Visit
Tannahill’s Cottage was home to Paisley’s best-loved weaver poet, Robert Tannahill – a contemporary of Robert Burns.
This cottage was built by Tannahill’s father and is now home to the Paisley Burns Club – founded in 1805 and one of the oldest Burns Clubs in the world.
The cottage is not open to the public. However, access can be arranged, allowing you to view the display of Tannahill and Burns memorabilia.
Apprentice to his handloom weaver father, Tannahill gained the nickname, ‘Weaver’s Poet’, as he delicately wove stanza over stanza in his self-taught poetry.
‘Paisley’s Son’ left a legacy of over a hundred poems including “Jessie the Flower of Dunblane”, “The Braes of Gleniffer” and the famous “Will You Go Lassie Go”.
Affectionately remembered after his death, locals funded a monument in 1866, which was erected by his grave at Castlehead Church. A second Robert Tannahill monument also stands outside Paisley Abbey.
From 1874 (100 years after his birth), until 1935, tens of thousands of people would travel to Gleniffer Braes for the “Glen Concerts”, which would feature choirs singing poems and songs written by Robert Tannahill.
