Paisley Heritage was given the honour and privilege to see inside the Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church, which sits on the town's High Street, near to University of the West of Scotland's Paisley Campus.
The A-listed building has been a dominant feature in Paisley's skyline for more than 100 years, after it was built in 1894, and is often referred to as Paisley's 'gem'. It is recognised across the world for its incredible architecture and its striking crown steeple, rising to 200ft above the ground.
Gavin Divers, founder of Paisley Heritage, said: "I would say the Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church is the most important building in Paisley - due to having importance of the Coats family to the town. The Coats family not only put Paisley on the industrial map, as companies would travel from around Britain to visit, but they also gave back to the town with the half timers school, the observatory and the fountain gardens.
"They also helped out the philosophical society with creating the museum.
"The building really is like a time machine, as every fitting, hinge and engraving is all in its original form. We flew a drone inside the Paisley Abbey five years ago, and since then, Paisley Heritage has always wanted to fly a drone inside the Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church.
"It was definitely one on my bucket list. I’m over the moon to have the drone inside and outside the building - it will take a week for now to settle in because it feels like a dream - I'm looking forward to editing the content that we have gathered."
Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church is built in the Gothic Revival style and at the front is a set of stairs that lead to three doorways, occupied by oak doors.
Inside can seat up to almost 1,000 people under its vaulted ceiling and other features include; mosaics, stencilled decoration, gargoyles and carved marble. On either side of the chancel, the organ with some 3,040 pipes can be seen - built by William Hill & Sons, the organ is one of only a few of its kind in Britain which has not been modified.
Did you know?
Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church is informally known as the Baptist Cathedral of Europe, and in its modern day era, the building plays host all kinds of events.
From intimate weddings, graduations and corporate events, to being a famous location for filming movies and television shows, the church's grounds have been used very recently for filming scenes for season five of the historical drama Outlander.
Comments