STEAMIE WASHES UP IN THE WEEDS

SHOCKED Michael Daly found a virtually-intact Victorian "steamie" at the back of his garden.

Now the find has got historians in a lather because they believe it is the last of its kind remaining in Scotland.

Michael, 36, of Paisley, told yesterday how at first he mistook the ornate porcelain sinks and boiler as a pottery and kiln as he hacked through overgrown foliage.

Only on closer inspection did he realise that what he had found was a rare Victorian relic that would have been used by women living in the Seedhill area of the town during the late 1800s to wash the family clothes.

The steamie, which consists of a brick-lined boiler and two beautiful porcelain sinks, was probably built around 1895 at the same time as the three-storey tenement flat where Mr Daly has lived with his wife and four-year-old son since 2000.

Heritage expert Iain Hogg said the find was of real historical importance.

He said: "This is a wonderful discovery. It has long been thought that all the wash-houses in Paisley were destroyed back in the 1970s when the houses were renovated.

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