Paisley West Church was formed in May 2018 following a union of Martyrs’ Church and St. Columba Church and came into being as a result of the Clyde Presbytery Plan.
Paisley Martyrs’ Church, in the West End of the town, was founded in 1842 and was named after the martyrs who were executed in 1685. The Church was built in 1847, with later additions and alterations, which included the tower and south front in neo-Norman style in 1905. Inside are galleries on three sides on cast-iron colonnettes, while the 18ft long pulpit has been likened to the bridge of a ship.
St. Columba Church in the Foxbar suburb of Paisley was opened in 1959 to accommodate the Gaelic Church of Scotland in Paisley. The Gaelic church had been erected for the purpose of accommodating Highlanders who had migrated to Paisley and the surrounding areas, for Gaelic worship. On 31st May 1834 the General Assembly granted a chapel constitution to the district of St Columba and in 1874 the parish was disjoined from the High Church and erected by the Court of Teinds as a Gaelic charge. In 1958 the charge of St Columba became Paisley St Columba Foxbar.
