Crosslee

Crosslee is a small village lying on the bank of the River Gryffe in the civil parish of Houston and Killellan, Renfrewshire, in Scotland. It lies around half a mile south of the old village centre of Houston and immediately west of Craigends, although residential development has removed any significant open space between the three.

Crosslee
Crosslee Location within Renfrewshire
Population	Included in statistics for Houston
OS grid reference	NS408660
Civil parish	Houston and Killellan
Council area	Renfrewshire
Lieutenancy area	Renfrewshire
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	JOHNSTONE
Postcode district	PA6
Dialling code	01505
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Scottish Parliament	Renfrewshire North and West

The village itself is largely composed of private housing and exists chiefly as a dormitory settlement. There is one public house and a small public park.

History

Crosslee developed as a small community around a cotton mill, which opened in late 1700s. The factory was later developed and operated by R&T Jack who manufactured thread on the site. During the World War I their major customer was Nobel and the factory converted to producing “gun cotton” for the war effort. After the war the factory was rebuilt with the original stone building being replaced by a concrete structure in the 1920s.

The factory was eventually sold to Nobel Explosives (who became ICI) in 1926. They operated it till it was sold to TH Lawson in 1959 where the company traded as Lawtex and they manufactured umbrellas. It was demolished in 1985. An existing mill building, which still exists beside the river, has been redeveloped to provide office space.

Governance

Crosslee is part of Ward 9 (Houston, Crosslee and Linwood) for local authority elections to Renfrewshire Council, a four-councillor ward.

With the decline in the importance of the civil parish, Crosslee has found itself associated for local government purposes with Houston Community Council.