Penicuik Historical Society

Penicuik Historical Society Penicuik Historical Society promotes the investigation into the history of the locality .

PENICUIK HISTORICAL SOCIETYKirkhill SchoolWhen Penicuik Historical Society was founded more than fifty years ago one of ...
27/07/2026

PENICUIK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Kirkhill School

When Penicuik Historical Society was founded more than fifty years ago one of its aims was to research local history. This article highlights the archive as a source of information about the locality with a look at building which has recently been put up for sale.

Kirkhill School is a listed building dating back to 1845. In 1843 the Disruption caused a major rift in the religious life of Scotland with many people leaving the Established Church. A Free Church Congregation was established in West Street. Later, the congregation moved to the former South Kirk which formally opened in 1863.

The Free Church established its own school on a site at the top of Kirkhill. The school and a school house were erected in 1845 at a cost of £480 - this was a significant sum at the time. The teacher’s house was enlarged in 1859 and in 1861 the principal school room was lengthened. Also in 1861, an infant schoolroom and gallery were constructed on the north side along with a covered playground. The 1861 building work was funded by Duncan Cowan of Beeslack.

The Society's archive has the original brass plaque, shown in the photograph, which details the history of the building of Kirkhill School and the costs. Frederick Thomas Pilkington, well-known architect and a friend of the Cowan papermaking family, is believed to have been involved in the 1859 work at the school. He is remembered in Penicuik for Park End, known as the ‘Nunnery’ because it housed single women working at the Valleyfield papermill, the South Kirk and Woodslea. The latter, a long demolished house which belonged to the Cowan family, was situated on the land behind Park End.

In 1873, after the passing of the 1872 Education Act, the school was gifted to Penicuik School Board. A school which had been run by Esk Mills for the children of its employees closed and the children transferred to Kirkhill School. Kirkhill served as a school until 1937 when it was put up for sale and bought by James Brown and Company Ltd for use as a recreation centre for Esk Mills. After the closure of Esk Mills, the recreation centre was used by the YMCA, now known as 'The Y’, until their move to Queensway.

At some point changes were made to the structure of the building with the loss of the section closest to Kirkhill Road. It is believed that the grey harled walls were originally internal parts of the building. The 'lost' section included an entrance porch and four gothic style windows with small panes of glass. If anyone has a photo of the building prior to the removal of the porch, the Society would be delighted to hear from you.

Article and photos - Pam Snell, Secretary

18/06/2026

An update on the memorial plaques that were from the British Legion at Eskhill but are now in our safe custody.
I had a very good meeting with Debbi McCall at the Town Hall last week and Debbi agreed that the town hall foyer is the most suitable place for these important plaques to be displayed . She kindly agreed to pay for the necessary work from her environmental budget . I will post again when the work has been completed .
Kevin Tait

31/05/2026

The Society’s next session of talks begins after the summer break on Monday 28th September at 7.30pm in the Cowan Hall of Penicuik Town Hall. Information about September’s speaker and the subject of the talk will be available closer to the time.
Annual membership of Penicuik Historical Society costs just £10 for the talks which take place from September to April. Visitors are welcome to attend meetings - a donation of £2 is suggested to help with the expenses of the evening.
As always, the Society greatly appreciates donations of historical artifacts, documents or photographs of local interest. If you have any donations for the Society or an enquiry, please contact Kevin Tait by phone [07884 466080] or email the Society [[email protected]].

Last day, Roslin Church , 10am to 4pm.
23/05/2026

Last day, Roslin Church , 10am to 4pm.

21/04/2026

Our final talk of the 2025/26 season is on Monday 27th April, at 7.30pm in Penicuik Town Hall, upstairs in the Cowan Hall.

Our speaker is Eric Melvin, who makes a welcome return.
Eric’s talk is titled:
19th Century Disasters in Edinburgh -
the Great Fire and the
Collapse of Paisley Close

Visitors are welcome to attend our talks for a suggestion donation of £2.00.

After a break over summer, the 2026/27 season of talks will start in September.

A Brief History of PenicuikCourtesy of Penicuik Historical Society Archive TeamPenicuik, the name meaning ‘Hill of the C...
15/04/2026

A Brief History of Penicuik
Courtesy of Penicuik Historical Society Archive Team
Penicuik, the name meaning ‘Hill of the Cuckoo’, grew from a small rural settlement to become the
most important papermaking town in Scotland.
In 1654, a merchant called John Clerk purchased the Penicuik Estate and local lands. Successive
generations of his family encouraged agricultural improvement and the establishment of industry
in the locality. The Clerk family still own the Penicuik House Estate which is notable for its neo-
Palladian conserved ruin, known as old Penicuik House, set in the 18th century designed
landscape. The 3rd Baronet, Sir James Clerk, is credited with developing the village of Penicuik and
it is likely that he designed the 1771 kirk which is situated at the top of the High Street.
The Clerk family feued land for industry - a waulkmill in 1707, a papermill in 1709 and the first
cotton mill in Scotland, Esk Mills, in the 1770s. The papermill was sold in 1779 to Charles Cowan,
an Edinburgh and Leith merchant, who named it Valleyfield. During the Napoleonic Wars, the
mills at Valleyfield and Esk Mills were taken over by the Government to house thousands of
prisoners of war and their guards. There is a monument at Valleyfield, built in 1830, to the 309
prisoners who died there.
After the Napoleonic Wars, the Cowan family resumed papermaking at Valleyfield and Esk Mills
also produced paper. When Alexander Cowan, the son of Charles Cowan, died in 1859 he left a
legacy which was used to bring a clean water supply from the Sillerburn to Penicuik. This was
commemorated by the new well and fountain erected in 1864. Alexander’s legacy also funded the
Cowan Institute which was completed in 1894, later serving as Penicuik’s Town Hall.
Under the management of successive members of the Cowan family, Valleyfield Mills became the
largest papermill in Scotland with a worldwide reputation for quality and a network of branches in
the UK and overseas. Esk Mills, under James Brown and his successors, became the second largest
papermill in Scotland.
Penicuik developed to become a thriving commercial town which grew significantly during the
19th century and later. Shottstown was built in the 1870s to house mining families employed at the
nearby Mauricewood and Greenlaw pits. The Mauricewood Pit Disaster in 1889 resulted in the
deaths of 63 men and boys - it is recorded as Midlothian’s worst mining accident. Mining ceased
here in the early years of the 20th century. Other industries and occupations included ‘cottage
industry’ weaving, silk shawl and stocking making, a foundry, a saw mill, builders, joiners and
various small businesses and shops.
Economic challenges resulted in the closure of Esk Mills in 1968 and Valleyfield Mills in 1975, the
latter having been owned by the Reed Group for the previous ten years. The era when Penicuik had
been ‘The Papermaking Town’ came to an end after 266 years. In 1975, local government
reorganisation meant that Penicuik ceased to be a Burgh with its own Council and Provost. Since
the closure of the mills, Penicuik has grown primarily as a commuter and residential town. It is a
popular place to live because of its proximity to Edinburgh and attractive local countryside.

