Paisley Darkside Historical Walking Tours

17/09/2026

13/08/2026

Announcing the return of our Heritage Walks in Renfrewshire! It has taken a while, and we are starting on a monthly basis to see how things go between September and November 2026 before launching our 2027 programme.

Our first walk on Sunday 20th September will explore Causeyside Street in Paisley looking at the history of the street, and the changes that happend at the turn of the 20th Century. The walk will make use of old images of the the street, comparing them to the current buildings.

The walk will start at The Gushet - the junction of Causeyside Street with Neilston Road and Calside and will finish at Dunn Square.

The cost of each walk is £5.50 with the walks will last about 2 hours.

Audio headsets will be used on the walk to help with traffic noise. Each headset comes with standard headphones that are disinfected between use, but we also have a supply of new headphones that you can purchase when booking for £1 if you prefer new ones.

See the link in the comments to book or scan the QR Code! 15 places are available on the walk


Mill Renfrewshire Paisley First Paisley is

12/08/2026

Did you know that you can book our talks and history cafe's through our Discover Renfrewshire Heritage website? Direct links to talks, the booking page, and other events can all be found on the front page along with links to blog posts on all aspects of Renfrewshire's history...

see discoverrenfrewshireheritage.com/ and

Mill Renfrewshire Daily Record

12/08/2026

Doors Open Day Tours September 2026

Our tours at Oakshaw & Renfrew Old are filling up fast

As of 6pm Today (11th August) the following places are still available

5th Sept 11am Oakshaw - 8 places
5th Sept 1.30pm Oakshaw - 17 places
6th Sept 11am Renfrew Old - 8 places
6th Sept 1.30pm Renfrew Old - 3 places

See www.theurbanhistorian.co.uk/book-an-event for full details

12/08/2026

Benstone 1860 - Scottish Mining Website
Benstone Pit, Johnstone - 23 October 1860
5 men were drowned in a flooded pit:

Robert Alexander, age 24

John Alllison, age 29

John Hendry, age 21

John McMillan, age 44

Alexander Stewart, age 12

Newspaper Reports
Flooding of a Coal-Pit Near Johnstone and Loss of Five Lives - On Tuesday forenoon, the neighbourhood of Johnstone was thrown into a state of much excitement on account of an alarm which was raised that the Benstone coal-pit, situated on the Johnstone estate, had been flooded with water from the old workings in the neighbourhood, and several of the miners drowned. The rumour proved to be but too true; at least five lives having, it is suspected, been sacrificed. About nine o'clock in the morning the alarm was first given that the water had broken in upon the pit, and it rose with fearful rapidity. At this time; there would be nearly fifty men and boys in the pit. Forty were working near to the spot when the water had come in upon them, and they at once made for the bottom of the shaft�all reaching it safely but a boy, who was overtaken by the advancing stream and drowned. Efforts were at once made to raise the men to the pit mouth, but so quickly did the water rise, that before the whole forty could be got out, they had to cling on to the ropes attached to the cage, and raise themselves up.. Two miners, working in a separate part of the pit, were saved after the water had risen to within a foot of the roof at the bottom of the shaft; other four, who were in a still farther distant portion of the workings, it is now all but certain must have perished. In the afternoon, the water continued to rise at the rate of about two feet per hour. As there exists a vast body of water in the workings in the vicinity, it is not anticipated that the pit will be cleared for a lengthened period. The names of the unfortunate men who have perished have not been obtained as yet - the whole of them, however, were in the prime of life, one only being married. They belonged to the immediate neighbourhood of the pit.

21/07/2026

Forgot all about this.

13/07/2026

20/06/2026