In 1820, due to the ever growing size of its congregation, the Laigh Kirk moved to a new, much larger building on George Street.

The name Laigh Kirk was re-established in Paisley and served the Parish from its Causeyside Street base, the building originally built as the Free South Church of Scotland.

In particular, over the classification of those who were traditionally eligible - the church found it could only fund those physically unable to work and not the able-bodied unemployed.

The financial crisis that followed for the church and the burgh, and the need for government intervention, was to play a large part in the redrawing of the existing Poor Laws.

Most notably, his ‘Historical Dissertations on the Law and Practice of Great Britain, and particularly of Scotland with regard to the Poor’, would be much cited [5] by those who took up the cause.