designed in 1886 as a school, was indeed a "palace of education". Contemporary descriptions of the newly-built school described it as "an exquisite building which will delight the visitor whether he be an educational or architectural expert, for neither pains nor money were spared during its construction". It was also described as "an admirably equipped school" and as "a model of beauty and appropriateness".
The architects of this new school were Woodhouse and Morley. It was thought appropriate by the Coats family to appoint them for this work, as they had, during the 1880s, successfully designed for their clients "the most magnificent cotton mills in Scotland", at Ferguslie.
Without the restrictions in designing a mill building, the architects could afford to "let their hair down" and design the new school in a flamboyant manner and this they did. If the Coats family were the Medicis of Victorian Paisley, the resulting school building turned out to be a little Florentine palace, with architrave doors, carved floral roundels, balustrated parapets, white marble panels depicting learning and geography and a splendid polished granite portico or loggia as a grand main entrance.
J & P Coats opened their Ferguslie Half-time school as an adjunct to the nearby mills. The school could accommodate 400 young girls, all in employ of the company and all educated to government approved standards. The young female workers would attend this school and work in the mills on alternate days, hence the name "Half-time". The school was innovative for its time. It boasted well-lit classrooms on the ground floor, with adjacent cloakrooms and toilets. The mill girls were given lessons mainly in the three "Rs". Nourishing meals were prepared for them in the basement kitchen. A gallery overlooking the ground floor enabled the viewer or visitor to see concerts, plays and recitations performed by the pupils.
From its opening, the school took a leading place in Scottish education. Most Paisley families today will recall that they had a grannie or a great grannie who worked in the mills and received part-time education as a Half-timer in Coats' school. The school functioned under the patronage of J and P Coats until 1904. That year, full time education became compulsory for all Scottish children and the administration of the school fell to the Paisley School Board.
In 1921, the building, having had various uses, became the East dining hall for the clerical workers of Ferguslie Mills. From 1969 to 1973, the building was used by the mill's fire prevention team. During this period, the building was also used for evening classes, one of which was the art of fly-tying for anglers!
http://www.paisley.org.uk/history/halftimer.php
Take this link to view the block of houses where Etta Hunter and her family lived before moving to the company (Ross's Cloth Works)-owned Arkleston Cottage.
Link:
Arkleston Cottage is no longer. Jan had a walk through with our mother and father in 1963. It had been torn down and replaced by the building of a motorway by the time we moved to Scotland in 1970.
This map is the approximate location near the M8. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=YO17+6UX&ie=UTF8&ll=54.262417,-0.774536&spn=0.239802,0.674973&z=11&om=1&source=embed
A cousin, Amber Barker Sirimanne put up this photo at facebook that shows the interior.
I remember my mother speaking of the bed in the kitchen wall that they pulled out for sleeping. I'm wondering if it is behind the shiny wood doors on the wall to the right. Four to a bed--double-size--no queens or king-size back then.
Hame o' Mine
Since this posting I've found other Paisley sites Mother noted in her diary written in 1963, 37 years after she had immigrated to the U.S.A.
Of her first visit to Paisley she wrote--
"My nephew-in-law [Hugh Shaw] drove us up to Glenifer Braes in relays and we looked all over the countryside, it was a beautiful sight, we saw the Bonnie Wee Well, also. This is the hills we used to walk up to when we were children and spend the day picking berries, bluebells and flourish [sweet cicely], it brought back memories."
Glenifer Braes
Located 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Paisley, the Gleniffer Braes Country Park form part of the 526 ha (1300 acres) of woodland and moorland which makes up the Gleniffer Braes in Renfrewshire. The park has waymarked and guided walks, as well as play areas and views over Paisley and Glasgow. There are various events in the park throughout the year.
Other Paisley historical sites of family interest.
Paisley Thread Mill Museum.
From this link go to fully restored and furnished 18th century weavers cottages at Sma Shot Cottages.
Paisley Abbey at http://www.paisley.org.uk/attractions/abbey.php
Abbey Close http://www.paisley.org.uk/attractions/hall.php
Paisley High has some beautiful photos of older parts of the city. http://www.paisley.org.uk/attractions/oakshaw-trinity-church.php
The Paisley Pattern. http://www.paisley.org.uk/history/pattern.php
1887 Gazetteer. http://www.paisley.org.uk/history/gazetteer.php
My Toon Stories of living in Paisley. These are two of the dozen or so.
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