Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde.

Paisley expanded significantly during the Industrial Revolution as a result of its location beside White Cart Water, with access to the Clyde and nearby ore, mineral and agricultural resources.

It is worth noting that some sources favour the name of the town as having its roots in the Gaelic word Baisleac, which is, like the Cumbric basaleg, derived from basilika.

[7] Paisley coalesced under James II's wish that the lands should become a single regality and, as a result, markets, trading and commerce began to flourish.

Initially beginning with small scale weaving (as took place at the Sma’ Shot cottages located in Shuttle Street), Paisley's location and workforce attracted English mill owners; migrants from Ayrshire and the Highlands poured into a town that offered jobs to women and children until silk fell out of fashion in 1790.

Political intrigue, early trades unionism and reforming zeal came together to produce mass demonstrations, cavalry charges down the high street, public riots and trials for treason.

The perceived radical nature of the inhabitants prompted the Tory Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to comment "Keep your eye on Paisley".

[40] Overproduction, the collapse of the shawl market and a general depression in the textile industry led to technical changes that reduced the importance of weavers.

In a Paisley cafe in 1928, a woman claimed to find a dead snail in a bottle of ginger beer, and became ill. She sued the manufacturer for negligence.

After Donoghue v Stevenson, a precedent was established that manufacturers (and other "neighbours" or fellow citizens) owe a duty not to do foreseeable harm to others by negligence, regardless of contractual obligations, which paved the way for modern tort law.

Although it was not bombed as heavily as nearby Glasgow (see Clydebank Blitz), air raids still occurred periodically during the early years of the war, killing nearly a hundred people in several separate incidents; on 6 May 1941, a parachute mine was dropped in the early hours of the morning claiming 92 victims; this is billed the worst disaster in Paisley's history.

At the heyday of Paisley thread manufacture in the 1930s, there were 28,000 people employed in the huge Anchor and Ferguslie mills of J & P Coats Ltd, said to be the largest of their kind in the world at that time.

Brown and Polson was formed in Paisley in 1840 and two years later started producing starch for the weaving trades, by 1860 it was making food products including its patent cornflour.

[69] This includes a £22million refurbishment to the Town Hall which reopened in October 2023,[70] a new £7million Central Library and Learning Hub on the High Street which opened November 2023,[71] and a £45million transformation of Paisley Museum due to be completed in late 2024.

For judicial purposes, the area forms part of the sheriffdom of North Strathclyde and public prosecutions are directed by the Procurator Fiscal for Argyll and Clyde.

[80] Paisley's distribution network operator, the organisation licensed to transmit electricity from the National Grid to consumers, is Scottish Power.

[81] Paisley sits primarily on an expanse of low ground around 12 metres (40 ft) above sea level surrounding the White Cart Water, which runs through the town centre.

[84] Particularly following the Housing Act 1946, modern Paisley grew into the surrounding countryside, and several large residential areas were created in the post-war period.

Numerous private developers have invested, creating various retail outlets, vehicle showrooms, restaurants, a cinema complex, hotel and a business centre.

In competition, Sir Peter Coats funded the construction of the modern Paisley Museum and Central Library (1871), also in a neo-Classical style.

The choir (east end) and tower date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are examples of Gothic Revival architecture.

They were reconstructed in three main phases of restorations with the tower and choir conforming to the designs of Dr Peter MacGregor Chalmers.

The stone was a meeting place of the Weavers Union in the south of Paisley; it was also used as a "soapbox" and was originally inscribed with its history (now largely faded).

It was moved from its original site at the corner of Neilston Road and Rowan Street to its present location in Brodie Park.

The Dooslan Stane is still used today as the congregating point for the annual Sma' Shot parade which takes place on the first Saturday in July.

[98] The composer Thomas Wilson's 1988 work Passeleth Tapestry (later his Fourth Symphony) commemorates the history of Paisley in a single 30-minute movement.

Paisley is connected by road to the UK motorway network, with the M8 running along the northern edge of the town, Junctions 27, 28 and 29 providing access to Greenock to the west and Glasgow to the east.

Paisley also forms part of the Episcopalian (Anglican) Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway with its main facilities being contained at the Holy Trinity and St Barnabas Church in the town centre, a congregation which united in 2004.

Various local radio stations have operated at times, including Q96 from 1992 to 2007 – serving the Renfrewshire area, although for a considerable period based in neighbouring Glasgow.

[108] Ronald Reagan's maternal great-great-grandparents, Claude Wilson and Margaret Downey, were married at Paisley High Church on 23 May 1807.