Paisley, Elderslie, 243 Main Road, 'wallace's House'

NS46SW 4 44219 63048

(NS 4421 6304) Wallace's House (NR)

OS 6" map (1857)

The New Statistical Account (NSA) states that though this rather old-looking tenement, near the west end of Elderslie, is pointed out as the birthplace of Sir William Wallace (in 1270), if he was born here, it must have been in an earlier building on the same site. An old garden adjoins this house, a stone incribed "W W W Christ is only my Redeemer" in Roman letters was dug from the foundation of its walls early in the 19th century. It was taken to Elderslie House, the seat of Alexander Speirs (NSA 1845).

This house, probably known as "Wallace's House" is in a good state of preservation.

Name Book 1857

The building is now used as a storehouse and coalhouse. The tradition that it was Wallace's house still survives locally.

Visited by OS (JHO) 28 February 1951

The present building that bear Wallace's name are said to mark the site of his abode (cf NS46SW 18). The Account goes on to state that this is known also as 'Moat House' having strong corner bastions and walls connecting them in the garden, and protected by a moat 16 to 20ft wide.

Third Statistical Account (TSA) 1962

Mrs Hallifax Crawford says that the medieval kitchen, in a disused building, still retains the barrel-vaulted roof, fireplace and oven. This building also contains a number of sculptured stones taken from the castle.

A Hallifax-Crawford 1965

This group of buildings has been demolished except for one part of an outhouse to the medieval building.

Visited by RCAHMS (JBS) 18 April 1985

NS 442 630 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken in the area around the Wallace Memorial, reputedly the birthplace of Sir William Wallace. The fieldwork was carried out prior to the re-landscaping of the site. It was hoped that the results would be able to throw some light on the settlement history of the site which could be taken into account during the landscaping or used for public presentation.

A total of seven trial trenches were excavated, two in the garden of Moat House, to the S of the memorial, and five in the area around the memorial itself. Early map evidence suggested that there was a large rectilinear moated enclosure on the site with a number of rounded corner towers, only one of which now survives in the eastern corner of the garden. Excavation across this moat revealed it to be at least 4.5m wide, 1.3m deep, and flat-bottomed, with its inner edge faced by a battered and mortared rubble wall. The exact date of this feature remains unclear but, on balance, a 13th-14th century date is favoured on the basis of pottery finds and comparable examples elsewhere.

The extrapolated line of this moat was also investigated along the NW side and N corner of the enclosure. At the latter there were no traces of a rounded tower similar to that at the E corner, but the remains of a possible ditch were located. Along the NW side, adjacent to the foundations of what is usually termed 'Wallace's House', the inside edge of what may be a rock-cut ditch was also located. In addition, this area produced a large number of post-medieval, green-glazed pottery sherds, probably dating to the 16th-17th century. Apart from these finds the numbers of artefacts recovered from the interior of the enclosure was limited and much of the ground appears to have been disturbed by previous building and demolition work. However, a number of negative features, including post-holes and pits of unknown date, were discovered cut into the natural subsoil.

A report will be lodged with the NMRS and West of Scotland Archaeology Service SMR.

Sponsors: Renfrewshire Council, Renfrewshire Enterprise.

D Alexander 1998

NMRS REFERENCE:

George Stewart Sketches - 1 pencil drawing c.1866.