September, 1807.
Set to Music by Mr. Louis Hoeck, Professor of Music, Paisley, 3rd June, 1884.
WHILE the grey pinioned lark early mounts to the skies,
And cheerily hails the sweet dawn,
And the sun, newly risen, sheds the mists from his eyes,
And smiles over mountain and lawn,
Delighted I stray by the FAIRY WOODSIDE, [1]
Where the dewdrops the crowflowers adorn,
And Nature, array'd in her midsummer's pride,
Sweetly smiles to the smile of the morn.
Ye dark waving plantings, ye green shady bowers,
Your charms ever varying I view ;
My soul's dearest transports, my happiest hours,
Have owed half their pleasures to you.
SWEET FERGUSLIE, [2] hail ! thou'rt the dear sacred grove,
Where first my young Muse spread her wing ;
Here Nature first waked me to rapture and love,
And taught me her beauties to sing.
Tannahill from his infancy was brought up in the cottage built in 1776 by his father, at No. 6 Queen Street, Paisley, in the immediate vicinity of Woodside and Ferguslie. All his infantile, youthful, and adult associations were connected with that residence, and he never knew any other. Up Queen Street and down King Street, and in two or three minutes the lyrist would be at "Fairy Woodside" and "Sweet Ferguslie." These were the two places where the poet spent the happiest hours—the halcyon days--of his boyhood, and where the Muse inspired the first song of his youth. The lands of Woodside were adorned with avenues of beech trees, and some of these trees can be seen in majestic grandeur at the present time. The view from Woodside, the site of an ancient encampment, is magnificent, embracing the whole of Strathgryffe, Kilpatrick Hills, the lofty Benlomond, Goatfell in Arran, with numerous other Bens in the distance, and is well entitled to the name of " Fairy Woodside." The lands of Ferguslie, lying immediately below Woodside, with their green plantations of fir trees, interspersed with indigenous shrubs and odoriferous. plants—the haunt of numerous feathered warblers and the abode of the cushat dove—were well entitled to be called " Sweet Ferguslie," " the dear sacred grove." We recollect these places, having seen them, about 1815, in a similar state to that in which Tannahill saw them during his time. These places were then the favourite haunts of the boys from the neighbourhood.
[1] In the year 1203 (as formerly noted in the “Soldier's Return”), Walter Fitzallan, High Steward of Scotland, granted to the Monks of Paisley “all the lands between Hauld Patrick and Espedare.” In 1545, Abbot John Hamilton of Paisley and his Monks feued out the greater portion of the lands included in the above grant. In particular, the Abbot and his Convent, with consent of the infant Queen Marie, Patroness of the Abbey, as the heiress-at-law of the High Stewards, and of James, Earl of Arran, protector and governor of the kingdom as her tutor-at-law, feued to John Stewart, kindly tenant in Woodside, “All and Whole the twenty shilling lands of Woodside, with the New Yaird of the same and pertinents; Reserving a public way through the whole lands of Woodside, from the public way, as far as the wood of Darskayt.” The name “Woodside” was probably derived from the lands lying at the side of Darskayt Wood. The family of Stewart retained these lands till 1630, when Mr. Ezekiel Montgomerie, Sheriff Depute of Renfrewshire, acquired them. Mr. Montgomerie, in 1633, sold the lands to Thomas Crawfurd, elder, of Cartsburn, father of George Crawfurd, historian of Renfrewshire. The lands continued in the Crawfurd family till 1750, when they were sold to Mr. Shedden, merchant in Paisley. The Trustees of his second son sold the house and part of the lands, in 1846, to Peter Coats, Esq., residing in Woodside. Mr. Coats founded the Paisley Free Public Library and Museum (the Memorial-Stone of which was laid with Masonic honours on 27th April, 1860), and presented them to the community of Paisley. On 9th July, 1869, Her Majesty was very graciously pleased to confer the dignity of Knighthood on Mr. Coats, and we are certain no honour was ever better bestowod than that on Sir Peter Coats, Knight, of Woodside.—Ed.
[2] Ferguslie was feued by the same Abbot John Hamilton, with similar consents, to the kindly tenant, John Hamilton, in 1545. The lands were bounded by the Burgh of Paisley, Darskayt Wood, and the lands of Woodside on the east, Candren Burn on the south and west. The Abbot reserved a public way through the lands of Ferguslie from the wood of Darskayt towards Candren Burn, with power to quarry stones for building his place, his town, and millstones for his mill of Paisley. That public way became the high road to the west country from Paisley, and traces of it from Sandholes Street to the Candren Burn—over Barskivan grounds and through the lands of Elderslie, &c.—can be seen at the present day. On the opening of the new turnpike road to the south, in a line with Broomlands Street in 1750, the old carriage road was superseded, and became a private road. In the days of Tannahill, it was a quiet and retired walk, much frequented by meditative weavers of the west end, The quarrying of stones on the lands of Ferguslie for building the place and town of Paisley continued for 300 years. The estate remained in the Hamilton family till 1630. During that period, the celebrated case of discipline between the Paisley Presbytery and the guidwife of Ferguslie, Margaret Hamilton, wife of John Wallace, factor for the Earl of Abercorn, which lasted for five years,—from June, 1642, to August, 1647,—occurred. John Cochran, nephew of William, first Earl of Dundonald, acquired the estate in 1680; the Corporation of Paisley in 1740; Thomas Bissland, merchant, Paisley, in 1806 ; and Thomas Coats, Esq. of Ferguslie, Paisley, in 1872. In 1751, King Street was formed through Woodside lands, and the road to Blackston through Ferguslie estate opened. The fences on the road were low, dry stone dykes, and the ground on either aide was planted with trees, principally Scots firs, and called “The Ferguslie Woods.” Tannahill called them in a song “The Bonnie Woods of Craigielee,” and the locality was and is now well known by that classic name. Thomas Coats, Esq., purchased Hope Temple grounds in Love Street, and, at a considerable expense, laid off the Fountain Gardens, and presented them to the community of Paisley on 26th May, 1868.
These two brothers, Sir Peter Coats of Woodside and Thomas Coats, Esq. of Ferguslie, are both natives of Paisley, and have been long allied together in a successful business. They head almost every local subscription with the highest sums. Their munificent donations to the community, their many deeds of beneficence in every good work, and their innumerable acts of private charity, have gained for them the highest esteem and respect of their fellow-townsmen.—.Ed.
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