The Irish monk St Mirin (c.560) established his church at the Hammills where there was already a cornmill and small settlement at a ford. A stone frieze in the Abbey shows several incidents from the missionary's life including St Mirin inflicting sympathetic labour pains on a king who ejected him from the royal palace. He is also shown raising a fellow monk from the dead.

The Abbey’s last Abbot John Hamilton (1512-1571) was also Bishop of Dunkeld and Archbishop of St Andrews. He was executed in 1571 as an accessory to the murder of Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots' husband.

The earliest recorded curling match took place on 6 February 1541 on ice to the west of the Abbot's room in Paisley Abbey. It was a challenge match between John Sclater, a monk at the Abbey, and Gavin Hamilton.

In front of Paisley University, a statue of Reverend John Witherspoon (1723-1794), was installed in 2001. He was minister of the Laigh Kirk - now Paisley Arts Centre on New Street from 1757-1766 and the only clergyman to sign the American Declaration of Independence. The statue was created by local sculptor Alexander Stoddart. A similar statue will be installed at Princeton University where Witherspoon was Principal.