Historic Environment Scotland – the body which ‘list’ buildings of interest, either architecturally or historically, has confirmed that it intends to move the listing for the 1820 Martyrs Monument in Woodside Cemetery from a category C to a category B listing.
This follows on from a motion put to Renfrewshire Council by Councillor John McNaughtan which argued that the monument deserved a higher listing than its original C listing. This was approved by all councillors back in September 2021 and now Historic Environment Scotland had indicated that they intend, after some consultation to move this monument to a category B.
Councillor John McNaughtan said: “I believe that once the historic significance and the true history of Paisley and Renfrewshire within the 1820 Uprising is known, the monument will be upgraded to a Category A listing.
“This is good news for Paisley and confirms the importance of this monument to history of the 1820 Martyrs of John Baird, Andrew Hardie and James Wilson who gave their lives fighting for Scotland’s freedom.
“I believe though that once the real history of the monument and the role of Paisley and Renfrewshire in the 1820 Uprising is understood this will lead to the monument getting a Category A listing.”
Councillor Kenny MacLaren, who’s ward includes the 1820 Martyrs Monument, added: “This is great work by Councillor John McNaughtan and highlights an important time in Renfrewshire and Scotland’s history. It’s quite shameful that too few people know the story of the 1820 Radical Uprising, where ordinary people marched under a banner of ‘Scotland Free or a Desert’ in trying to assert democracy including Scotland’s Independence.
“In recent years, despite the Covid lockdowns, there has been some extra publicity about the 1820 Radical Uprising and hopefully the books and articles published recently can help spread this story further.”