Ice House, Roslin, Midlothian.

Laat week I had a closer look at the Dryden Tower which was erected by the owners of Dryden House, by Bilston, Midlothian, (Scotland).    Dryden House was demolished during the 1930's and is now beneath the waste from the former Bilston Glen Colliery.    Within the lands and built in to the south bank of the Killburn  (named after the many who died there during the Battle of Roslin 1302)  is a superbly constructed ice house,  one of several in the Edinburgh and Midlothian area.   The stone work is still in excellent condition, both externally and internally.

Gowk Stane, Auchencorth.

Lovely afternoon,  had originally planned on a wee ride out on the Steed of Steel,  however, not quite up to it so before the rugby started I had a wee walk over the Auchencorth Moor to the Gowk Stane  (another tick in the box).  In the middle of the moor  so I wonder why?

Not a lot really known about the history of the stone.     Some views of the Pentland Hills from the stone -

Oops - hope this was not a mistake.

Had been looking forward to seeing the big bang at Cockenzie Power Station as the two chimneys were felled - took a long time to build them and demolished in a matter of seconds.  Had originally planned on getting closer to the site, but several thousand others had the same idea, so I killed two birds with one stone - did my shopping at Bookers,  Musselburgh, and then, with five minutes to spare got set up in the car park at the rear looking across the bay to the site.

So down it went, however, look at the "stoor"   ( dust)  went everywhere, so no doubt Mr Dyson's wonderful product will be well used over the next day .

Headed home, and a short time later was driving east on the A702 towards Hillend - looking over to Cockenzie, really strange not seeing the familiar landmarks any more.

Penicuik House, Midlothian - another hidden gem.

Lovely day today,  at the Grill early and then home - so took myself off for a walk up into the Penicuik Estate.      Wonderful to see how the old Penicuik House, built by Sir James Clerk in 1761, has been made safe and visitors can now really get a feel of how beautiful it was in its heyday.

There are two statues on either side of the entrance, 

Not sure if either of these are Roman  but Clerk had a fascination for Roman and Greek artefacts and bought many which came from the Roman sites / forts at Cramond, on the River Forth and Middlebie  near Dumfries.
In 1899 a fire started in the House which burned for two days,  during which the family and staff were able to safe a great deal of property and documents, although the library was totally destroyed.

 The view from this side of the house over the valley is beautiful.

  From the South side of the house there is an avenue leading out towards the River Esk, and in the hillside opposite is an obelisk erected in memory of the local poet Alan Ramsay (1686 -1758)  who lived in nearby Carlops Village and who was a friend of the family and frequent visitor to Sir James.

Midway along the South Avenue is the pets cemetery where the Clerk family buried their faithful four legged followers.

The family now live in the adjacent house which some say was the old stable block, however other documents refer to the building as the Estate Offices, built when the original house went up, 

 The "Dookit" atop the building was built by Sir James Clerk around 1761 and is a model of the Roman Temple, on the River Carron, near Falkirk,  known as Arthur's O'on which was destroyed when the Carron iron Works were built.

Nice walk, well worth making the effort and taking the time to go and see it especially when the sun is shining.

Birds of a feather

Had originally planned on a bit of rant tonight, however, instead - having had a wee run over the moor road from Penicuik to West Linton earlier this evening I found more interesting things to comment on.

First I met two blokes out with their "birds"  that is, of the feathered variety, so stopped to speak and managed a couple of snaps of their Peregrine Falcons.

Further along the road I stopped to take a closer look at one of the man made towers which can be seen from the road,

These towers can be seen across country from here to Broughton and then  Tweedsmuir, as they mark the line of the underground water tunnel which carries the water from the Meggat / Tala Reservoirs , fed by natural gravity all the way to the Glencorse Reservoir.

Quiet wander through the Powder Mill Glen, Roslin

When I first started working at Loanhead in 1966, there was still an industrial presence in the Roslin Glen area.   I can remember visiting the carpet factory which was run by Henry Widnell and Stewart who also had two other factories in Bonnyrigg and Eskbank.    On the other side of the Powder Mill Brae was the site of the old gunpowder factory which opened in 1804 and operated for around one hundred and fifty years.    There was still a magazine on the Oatslie Road and I can recall checking it out when its licence was due for renewal.
However down in the Glen the main factory was falling into ruins. I took a wander down there today,m while the sun was shining and there were still leaves on the trees.

The gunpowder factory was a number of different buildings , many built into the hillside to absorb explosions (as accidents did happen) and the main power source came from waterwheels driven by water from the Esk diverted at a weir and running through sluices and tunnels.

I really needed more time to explore as there are ruins of a barrel factory further into the glen and nearer Auchendinny,  maybe another day.

Peter Ritchie - Where No Shadows Fall"

Had a chat to Peter Ritchie , former colleague from Dalkeith, now writing crime thriller novels.   He had already had a trilogy featuring Detective Grace Den Herder published,  so after much badgering from friends and fans has written a fourth book in the series,  "WHERE NO SHADOWS FALL" , which has just been released by Amazon today. Next download for my Kindle when I get this item on post.