The Origin and Naming of Penicuik’s ParkCourtesy Penicuik Historical Society Archive TeamThe origin of the park goes bac...
15/04/2026

The Origin and Naming of Penicuik’s Park
Courtesy Penicuik Historical Society Archive Team

The origin of the park goes back to the early 1900s when local people were keen to have a green space where children could play and the elderly could sit - housing in Penicuik included many tenement properties without garden space at the time. As there was no suitable land for a park within the Burgh, attention turned to land known as The Garden Park. This piece of land had been leased by Alexander Cowan to grow vegetables and fruit for the thousands of prisoners interned at the former Valleyfield papermill during the Napoleonic Wars.

Mr A G Wilson, a councillor and Provost of Penicuik from 1903-12, suggested that The Garden Park was the best available land for a recreation ground. At a meeting of rate-payers in April 1905, Provost Wilson’s proposal was enthusiastically supported by the public. The Town Council took on the lease of the 17 acre site from the Penicuik House Estate Trustees in May 1905.

The official opening of Penicuik Public Park, the name reflecting that it was a public amenity, took place on the 16 December, 1905 at the Jackson Street entrance. There were 300-400 people present when Provost Wilson opened the proceedings and invited Mrs Sandford of Beeslack, a daughter of Sir John Cowan and a grand-daughter of Alexander Cowan, to cut the ribbon to open the park. Prior to the planting of commemorative trees by Colonel Sir George Clerk and Major and Mrs Sandford, it was noted that the park was only possible because of Sir George Clerk’s interest in the town and the provision of a lease at a favourable rent. Major and Mrs Sandford had made a donation to assist with the necessary work in the park and Professor James Cossar-Ewart, another keen supporter, had gifted trees and plants.

The photo of the Jackson Street entrance to the park, taken around 1912, shows the rural nature of the park at that time. In 1932 Penicuik Town Council purchased the park. The following year the War Memorial was moved from the High Street to the Jackson Street entrance. The photograph shows the War Memorial in its original position in the High Street after the unveiling ceremony in 1921. On the 19th December, 1948 two additional memorial plaques were unveiled at the war memorial. This ceremony was carried out by the Provost of Penicuik at the time, Major James Tait DSO, TD, JP.

During both WW1 and WW2 the park reverted to use as a garden park as it was used to grow food. Over the years the park has been at the heart of local events both leisure and sporting - a ringing endorsement of the desire to improve the quality of life for residents of Penicuik with the provision of a public park more than 120 years ago.

In 2022 Midlothian Council changed the name of the park to Montgomery Park in memory of the late Mr Adam Montgomery, a Penicuik Councillor for many years and a former Provost of Midlothian.

Readers may be interested to know that the Esk Mills War Memorial and the Cowan War Memorials for WW1 and WW2, which were sited until recently at the former British Legion premises at Kirkhill, are now in the care of Penicuik Historical Society. It is anticipated that the memorials will be placed in the Cowan Institute in the not too distant future.

29/03/2026

The next meeting of Penicuik Historical Society is tomorrow, Monday 30th March at 7.30pm in Penicuik Town Hall, upstairs in the Cowan Hall.

Margaret Fox, Archivist at Traquair House, makes a welcome return to speak to the Society.
Her talk is entitled ‘The Servants at Traquair from the 1700s to the early 1900s’.

This talk will be preceded by the Society’s brief Annual General Meeting.

Visitors are welcome to attend our meetings. A donation of £2 is suggested to help with the cost of the event.

11/03/2026

The next meeting of Penicuik Historical Society is on Monday 30th March at 7.30pm in Penicuik Town Hall, upstairs in the Cowan Hall.

Margaret Fox, Archivist at Traquair House, makes a welcome return to speak to the Society.
Her talk is entitled ‘The Servants at Traquair from the 1700s to the early 1900s’.

This talk will be preceded by the Society’s brief Annual General Meeting.

Visitors are welcome to attend our meetings. A donation of £2 is suggested to help with the cost of the event.

19/02/2026

Our next meeting will be on Monday 23rd February in the Cowan Hall, upstairs in Penicuik Town Hall at 7.30pm.

Our speaker is George Forbes Hawkins MBE.
George grew up in Penicuik and his talk is titled Life in Penicuik in the 1950s and 60s.
We hope it will stir many memories.

Visitors are welcome to attend our talks.
A donation of £2 is suggested to help cover the costs of the evening.

Address

Cowan Institute , 33 High Street
Penicuik
EH268HS

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